Media coverage for our project

On June 9^th, 2004, Top Channel TV, the most respected TV station in Albania hosted a national debate on small arms in its popular “Top Show” program. Present in the show were various personalities, including UN, civil society and police personnel. The show dealt with issues of arms control and education for disarmament. Such topic is relevant in the Albania context,  particularly after the crisis of 1997, in which people looted weapons as the state institutions collapsed.

Issues of arms control arose in the TV program, as some participants argued that the best weapons control strategy would be to hand weapons freely to people and let them take care of their own security. The main backing to this argument was that the USA has a similar policy towards guns. However the argument was countered easily. An increase in weapons increases insecurity. The US experience teaches us all that gun ownership could contribute to escalating violence rather than reducing it. After that segment, the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima was discussed. The topic covered the danger of nuclear proliferation and how it is making the world less secure. The speakers focused not only on the possibility of unaccountable individuals or states getting hold of nuclear weapons, but also the danger that comes from the five official and three unofficial nuclear weapons states. The threat to security posed by the channeling of funds globally toward military instead of civilian uses was then explored. The speakers argued that such a trend hinders human development and provides the necessary infrastructure for future wars and conflict.

The debate also touched on the UN efforts towards disarmament and peace education in Albania. A representative from the UNDP in Albania talked about the important contribution made to physical removal of weapons in Albania through its program on Weapons in Exchange for Development. This program provided community-based infrastructure in exchange for weapons collected. Education for peace and disarmament was discussed as a way of sustaining this physical removal of weapons. In particular, the peace and disarmament education project in Albania, a joint project between the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs and the civil society organization Hague Appeal for Peace, aims to sustain the physical removal of weapons through peace education programming in schools and communities. Using local peace resources, the project is creating and fostering alternatives to weapons and violence in Albanian communities. It responds to the actual needs of schools and communities through ongoing training and assessment. Support for school infrastructure–such  as computers and software to bridge the technology and knowledge gaps—also helps promote an open and democratic education system. Project activities include sustained work such as: teacher training; the development of student leaders and government; and also debate clubs to foster critical thinking over local and global issues of peace and disarmament. Taken as a whole, these activities contribute to what has been called a long term mental disarmament process.

Televised discussions such as this one are an important way of highlighting the significance of disarmament in the development of Albanian society. While many people recognize instantly the fact that weapons wreak havoc in their communities, few know of disarmament education initiatives that can help prevent armed violence in the long run. Further, such public discussion lends support to a wider societal process of mental disarmament and democratic development. 

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