Marian Hobbs Speech: 'Say No to war, Yes to peace' rally, Parliament Grounds, Thurs Feb 27 1.15pm
Thank you for marching for peace
Thank you for working for peace
I am speaking as Minister for Disarmament and as Minister responsible for NZAid. I too want peace. I want a peaceful
means of disarming all states of weapons of mass destruction.
Arming for disarmament is like fighting for peace and seems a contradiction.
As a small state in the world scene, I believe strongly in working with other states to achieve peace – that is why we
work within the UN to promote a peaceful route to disarmament.
Working within the UN is to be involved in working on a whole range of issues: health, food supply, clean water,
refugees. The media focus on war of the last few weeks is to deny the work of the UN in raising the level of safety and
health for all peoples – and in doing so to promote peace, by removing the causes of conflict.