Military spending questioned
The Global Day of Action on Military Spending took place on 18 April
The Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) took place on 18 April.
According to the Global Campaign on Military Spending UK, the United Kingdom is the sixth highest military spender in the world, with an annual budget of £45 billion. Global military spending in 2015 was €1,500 billion (£1,190 billion). This year, once again, the campaign asked people around the country how they would use that money to make the world safer.
Quaker Peace & Social Witness supported the initiative. Visitors to the Quaker Centre at Friends House on 18 April were asked to ‘vote’ for how they would spend the UK’s defence budget, by dropping buttons in buckets.
A statement issued by the Global Campaign on Military Spending called on the European Union and its member states ‘to find a better balance between military expenditures on the one hand and investments in peacebuilding and conflict prevention, the Green Climate Fund and the implementation of the sustainable development goals’. Among the signatories of the statement were the Quaker Council for European Affairs, the Northern Friends Peace Board and the International Peace Bureau.
