Written Answers. - Arms Trade.
Eamon Gilmore
Question:
55
Mr. Gilmore
asked the
Minister for Foreign Affairs
if he will make a statement on the imbalance between the $868 billion per annum spent on military defence in the world and the $15 billion committed to the prevention of such diseases as malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS; and if he will indicate such initiatives that Ireland is taking or will take at the United Nations.
[8396/01]
The figures quoted by the Deputy testify to the unacceptable gulf between spending on armaments and spending on the prevention of communicable diseases which are killing millions of people in poor countries. Ireland has always taken a strong position at the UN in favour of disarmament and against excessive military expenditure. We have been at the forefront of efforts to reinvigorate efforts to achieve nuclear disarmament through our New Agenda initiative at the UN. We have also played a leading role in such important international initiatives as the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines and the EU code of conduct on arms exports. We are playing an active role in the preparations for the forthcoming UN Conference on Small Arms and Light Weapons.
The international fight against HIV-AIDS, malaria and TB is now attracting significant international attention. The G8 – USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia – at its meeting in Okinawa in July 2000 discussed international health issues for the first time. It committed itself to deliver three critical UN targets; to reduce the number of HIV-AIDS infected young people by 25% by 2010; to reduce TB deaths and prevalence of the disease by 50% by 2010; and to reduce the burden of disease associated with malaria by 50% by 2010.
Together with key UN agencies, the G8 is developing strategies to meet these targets. The EU has recently issued a new detailed policy called accelerated action governing the fight against HIV-AIDS, malaria and TB. Ireland played an active role in the development of this policy, including through a letter from the Taoiseach to the Commission President, interventions by the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, at the Development Council and in discussions with the Commission services.
The UN will devote a special session of the General Assembly to the issue of HIV-AIDS in June 2001. Ireland is contributing to the preparatory process. We are stressing the importance of the long-term development of sustainable health systems, the need to ensure the plethora of international initiatives against communicable diseases are co-ordinated and are complementary to existing efforts in the field and the need for political leadership in the implementation of national prevention strategies.
At a recent debate on the issue of HIV-AIDS in the Security Council Ireland also raised the issue of access to medicines and mentioned the need for clarity on such difficult legal issues as tiered pricing, compulsory licensing, parallel importing and patent protection.
Ireland Aid has integrated the fight against HIV-AIDS into all of its development activities. We have also sharply increased our funding to UNAIDS and WHO and are contributing to the international aids vaccine initiative. We are also contributing to Stop TB and are considering a proposal for an allocation to the European Malaria Vaccine Initiative.
The spread of these three communicable diseases is rooted in poverty and is facilitated by the lack of adequate healthcare systems in the poor countries which are most affected. The over-arching objective of Ireland Aid is poverty eradication. In all of our interactions with the EU development programme, with UN agencies and in UN global conferences on development issues we consistently seek to focus discussion and action on the need to help the governments of the poorest countries take control of their development agenda and to implement programmes with the objective of poverty eradication.
The diversion of even a small portion of current military expenditure to development assistance would greatly assist our partners in development in making measurable progress in their efforts to reduce poverty and in the fight against communicable diseases.
