Abbreviation | GCOMS |
---|---|
Formation | 2014 |
Type | Non-profit international campaign |
Headquarters | Barcelona, Spain |
Location |
|
Fields | Disarmament, reduction of Military Budget |
Key people | Joseph Gerson, Angelo Cardona, Reiner Braun, Jordi Calvo Rufanges, Chloé Meulewaeter, Francesco Vignarca |
Website | www |
The Global Campaign on Military Spending (GCOMS) is a global campaign that was created in December 2014 by the International Peace Bureau (IPB) to tackle the worldwide issue of excessive military spending. [1] [2] [3] [4]
The aim of the campaign is to pressure the world's governments to invest money in the sectors of health, education, employment and climate change rather than military. It also calls for an annual, minimum reallocation of 10% from the military budgets of all states. Finally, it advocates the reduction of arms production and international weapons trade. [5] [6] [7]
The campaign organises the Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) to bring public, media and political attention to the costs of military spending and the need to invest in new priorities. [8] [3]
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the world's second-most populous country after India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land. With an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third-largest country by total land area. The country is divided into 33 province-level divisions: 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two semi-autonomous special administrative regions. Beijing is the national capital, while Shanghai is its most populous city by urban area and largest financial center along with Chongqing as the largest city proper in the world.
The Guatemalan Armed Forces is the unified military organization comprising the Guatemalan Army, Navy, Air Force, and Presidential Honor Guard. The president of Guatemala is the commander-in-chief of the military, and formulates policy, training, and budget through the Minister of Defence. Day-to-day operations are conducted by the Chief of the General Staff.
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The International Peace Bureau, founded in 1891, is one of the world's oldest international peace federations. The organisation was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910 for acting "as a link between the peace societies of the various countries". In 1913, Henri La Fontaine was also awarded the Prize "[For his work as] head of the International Peace Bureau". As of 2012, eleven other Nobel Peace Prize laureates have been members of the IPB.
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The People's Republic of China (PRC) and the State of Israel formally established diplomatic relations in 1992. While the Republic of China had de jure recognized Israeli sovereignty in 1949, it eventually lost the Chinese Civil War, bringing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to power across mainland China. In 1950, Israel became the first country in the Middle East to recognize the PRC as the sole government of China, but the CCP did not reciprocate by establishing diplomatic ties due to Israel's alignment with the Western Bloc during the Cold War. This discontent persisted until the Cold War came to a close with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) takes place every year in mid-April. The day was originally proposed by the International Peace Bureau (IPB) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) with the aim of promoting a common awareness of the amounts of money spent on military. Military expenses reach about $1,700 billion each year. On GDAMS groups around the world advocate a shift of budget priorities and promote spending this amount of money on human development.
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