The Importance of Civil Society in Arms Control - by Oscar Arias

The Importance of Civil Society in Arms Control - by Oscar Arias

During my term as president of Costa Rica from 1986 to 1990, I learned first-hand the devastating effects of arms transfers on poor and war-torn places. In Central America, the arms shipments that were supposed to resolve the region’s ideological clashes in fact prolonged and exacerbated them. We would later learn that the civil wars in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua had caused more than two hundred thousand casualties, mostly civilian. Conventional weapons imported from the Soviet Union and the United States were involved in the vast majority of these deaths.

Peace cannot take root unless the deepest causes of conflict are brought to light, examined, and publicly discussed. Arms betray this delicate process by adding to intolerance, deepening present grievances and making agreement more distant. Today, in troubled regions such as Sudan and Colombia, cheap and readily available weapons continue to poison efforts to establish peace for future generations.
By the end of my presidency, I was convinced that the arms trade represents the single most significant perversion of human priorities in our era. In talks at universities and political forums, I have emphasized that the arms trade, and its accompanying glut of military spending, exacerbates and prolongs wars, criminal activity and ethnic violence; destabilizes emerging democracies; and inflates military budgets to the detriment of health care, education and basic infrastructure.
I have not found this theme completely and utterly depressing over the years, thanks to a stubborn faith that speaking out will always galvanize at least one person in the audience to action. Also, I know that my efforts are not for the sake of rhetoric, but for publicizing and reinforcing an Arms Trade Treaty movement in close collaboration with members of civil society.
The Arms Trade Treaty, originally known as a Code of Conduct on Arms Transfers, was formulated in 1997 by eight Nobel Prize laureates: me, Ellie Wiesel, Betty Williams, the Dalai Lama, José Ramos-Horta, and representatives of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the American Friends Service Committee and Amnesty International. The treaty calls for a ban on transfers of weapons to governments that repress fundamental democratic and human rights, or that commit acts of armed international aggression. To date, over twenty Nobel Prize winners, a growing group of governments and thousands of individuals and organizations have expressed their faith in the ATT as both morally sound and politically necessary.
Since October of 2003, a grassroots campaign to ratify this treaty into a binding piece of international law has been advancing in seventy countries around the world. Building consensus for international arms control implies simultaneous action in a kaleidoscope of social, political and economic issues: police training in human rights, and military accountability to democratic governments; anti-corruption controls at the local and federal level; better educational opportunities for children, and peace curriculums in the schools; gender equity and access to employment. Civil society groups have found innovative and dynamic ways to combine the cause of arms control with human development agendas. In Brazil, for instance, the NGO Viva Rio has advocated national gun control laws, while building youth clubs and microcredit programs in poor neighborhoods affected by gun violence. And in Costa Rica, the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress has launched a public education campaign on the public health impact of small arms, with a special component for peace training in the public schools.
The Arms Trade Treaty has roots in many different regions, historical experiences and individuals; and this diversity is a great strength, driving the movement’s dynamic growth. Clearly, a campaign to regulate the global arms trade brings us head to head with some very entrenched interest groups, and it could take years, even decades, to move forward. In this struggle, the moral and political leadership of civil society, from schools to church councils to public action groups, is fundamental. It has been thrilling to watch in the past decade as the ATT has gathered worldwide momentum, a rising tide that grows out of the tiny ripples of every individual act of creativity and leadership.

Dr. Oscar Arias Sánchez was president of Costa Rica from 1986 until 1990. Within this capacity he initiated a regional peace process, which cumulated in 1987 in the signing of the Equipulas II Accord by all Central American presidents. It was for this work he won the Nobel Peace Prize of 1987. He used the monetary award to establish the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress, from which he has continued his pursuit of global peace and human security.