The Humanity Campaign » Conflict Resolution http://www.humanitycampaign.org Investing in social entrepreneurs working to reduce poverty and hunger in the U.S. and abroad Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:00:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 en hourly 1 25 Facts on Global Military Spending http://www.humanitycampaign.org/blog/25-facts-on-global-military-spending-facts/ http://www.humanitycampaign.org/blog/25-facts-on-global-military-spending-facts/#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:56:05 +0000 ryanallis http://www.humanitycampaign.org/?p=174 25 Facts on Global Military Spending To make it on this list a statistic must be from a trusted primary source with a clear "as of" date or a reputable secondary source that clearly lists its primary sources. All statistics are sourced and cited at the bottom of the page. Please add a comment if you find additional good sources.
  1. Between 2000 and 2008, including supplemental war spending, U.S. military spending increased from 387 billion to 710 billion, an 83% increase. (1)
  2. In 2007, world military expenditure reached $1.339 trillion (2)
  3. In 2007, the USA’s military spending accounted for 45 per cent of the world total, followed by the UK, China, France and Japan. (2)
  4. In 2007, the 15 countries with the highest military spending account for 83 per cent of the total (2)
  5. Between 2001 and 2007 US military expenditure has increased by 59 per cent in real terms, principally because of spending on military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and due to increases in the ‘base’ defense budget. (2)
  6. Global Military spending increased 45% between 1998 and 2007 (2)
  7. In 2007, the United Nations and all its agencies and funds spent $24.9 billion, or about $4 for each of the world’s inhabitants (2)
  8. In 2007, the UN’s budget was 1.86% of the world’s military expenditure (2, 3)
  9. In 2008, world military expenditure reached 1.472 trillion (4)
  10. In 2008, U.S. military spending was $711 billion, 48.28% of the global total, followed by China with 8.28%, Russia with 4.75%, and the UK with 3.76% (4)
  11. In 2008, the combined military spending of the second through eighth largest military spenders (China, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Germany, and Italy) was $300.2 million less than the military spending of the first largest military spender, the United States (4)
  12. In 2008, US military spending was more than the next 46 highest spending countries in the world combined. (4)
  13. in 2008, US military spending was 5.8 times more than China, 10.2 times more than Russia, and 98.6 times more than Iran. (4)
  14. In 2008, US military spending is almost 55 times the spending on the six states of Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria whose spending amounts to around $13 billion. (4)
  15. In 2008, the United States and its strongest allies (the NATO countries, Japan, South Korea and Australia) spend $1.1 trillion on their militaries combined, representing 72 percent of the world’s total. (4)
  16. In 2009, the U.S. Military base budget was $515.4 billion in 2009 plus 135.8 billion in emergency and discretionary spending for a total of $651.2 billion. (5)
  17. In 2006, including all military-related expenditures outside of the Department of Defense, the United States spent $934 billion on its military in 2006 (6)
  18. In 2007, one day of spending of the U.S. Pentagon ($1.6 billion) would equal enough funds to ensure antimalarial bed net protection for every sleeping site in Africa for five years (300 million bed nets at $5 each). (7)
  19. In 2007, the United States spent $572 billion on its military, $11 billion on international security, $14 billion on development and humanitarian aid, and $11 billion ...

    ]]> http://www.humanitycampaign.org/blog/25-facts-on-global-military-spending-facts/feed/ 0 Investigating Gender Inequality in Tanzania http://www.humanitycampaign.org/blog/investigating-gender-inequality-in-tanzania/ http://www.humanitycampaign.org/blog/investigating-gender-inequality-in-tanzania/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:49:40 +0000 admin http://www.humanitycampaign.org/?p=85 A Post by Guest Writer Jess Shorland
    WOMEDA

    WOMEDA in Karagwe, Tanzania

    I have just returned from visiting Tanzania. I was there from July 5th through July 12th. On this, my second trip to Karagwe, Tanzania, I had only one week to learn as much as I possibly could about local conflict - the reasons behind it, who was often involved, and possible solutions. Thanks mostly to Juma Masisi, Director of WOMEDA (the Women's Emancipation and Development Agency), I managed to talk with over thirty women, all of whom shared their amazing stories with me. The women’s experiences all demonstrated the seemingly archaic gender gap that remains not only in the town of Karagwe, but in many villages across the globe. So I began my work to speak with these women connected to WOMEDA in this small rural village in Tanzania. In front of a clay brick house, kneeling on mats woven by the calloused hands of the women sitting opposite me, I began with my own story of how my rights had been violated when I was 17 years old. I had hopes that being open and candid with the women would bridge some of the cultural gaps and language barriers that I thought could prevent the comfort that fosters honesty. With repetitive "Poles" (which means sorry in Swahili) as Juma translated, the women grew more serious. After I explained my experiences and how they influenced my interest in gender inequality, I asked them if they would share their stories with me. One by one, the women elaborated on their struggles. The Women’s Stories Zainabu, 28, has a family of eight children, three wives and one husband. When she married her husband, she had no idea that he would eventually take two other wives, and that one of those wives would live with them in the house that she built. "I thought he would at least ask me, or even tell me, but it was very abrupt," she said. She explained expressionlessly that she still loves him, but would have never married him had she known that this was his intention. She finds it painful and difficult to share her husband and no longer wishes to have sex with him. But if she refuses, she faces a high risk of being beaten or kicked out of her house. And she fears leaving him because her husband will keep her children, who are a source of labor and potential income (especially female children because of the dowry system still in place). Looking down at her clasped hands, she said that she could never bear to leave her children. What she did not know is that under Tanzanian law, children younger than seven are usually left in the mother's custody, and children older than seven are given the right to make the decision themselves. Because of the lack of information and awareness of these laws, Zainabu thought that she had no other options. For her, it was either deal with it ...

    ]]>     http://www.humanitycampaign.org/blog/investigating-gender-inequality-in-tanzania/feed/ 0     What We Did in Africa http://www.humanitycampaign.org/blog/what-we-did-in-africa/ http://www.humanitycampaign.org/blog/what-we-did-in-africa/#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:39:02 +0000 admin http://www.humanitycampaign.org/?p=77 July 5th, 12pm - I'm looking out the Virgin Atlantic airplane window at Mt. Kenya as we end our twelve day trip to Kenya and Uganda. We've begun the twenty-eight hour journey home. East Africa is a beautiful region with substantial economic opportunity, and very worthy of a visit. This was my second trip to Uganda, but first to Kenya. What Drew Us In We went to learn. We went to visit some of the non-profits The Humanity Campaign has worked with in the past and those we are considering supporting in the future. We came back changed permanently having seen the juxtaposition of the beautiful rising Africa against the constant suffering of unlistened to and forgotten millions of people just like you and I. In the developing world, 2.6 billion people live under $2 per day (PPP adjusted) according to the World Bank and 49,300 people die each and every day needlessly from preventable disease and starvation according to the WHO. Some of The Stories That Sear Themselves Into Your Memory For just a second, imagine 139 girls from your local elementary school have been kidnapped by an armed rebel group and taken to a jungle 400 miles away. One hundred and nine of them are negotiated to be returned but 30 of them stay and are raped, abused, and are forced to be sex slaves for as long as thirteen years. Six of these thirty girls are killed attempting to escape. Imagine hiding in a snake-infested ceiling drop at your high school to avoid being kidnapped by the LRA. Imagine being 17 and living in a slum in Africa with over 1 million residents. Both your parents died of AIDS, then your grandfather was killed, then your pastor who took you in abused you. Now you're on your own, struggling everyday to survive. These are just some of the life altering stories I've heard over the last twelve days. Day By Day, What We Did
    bob, jess, ryan
    Bob Phoenix, Jess Shorland, and I left the iContact parking lot at 4:30pm on Wednesday June 24. We drove over to Raleigh-Durham International Airport for our flight to London. We arrived in Heathrow Airport on Thursday morning, took the Heathrow Express to Paddington, took the Underground to Waterloo, and were on the London Eye by 10:30am in good tourist form. In our twelve hour layover in London we rode the Eye, took photos on the lions at Trafalgar Square, ate Bangers and Mash at The Clarence, saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham, and visited the London office of Credit Suisse in Canary Wharf to visit some of Bob's co-workers. We departed from Heathrow that Thursday night and arrived the next morning in Nairobi. After filling out our Kenya arrival cards and swine flu papers, we made it through immigration in about an hour. Three $25 Kenyan Visas later, we picked up our luggage at baggage claim and excitedly met Mary Muhara from Africa Rising at international arrivals. ...

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