Dear Friends and Supporters of Article 9,

Seasons Greetingss!

We are pleased to send you some information about the Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish War's recent activities and related developments.

Under the Presidency of Costa Rica, an unarmed nation, the Security Council held in November an open debate on "strengthening collective security and armament regulation," as part of an effort to re-invigorate and re-energize work to implement Article 26 of the UN Charter.

Article 26 of the UN Charter challenges militarism and the assumption that international relations and security can only be determined through the threat of military force, calling instead for disarmament and the reduction of military expenditures as a precondition for increased security, development, and peace.

The text of the article reads as follow:
"In order to promote the establishment and maintenance of international peace and security with the least diversion for armaments of the world's human and economic resources, the Security Council shall be responsible for formulating, with the assistance of the Military Staff Committee referred to in Article 47, plans to be submitted to the Members of the United Nations for the establishment of a system for the regulation of armaments."

Though Article 26 gives the Security Council and the Military Staff Committee the responsibility for enforcing disarmament and redirecting resources away from military spending, the Council has so far neglected this task entirely.

Civil society organizations welcomed the holding of such debate, at a time when global military expenditures reach new records. Under the leadership of WILPF, many NGOs seized this opportunity to put pressure on the UN Security Council to comply with Article 26 and bring concrete proposals and commitments to implement this neglected instrument to reduce global spending on armaments and refocus spending on human security needs towards  sustainable disarmament and sustainable development.

As Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution supplements Article 26 of the UN Charter, the Global Article 9 Campaign sent a letter to all UN Security Council members, calling on governments to regulate armament, reduce worldwide military spending and reallocate the world's limited resources to sustainable development and peace promotion.

During the debate, the five permanent members (namely the US, the UK, Russia, China and France) did not concretely address the issues of Article 26, reduction of military spending, or the regulation of armaments. However, several other delegations expressly linked disarmament to development, arguing against disproportionate spending on armaments and for a better allocation of resources.

The Presidentials Statement issued by the Council did not break any new grounds. Though the text expresses concern with rising military expenditures and calls on states to reinforce and implement existing agreements, it fails to give a role to the Security Council for further action on the implementation of Article 26, the regulation of armaments or the reduction of worldwide military expenditures.

Read the GA9C's letter here.
Also read Costa Rica's Concept paper, here.
A summary of the debate, here.
And the UNSC Presidential statement released after the debate, here.

Photo Credit: United Nations/Paulo Filgueiras
Óscar Arias Sánchez (fourth from right), President of Costa Rica and President of the Security Council for November, chairs a meeting on the maintenance of international peace and security, as well as the strengthening collective security through general regulation and the reduction of armaments.

On December 3, delegates from 107 countries met in Oslo to sign a treaty, agreed upon in Dublin in May, that bans the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions.

Dropped from the air or fired from the ground, cluster munitions initially explode in the air and release hundreds of "bomblets" or sub-munitions designed to explode on impact. Yet, many do not detonate, leaving countless unexploded ordnances that threaten civilians for decades after a conflict. According to Handicap International, 98% of the victims are civilians, and more than a quarter are children.

Despites the fact that the world's largest cluster bomb makers and users (including the United States, Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan) have objected to the ban and refused to sign it, the Convention on Cluster Munitions represents the most significant humanitarian and disarmament treaty of the decade. According to Thomas Nash of the Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC), a network of over 300 NGOs from 80 countries, "it's only one of the very few times in history that an entire category of weapons has been banned." Moreover, it contains the strongest provisions for victim assistance in international law.

Read the Conventions on Cluster Munitions, here.

The Second International Conference on Financing for Development was held in Doha, Qatar from November 29-December 2, to "assess progress made, reaffirm goals and commitments" made in Monterrey, Mexico in March 2002.

The 2002 Monterrey Consensus "resolved to address the challenges of financing for development" and "to eradicate poverty, achieve sustained economic growth and promote sustainable development." Yet, since 2002, little concrete commitments have emerged for new approaches to financing more equitable global development.

The outcome document of the Doha Review Conference went beyond the 2002 Monterrey Consensus in some ways, notably on gender equality. However, participating NGOs deplored the fact that it failed to decisively address urgent and systemic issues underpinning poverty, and some regret that it did not mention reduction of military budgets among potential sources of development finance.

In this regard, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has been the only one to focus on disarmament and to call for debt forgiveness and additional aid for developing countries that spend more on human resources than on the military.

Watch the webcast of President Arias' speech here.

New Zealand-based electronic/reggae band Rhombus released its new album, whose last track, Article 9, is named after the article of the Japanese constitution that renounces war. "That song is basically a protest about people wanting to remove Article 9," explains the band's producer Simon Rycroft.

The song was largely recorder onboard the Japan-based global NGO Peace Boat, as members of the band joined the segment from Jamaica to Hawaii of the around-the-world voyage.

The Article 9 beats saw the light somewhere between Guatemala and Mexico, along with Japanese MCs using the instruments available on board. The vocals were later recorded between San Francisco, Hawaii and Tokyo.

Formed in 2001, the band has forged a reputation in New Zealand, Australia, Japan and beyond, as it has performed with artists from all over the world.

Listen to the Article 9 song here.

Click here to visit Rhombus' website.

Thank you for your interest in and support for the Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish War.

We wish you all the best for this holiday season and look forward to continue working with you all in the coming year.

Peace,

The Article 9 Team