UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on every nation to divert weapons budgets to economic development, the United Nations (UN) said Monday.

“The world is over-armed, and development is under-funded,” he told the 192-member Assembly at the start of the thematic debate on disarmament and world security, and both the role of the UN and challenges for the international community. “Spending on weapons worldwide is now well above $1 trillion a year – and rising.”

“These priorities should be reversed. By accelerating disarmament, we can liberate the resources we need to combat climate change, address food insecurity and achieve the Millennium Development Goals,” Ban added, referring to the ambitious targets set by the UN Summit of 2000 cut down on several social issues by 2015, including extreme hunger and poverty, maternal and infant mortality and lack of access to education and health care.

Ban mentioned the nuclear weapons reduction treaty between the U.S. and Russia should be taken as a momentum builder to continue security measures, but conventional armaments should be taken as seriously as weapons of mass destruction.

“Small arms in the wrong hands destroy lives and livelihoods, impede peace efforts, hinder humanitarian aid, facilitate the illicit trade in narcotics and obstruct investment and development,” Ban said.

General Assembly President Ali Treki agreed, after acknowledging the importance of a successful outcome at next month’s five-yearly review conference of the 40-year-old Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

“If on the one hand, nuclear weapons have only been used once in the history of mankind, indeed with catastrophic effects, on the other hand, conventional weapons fuel conflicts every day around the world and constantly threaten international peace and security. Moreover, the imbalance in conventional weapons capabilities leads to threat perceptions and arms races, which in turn imperil regional and international peace and security,” Treki added.

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