IPB takes every opportunity to talk about the imbalance between military and social spending and organizes side events, seminars and exhibitions, together with like-minded partner organizations. Since the launch of our programme in 2005 we have organized and participated in a dozens of events in order to build awareness of the linkages between Disarmament and Development.
2012
IPB Annual Conference, MacBride Peace Prize Award Ceremony and Council Meeting
Dublin, Ireland, November 16-19
The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins (the first winner of the MacBride Peace Prize) will present the Prize to this year’s winners, two women activists from the Arab Spring.
The Theme of the Conference is:
Joining the Dots: Disarmament, Development and Democracy
The Dublin Dialogue
As our globalised world gets smaller, so the burning issues we are confronted with seem to overlap to a greater and greater extent. How to solve the challenge of poverty without re-allocating some of the huge sums devoted to militarism? How to ensure a stable future for our economies and our societies without taking into account the massive impacts of climate change and resource depletion? How to redeem the promise of a new democratic order in the Middle East and North Africa without ensuring true gender justice? And how can we achieve any of these things without a full, inclusive, transparent democracy? These are some of the issues we will tackle in the Dublin Dialogue.
Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
Rio de Janeiro, June 20 – 22
IPB partnered up with INES and other international organizations and created the Rio appeal: It is disturbing that the topic of military expenditure is so rarely mentioned in debates on development. Our view is that a reduction in this expenditure should lead to increased support of developing countries and of efforts to tackle poverty and environment degradation which occurs also in rich countries. That is why we appeal to States to decrease their defence budget in the first instance by 10% in order to free funds for sustainable development.
Sign the Appeal here
We will address states through the organization of two side events, organised together with INES and WFC, on military spending, armed conflicts and their impacts on sustainable development.
Two similar side events will be held at the Peoples’ Summit where we will also raise the question why disarmament is a forgotten issue within the development community. The goal is to reach out to development agencies and create a strong network of like-minded NGOs.
IPB supports the World Future Council (WFC) in the setting up of a symbolic object illustrating the need for people around the world of food instead of weapons. We will bring a life-size tank made of bread to the conference venue, to the favela Santa Marta and to the Peoples’ Summit. The tank will be eaten up by delegates, local politicians, youth groups and passersby as a symbolic call to disarm.
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We will also bring an exhibition on Disarmament for Development to follow the tank to all these locations in the city.
First Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
Vienna, April 30- May 11.
In collaboration with the International Network of Engineers and Scientists (INES), IPB is hosting 3 side events.
1. Nuclear weapons: at what cost?
2. Misuse of Brainpower
3. Critical review of the role of the IAEA
IPB coordinated an exhibition on Hiroshima and Nagasaki with our Japanese member organization Gensuikyo.