DYB2011-Part-II-web

Related issues, including information and outreach
Nations Development Programme, reaffirmed in its Outcome Document60 the commitment of the 112 signatory States61 to promote the reduction
and prevention of armed violence as a necessary part of their development
programmes. 62
At the second and third sessions63 of the Preparatory Committee for the
United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty to be held in 2012, the
negative impact of unregulated arms transfers on security, development and
human rights was a recurring point of discussion in these preparatory sessions.
The Group of Governmental Experts established in 2010 to review
the operation and further development of the United Nations Standardized
Instrument for Reporting Military Expenditures completed its work and
submitted its report64 in 2011. The standardized reporting instrument seeks
and receives information from Member States on their national military
expenditures on a voluntary basis and one of its underlying objectives is to
encourage restraint in military spending.
Gender and disarmament
Women hold up more than half the sky and represent much of the world’s
unrealized potential. ... We need their full engagement—in government,
business and civil society. And this year, for the first time, we have UN
Women—our own unique and powerful engine for dynamic change.
Ban Ki-moon, United nations secretary-General 65
The protection of women and girls from violence and their involvement
in peacekeeping, conflict prevention and the peacebuilding process underscore
the importance of gender equality and women’s empowerment. The United
Nations Security Council’s landmark resolution 1325 (2000) encouraged
“all those involved in the planning for disarmament, demobilization and
reintegration to consider the different needs of female and male ex-combatants
and to take into account the needs of their dependants” (para. 13). This was
60 Available from http://www.genevadeclaration.org/gdrevcon2011/gdrevcon2011/outcomedocument.html
(accessed 17 May 2012).
61 Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, “Who has signed it?” Available
from http://www.genevadeclaration.org/the-geneva-declaration/who-has-signed-it.html
(accessed 17 May 2012).
62 Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, “GD Review Conference
2011: Reduce armed violence, enable development”. Available from http://www.
genevadeclaration.org/gdrevcon2011/gdrevcon2011.html (accessed 17 May 2012).
63 The sessions were held in New York in 2011.
64 A/66/89 and Corr.1-3.
65 See Secretary-General’s remarks to the General Assembly, New York, 21 September 2011.
Available from http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/sgsm13823.doc.htm (accessed
17 May 2012).
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