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Reasons to avoid war
There are many good reasons to avoid war - in this context used to include extensive conflicts involving physical violence within countries as well as those between countries, whether or not war has been officially declared.
- Humanitarian grounds
- Civilians, who may have little interest or involvement in the dispute, suffer when conflicts, whether between countries, or between communities within a country, escalate into physical violence and war. They suffer both directly from the violence and indirectly from the disruption to normal life, food supplies, services and physical and social infrastructure.
- Economic grounds
- War is expensive. The costs of developing increasingly high technology weaponry are escalating. Military spending diverts resources away from combating pollution, environmental destruction and social welfare. By contrast, conflict resolution can offer much better value for money.
- Environmental grounds
- War can be devastating to the environment, destroying vegetation and habitats, causing pollution and scattering debris, sometimes lethal, including landmines and depleted uranium.
- Violent conflict can be prevented
- Opportunities to avoid the human suffering and economic costs of war have been missed. There has been a failure to defuse potentially violent situations. On many occasions in the past, war or violent conflict could perhaps have been avoided if more effort and resources had been channelled into tackling the situation and resolving matters at an early stage. There are examples where this has been done successfully but in many others nothing has been done until too late, or what was done was under-resourced and insufficient.
- Considerable expertise exists
- There are many organisations and individuals with a great deal of expertise in preventing and resolving conflict and in reconciliation work. Some have a strongly pacifist philosophy but most accept that a diverse range of skills, expertise and activities is needed to transform violent conflict, rebuild civil society and establish real security. The armed forces have expertise and a role in some situations.
