Ploughshares Monitor articles from December 1996

Ploughshares Monitor archives from December 1996

Stop recruiting children.
December 1, 1996... On a visit to southern Sudan two years ago, our Canadian church delegation spent several nights in a small compound of the New Sudan Council of Churches near areas of military hostilities. On the second night we were awakened by a scuffle and...

UN report calls for action to protect children from armed conflict.
December 1, 1996... "More and more of the world is being sucked into a desolate moral vacuum. This is a space devoid of the most basic human values; a space in which children are slaughtered, raped, and maimed; a space in which children are exploited as soldiers;...

Children at both ends of the gun.
December 1, 1996... "One of the most alarming trends in armed conflict is the participation of children as soldiers," declares the Machel report. The report says the use of child soldiers is a problem created by adults, to be eradicated by adults. It calls for a...

Gender and war.
December 1, 1996... Increasingly, modern warfare is wreaking havoc on the lives of women and girls, and on the health and educational services that are key to family and community survival and development. According to the World Health Organization (WHO),...

Nuclear policy review.
December 1, 1996... Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy has asked Parliament's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade to review Canada's nuclear arms policies. The Minister's request, delivered to the committee in early November, asked...

Canada supplies Croatia.
December 1, 1996... In another instance of unregulated Canadian equipment exported to military end-users, Canada will supply the Croatian military with training helicopters beginning in early 1997. In November, the Washington-based Defense News reported the sale...

Gunning for the UN.
December 1, 1996... An organization advocating universal gun ownership has been accredited to the United Nations, an organization founded on the search for global peace. In November, the Washington-based National Rifle Association (NRA), widely recognized as one...

Landmine ban proposed: Ottawa landmines conference highlight.
December 1, 1996... Anti-personnel (AP) landmines may soon be things of the past. It may take a few years and a lot of negotiation but discussions for a global ban on the weapons are underway. Private citizens and organizations working to ban the production,...

Limiting the damage: the landmines legacy in Mozambique.
December 1, 1996... The following is taken from a presentation to students at Conrad Grebel College by Gil Manuel Vilanculos, Information Officer for LINK, the national forum in Mozambique for international and national non-governmental organizations. His visit...

Domestic orders define top Canadian military contractors: 1994-95 ranking.
December 1, 1996... [Part 1 of 2] Table 1: Top 20 Canadian Military Prime Contractors FY 1994-95 Company head office/main plant A B C D E F 1. Frontec Logistics Corp (1), Edmonton 1 2. General Motors of Canada...

Chaining the nuclear beast: nuclear abolition.
December 1, 1996... Swords and Ploughshares MILITARY SPENDING Worldwide military $800-billion (US) spending in 1995 Canadian military $8.1-billion (US) spending in 1995 UN budget for $3.6-billion (US)...

Openness and security: UN reporting mechanisms for demilitarizing conflict.
December 1, 1996... The United Nations has developed two reporting instruments which are designed in general to support the objectives of "common security" and in particular to promote openness and transparency in military affairs. The Conventional Arms Register...

Canada and child soldiers.
December 1, 1996... This issue's feature article on the Machel Report (see pages 3-8) graphically documents the horrific effects of war on children. As the briefing papers accompanying the report state, "One of the most disturbing trends in armed conflict is the...

Taking action.
December 1, 1996... Write letters to Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy, Defence Minister Douglas Young, and your own Member of Parliament (House of Commons, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6; no postage required) calling on the government to actively support 18 as the...