Topic:
Country: South Africa
Delegate Name: Avi Messamore
Committee: Disarmament and International Security Committee
Topic: Reduction of Military Budgets
Country: South Africa
School: Mattawan High School
Reducing military budgets will help countries to take time and invest in more concerning current issues. Government leaders decide their own country’s military budget. Military budgets are decided and maintained based on what each country deems appropriate for themselves. Military budgets are the concern of each government. The remaining budget will then be spent on other concerns of the country, such as healthcare and education. The amount a country spends on its military may concern other countries as the more spent on the military, the stronger the military is able to become. What the remnants of their budget is spent on will affect the country in different ways. The more money spent on the military, the less a country will be able to spend on other needs and issues. As important as it is to have a strong military, a country also needs to focus on personal issues within its borders. It is important for reduction of military budgets to be discussed so that other countries are aware of how to support the rest of their country.
Izumi Nakamitsu, the high representative for Disarmament Affairs has stated that “[The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development] sets out a road map to end hunger, protect the planet, achieve gender equality, improve health and more. Making this vision a reality requires substantial financial investment, and redirecting resources from militaries to economic and social development can make a key contribution” (UNODA Occasional Papers). The United Nations Report on Military Expenditures (MilEx) was created to monitor each countries military spendings. The hope for MilEX was that every member state would report their military spendings to help build trust amongst countries. Imali Yethu, a group of social organizations has been working with the national treasury of South Africa to encourage transparency and connectedness with the people.
South Africa has been spending less on the military at an increasing rate each year. In the past few years, South Africa has been decreasing military spending to focus on the economy and to decrease overall expenditures. South Africa would like to increase the transparency of military spendings in order to build trust with other countries. Additionally, any policies supporting the increase or secrecy of military spending will not be supported by South Africa.
South Africa would be in support of the UN creating more programs that would build trust amongst countries. Creating transparency on military expenditures will help to decrease spending on military matters. Member states could easily help address this issue by submitting expenditure information to MilEX, thus creating trust amongst member states. By creating transparency with other countries, there will be a bigger sense of trust amongst world leaders, which will in turn lead to countries feeling less threatened, which will then lead to countries spending less on their militaries and more on their economies.
