The Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons | Le Réseau canadien pour l’abolition des armes nucléaires
Paul Meyer, CIPS/CNWC event, University of Ottawa, November 28, 2022
Insecurity is spreading. Another hot war in the Ukraine, a climate emergency, another Cold War and nuclear arms race, another long war just announced, 100 million people displaced by conflict and climate change, vast inequality and precarious conditions everywhere. Our new global neighbourhood looks rough and risky.
Whatever happened to security, “the state of being free from danger or threat”?
Report of Proceedings: August 15, 2017
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 23-25, 2017
Strong arguments are being made to rid the world of the risk posed by reliance on nuclear deterrence. We should adopt a mutual security policy based on sustainable common security principles.
The Palme Commission in 1982 proposed the concept of Common Security: “All states, even the most powerful, are dependent in the end upon the good sense and restraint of other nations. Even ideological and political opponents have a shared interest in survival. In the long run, no nation can base its security on the insecurity of others. True security requires a cooperative effort, a partnership in the struggle against war.”
What are some “tools” of common security?
What are “Confidence and Security Building Measures” (CSBM)?
States wanting to improve their security can develop techniques of gradually developing confidence between themselves and states they perceive as threats. During the Cold War, the NATO and Warsaw Pact states agreed through the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) to participate in:
Are there other security building processes?
Scholars, Studies and Reports proposing alternative security options:
“In the view of Ceasefire.ca:
Once the pandemic is fully under control, it is essential that the government start to meaningfully engage in the global examination of what security means going forward.
We are not suggesting an integrated review like the UK has just completed, not least because of the drastically reduced capacity of Global Affairs in comparison to National Defence and our national security apparatus.
But a good starting point would be the launching of a Commission on Rethinking Security, to hear expert and other views (both within and without Canada), but also to undertake relevant studies and reports, to take account of, and contribute to, the burgeoning analyses in this area.
We call upon the Government of Canada to begin to prepare for the launch, as soon as the pandemic is fully under control, of a Canadian Commission on Rethinking Security to promote peace, human well-being and environmental sustainability”