No Development without Disarmament

As I sat through the discussions of the “No Development without Disarmament session and hearing the various speakers, questions and comments, I can’t help but think about the task ahead and in the process doubting if we will ever reach that critical will. Why doubts were somewhat reinforced, when I asked a questioned today the CSW briefing of the U.S Mission to United Nation, on their perspective on militarism, global arms trade and its global effects especially on women and children. By the way I wasn’t surprised by the given response.
What was clear today from both experiences, was that we have work to do and we have to get our voices to be heard; from Bosnia to Syria; Nigeria to Japan; France to Pakistan and all over the world. We have all witnessed the atrocities of Syria, the intractable conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the thousands of maimed women and girls in post-conflict Sierra Leone, the pervasive sexual violence against women and girls in post- conflict Liberian society, the Internally Displaced women of Colombia, just to name a few. At the nexus of all these are corporate greed and geopolitical interest.
To put this in perspective, the conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one of the resource rich countries in Africa, is the showcase of such corporate and geopolitical interplay. DRC apart from its diamond and gold, it happens produces 80% of the world’s coltan (globalwitness), a hot commodity in making cell phones that we all enjoy on a daily basis. It also is known to have huge deposits of uranium. I challenge all to look up the corporations and countries that are doing business in DRC. This is important because one of the major factors prolonging and exacerbating the war in DRC is its abundant mineral resources and illicit deals that corporations conduct with rebel groups and even the government, which enables them militarize through the global arms trade.
The effects of this resource conflict is the daily rapes, killing, maiming and the internal displacement of women and children whose futures are taken away from them by senseless greed.
Wilpfers and the women of the world, the women of the DRC needs us to fight for them, so are the women of Syria, Ukraine and around the global. I believe that with more voices and agency, we can influence institutional frameworks that can effect a change in this direction.

Mba Saidybah