wfn.org | AFSC: Code of Conduct

[RByler@afsc.org]

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For Immediate Release
June 6, 1997
Contact:  J.Ron Byler (215/241-7060)
or Aishah Shahidah Simmons (215/241-7056)

AFSC Joins Nobel Peace Laureate Effort Advocating for 
an International Arms Control Agreement

PHILADELPHIA - In an historic meeting in New York City, May 29, 1997, the
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) joined with fourteen other Nobel
Peace laureates to sign what the laureates hope will be the basis for an
international arms control agreement. 
	"The International Code of Conduct on Arms Transfers is necessary," said
Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica and convenor of his fellow peace
laureates, "because the poor of the world are crying out for schools and
doctors, not guns and generals." 
	The proposed International Code of Conduct governs all arms transfers,
including conventional weapons and munitions, military and security
training, and sensitive military and dual-use technologies.  Countries
wanting to purchase arms would need to prove that they promote democracy and
protect human rights.  The proposal prohibits arms sales to nations that
support terrorism.
	Don Gann, clerk of AFSC's Board and Corporation, said at the signing that
Quakers are committed to the establishment of a world without weapons, a
goal that must inevitably be achieved incrementally.
	Nobel peace laureates attending the signing included the Dalai Lama (1989),
Elie Wiesel (1986), Oscar Arias (1987), East Timor independence leader Jose
Ramos-Horta (1996) and Northern Ireland peace activist Betty Williams (1976).  
In addition to AFSC, two other organizations that have received the Nobel
prize were present -- Amnesty International (1977); and International
Physicians for the 
Prevention of Nuclear War (1985).  Nobel laureates sending supporting
statements 
included Mikhail Gorbachev (1990), Lech Walesa (1983), Archbishop Desmond
Tutu (1984), Rigoberta Menchu (1992) and Joseph Rotblat (1995).
	"In 1995, world military spending totaled nearly $800 billion dollars,"
said Arias in introducing the Code.  "If we redirected just $40 billion
dollars of those resources over the next 10 years to fighting poverty, all
of the world's population would enjoy basic social services, such as
education, health care and clean water."  
	The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker organization, was
awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1947 with its British partner, Friends
Service Council, on behalf of the Religious Society of Friends.  According
to Gann, AFSC is committed to developing a grassroots educational campaign
in support of the Code, emphasizing links between violence in ourselves, in
our communities, among peoples and nations, and the connection in turn to
the availability of weapons.
	"We have had enough of the death, murder and destruction that rages around
the world," said Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) in introducing the Nobel
laureates at the signing.  McKinney said that each arms agreement with a
repressive regime is, in effect, "a license to kill" and that the United
States, as a world leader, must do better.  McKinney is once again the
sponsor in this session of the U.S. House of Representatives of a code of
conduct governing U.S. arms sales.
	Oscar Arias will give the keynote address at AFSC's Annual Public Gathering
on November 15 in Philadelphia.  AFSC's Peace Education Division has
developed a packet of information to help Friends Meetings and other groups
learn more about the Code of Conduct and related efforts to curb the sale of
arms at home and abroad.
The packet, as well as the Code of Conduct and the AFSC and Gann statements,
will soon be available on AFSC's website at www.afsc.org.
-- 30 --
The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization which
includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace
and humanitarian service.  Its work is based on the Quaker belief in the
worth of every person, and faith in the power of love to overcome violence
and injustice.