Peace and Security

This is the 2007 draft on peace. You will get the newest version here.

Human health, development and economy need to be safe from injuries, killings and damages caused by armed conflicts.

Affected people and foundations of life: Armed conflicts have many victims – combatants and civilians, directly or indirectly. Armed conflicts are, with or without deliberate specific intent, a cause for hunger and poverty. In some armed conflicts or genocides famine is even used as a weapon.

Since armament has started to include weapons of mass destruction we are confronted with the danger of man-made devastation of mankind. Production and storage of NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) weapons as well as nuclear weapon early-warning systems pose risks similar to nuclear energy facilities and large chemical facilities, but with varying probability for the occurrence of damage (WBGU [German Advisory Council on Global Change] 1998, 73f. [and following]). One nuclear missile started by error could kill millions.

Deaths:

• Within the 20^th century there were about 191 million deaths of war, terrorism, genocide, torture and organized violent crime (averaging 1.91 million per year) – 60% of them were civilians (WHO [World Health Organization] 2002a, 21, 5). Famine related to conflicts has cost 40 million human lives in the 20^th century (WHO 2002a, 22).
• The nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed 90 000-140 000 resp. [respectively] 60 000-80 000 people within 2-4 months after detonation (RERF [Radiation Effects Research Foundation]); which amounted to 200 000 resp. around 140 000 people within 5 years (DOE [United States Department of Energy]).
• 172 000-310 000 people per year were killed by violence in recent armed conflicts (not counting famine, diseases related to armed conflicts, etc. [and so on]; WHO 2004, 124; WHO 2002).

The long-term figure regarding the death toll of the 20th century reflects the long-term risk of war.

Loss of healthy life-years: 6.33 million healthy life-years (DALYs [Disability-adjusted life years], attributable to violence in war in 2002; WHO 2004, 130).

Targets/goals: The UN (United Nations) already demanded the disarmament of weapons of mass destruction in 1946. The 1925 Geneva Protocol has banned the use of chemical and biological weapons. In 1972 the Biological Weapons Convention, and in 1997 the Chemical Weapons Convention added the prohibition of those weapons. The proliferation of nuclear weapons is prohibited by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Trend: ? After reaching a peak level in the early 1990s, the number of wars and armed conflicts has declined (no data on affected people or victims included; AKUF [Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kriegsursachenforschung] 2007).

Measures: prevention of armed conflicts, support of non-violent conflict resolutions, enclosure of armed conflicts in public international law, arms control and disarmament. A UN commission has made proposals regarding problems of implementating the above-mentioned conventions and the dangers of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of non-state actors. Furthermore, these proposals have pointed out the necessity of reducing poverty, enforcing development and protecting the climate as parts of a broader security concept. (UN 2004.)

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Annotations

DALYs: Disability-adjusted life years.
One DALY represents the loss of one year of equivalent full health. DALYs are the sum of the years of life lost due to premature mortality (YLL) in the population and the years lost due to disability (YLD) for incident cases of the health condition. (WHO 2004, 95f.)

Sources

• AKUF 2007 – Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kriegsursachenforschung: Zahl der kriegerischen Konflikte auf dem niedrigsten Stand seit 15 Jahren.   (Pressemitteilung.)
• DOE – U. S. Department of Energy: The Manhattan Project; An Interactive History: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima , and The Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki.  (No publication data given; retrieved in 2007.)
• RERF – Radiation Effects Research Foundation: How many persons perished in or survived the atomic bombings?  (No publication date given; retrieved in 2007.)
• UN 2004: A more secure world: Our shared responsibility. Report of the High-level Panel on Threads, Challenges and Change.  
• WBGU 1998 – German Advisory Council on Global Change (Wissenschaftlicher Beirat Globale Umweltveränderungen der Bundesregierung): World in Transition: Strategies for managing global environmental risks.   Annual report 1998. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, et al.: Springer, 2000 [publishing year of English version].
• WHO 2002 – World Health Organization: The World Health Report 2002 – Reducing Risks, Promoting Healthy Life.
• WHO 2002a – World Health Organization: World Report on Violence and Health: Summary.
• WHO 2004 – World Health Organization: WHO Report 2004.  

Draft (2007)