NOTE TO
AC T ION FOR DIS A RM A MENT: 10 T H INGS YOU C A N DO
In August 2002, the United Nations published a report on disarmament and non-proliferation (DNP) education. In the foreword, former Secretary-General Kofi Annan touched upon an important truth when he wrote that an entire generation was growing up without having known the terror of living under the threat of a global nuclear disaster. Disarmament education plays an important role in helping us to remember that this threat still exists. That remembering can be used as a powerful tool to build a clear understanding of the concepts and issues on how best to achieve international peace and security. The goal of Action for Disarmament: 10 Things You Can Do is to provide resources to help empower young people to participate in making decisions “both public and private� about disarmament and non-proliferation, and to hopefully increase their safety and security and ultimately the security of all humanity. Disarmament education has changed a few times over the last decades. While the initial focus during the Cold War was on nuclear weapons, the geopolitical changes that took place in the 1990s opened the doors of multilateral disarmament to include the conventional arms trade, in particular small arms, light weapons and landmines. Today, DNP education has expanded to include the threat of terrorism. In particular, nuclear smuggling has become a source of concern. With the proliferation of nuclear technology, the potential for nuclear materials to be stolen or diverted has increased. Since 1993 there have been a number of confirmed cases of nuclear smuggling involving radioactive materials that could be used to make a radiological weapon. New threats demand new thinking. DNP education has the potential to play a critical role in engaging public participation to develop new strategies to reduce this threat. Too often, information about conflict and the proliferation of weapons is retrospective, meaning the violence has already happened. Disarmament education asks: what can we do in the future to bring about a culture of peace, security, and
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