UN / SACHS

Addressing a special session on sustainable security in the 21st century, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General and the director of the Earth Institute Professor Jeffrey Sachs calls the search for solutions to conflict today a "pathetic failure" noting that this year the United States government will spend (USD) 750 billion on military expenditures and under (USD) 3 billion on peaceful development assistance. UNTV

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:25
• Production Date: 10 May 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Subject Topical: POLITICAL CONDITIONS; POLITICAL MOVEMENTS; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; PEACE AND SECURITY; DISARMAMENT
• Geographic Subject: UNITED STATES
• MAMS Id: U100510f

Description

STORY: UN / SACHS
SOURCE: UNTV
TRT: 1:25
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 10 MAY 2010, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior UN building

10 MAY 2010, NEW YORK CITY

1. Pan right, conference room
2. Med shot, panelists
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Sachs, Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General:
“This year the United States government will spend $750 billion on the military approach to our world and under $30 billion on the peaceful development assistance or to put it other way, we will spend $1 million per soldier, per soldier per year stationed in Afghanistan.”
4. Cutaway, audience
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Sachs, Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General:
“Every one of those million dollars could rescue a village. Think about the fact that the amount that we will spend in Afghanistan in a year in roughly 10 times the country’s gross domestic product. This is a pathetic failure of our imagination I would say by any standard.”
6. Cutaway, audience
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Sachs, Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General:
“If we don’t invest in peace and invest in consolidating peace then war zones one way or another are absolutely bound to follow.”
8. Wide shot, end of conference

Storyline

Addressing a special session on sustainable security in the 21st century, Special Advisor to the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General and the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, called the excessive investment in the military versus peaceful development assistance a “pathetic failure.”

He noted that this year alone the United States government is expected to spend (USD) 750 billion on military expenditures and under (USD) 3 billion on peaceful assistance. He added that on average “we will spend $1 million per soldier, per soldier per year stationed in Afghanistan.”

In comparison, he said “the amount that we will spend in Afghanistan in a year in roughly 10 times the country’s gross domestic product.”

Sachs addressed a panel discussion at the UN entitled “Sustainable Security for the 21st Century” organized by the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs and the Global Security Institute. The discussion centered on issues relating to disarmament and development.

Summing up his argument for investing in peace, Sachs said that “if we don’t invest in peace and invest in consolidating peace then war zones one way or another are absolutely bound to follow.”

Other panelists included UN Messenger for Peace Jane Goodall, Thomas Stelzer, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-agency Affairs and Jonathon Granoff, head of Global Security Institute.