Editorial

ARCHITECTURE OF PEACE

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Comboni Mission Center

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Vol. XVIII x No. 1

JANUARY 2006

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We start the New Year celebrating World Peace Day. Peace may indeed be very precarious but it is, nevertheless, indispensable. We need peace to grow fully as human beings; countries need peace to develop and to meet their citizens′; expectations; the earth needs peace to be saved from destruction; the whole human family needs peace for its security and well-being.

But the signs are paradoxical: everybody desires and demands peace, but never has there been such a proliferation of weapons of all kinds; in spite of all the money spent on modern security systems and in sophisticated weaponry, never have we been so afraid of crime and terror; more money and intelligence are spent on war than on peace efforts. It is a scandal that some countries invest more resources in their armed forces than in the education and nourishment of their own people.

We do not achieve peace by making war. There is no sustainable human development when defense is the priority. In the past two years, there has been a dramatic 20 percent increase in world military expenditure. The combined arms sales of the top 100 arms-producing companies increased 25% in a one-year period. Worldwide, the arms trade – both "legal" and illegal – is a huge business. It is on the rise and there is not yet a legally binding instrument on small arms transfers.

Small arms may be small but they represent a big problem. There are too many of them around the world and they cause countless deaths, mainly among women, children and civilians – even in countries that are not at war. The Philippines is one of such country. Besides the many incidents with guns, too often the news reports carjackings, assaults, violent robberies and kidnappings. Last year the kidnap-for-ransom cases exceeded by far those recorded in 2004. But also politically motivated crime is alarming: ten journalists have been gunned down this year up to the beginning of December, in addition to the large number of deaths of human rights activists. This only shows that there is a close relation between the number of weapons available and violence.

There is also a close relationship between disarmament, security and development. This is why, in various international fora, the Holy See has been reasserting "the importance of arms control and disarmament, as the fundamental pillars of the architecture of peace." Speaking at the First Commission of the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Holy See′s permanent observer at the UN, insisted "on complete nuclear disarmament" and stressed the "urgent need to work locally, nationally, regionally and globally to eradicate small arms and light weapons."

Regrettably, world leaders did not reach a consensus on the issue. This means that we should continue putting pressure on them to work for disarmament and security. Peace does not only mean the absence of war. On one hand, it requires justice and strong, democratic and accountable institutions that will deliver to the people what is rightfully theirs. On the other, democracy is based on trust in life and in others.
This means that true peace also requires reconciliation, truthfulness in relationships, keeping one’s own word and commitment to strengthen solid, democratic and equitable institutions. That is why peace calls for a continuous work – everyday, every month of every year.

Happy and peaceful New Year to all! <WM