4th April 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Each year on 4 April we observe the United Nations’ International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance. This day aims to raise awareness of the threat caused by landmines to the safety, health and lives of civilian populations, and encourages Governments to develop mine clearance programmes. This global problem has an acute local dimension. Ethiopia is one […]
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29th May 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Britain and Sweden don’t differ on much. We did this week on whether to lift the EU arms embargo on the legitimate opposition in Syria. We argued for the lift for political, security and humanitarian reasons. Our priority is a political transition that ends the conflict, allows refugees to return home, and prevents further radicalisation in […]
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4th April 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
2013 sees the 50th anniversary of Pope John XXIII’s great encyclical Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth), addressed “to all people of good will”. In the encyclical, Pope John called on states to reduce arms stockpiles – nuclear and conventional – and for “a general agreement … about progressive disarmament and an effective method of […]
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9th July 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
It is estimated that 750,000 people are killed each year in armed violence. Millions more lives are blighted through injury, displacement and destroyed livelihoods. Much effort in multilateral negotiation goes in to the control and regulation of weapons of mass destruction. But, in fact, it is the so-called small and conventional arms that are the […]
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