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American Morning

Nobel Prize Winners Promote Peace, Human Rights in Washington

Aired June 12, 2001 - 09:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A push for peace in Washington.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve joins us now. She has more on that. Jeanne, good morning.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

Four Nobel Peace Prize winners are in Washington promoting peace and human rights. The four laureates were honored at the Kennedy Center last night: Lech Walesa of Poland, Costa Rica's Oscar Arias, Betty Williams of Northern Ireland and Jody Williams, an anti-land- mine activist in the U.S.

The four of are the Prophets of Peace program of the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives.

Former president Oscar Arias won his Nobel in 1987 for devising a plan that brought peace to Central America. He joins me now.

Thanks so much for joining us here today.

In "The Washington Times" newspaper this morning: a headline saying that China is secretly shipping arms to Cuba. Is that exactly the kind of news you do not want to read?

OSCAR ARIAS, 1987 NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE: Yes, I think it's a very unwise decision for Cuba to buy arms from China or from any other country, because, well, Cuba is one of the poorest countries in Latin America. And certainly they have many needs to satisfy to the Cuban people. And arms is shouldn't be a priority for them.

MESERVE: And this is a problem throughout the world, in your view?

ARIAS: Yes, yes. We live in a world where, ironically, the five prominent members of the Security Council are responsible for more than 80 percent of the arms being sold today.

MESERVE: And the U.S. responsible for more than anyone else?

ARIAS: Yes. The U.S., for the last 10 years, since the end of the Cold War, has become the main exporter of arms. And this is one of the reasons why a group of the Nobel laureates -- 18 already -- have been working with me on an international code of conduct on arms transfers because we want to...

MESERVE: And what would that do, that code?

ARIAS: That would restrain and either ban the sale of weapons to nondemocratic countries, to countries which violate -- or governments which violate human rights, to countries which could use the arms to oppress other the people or their own people, and to countries which are involved in terrorism, and to countries which do not comply with the U.N. Register of Conventional Arms.

MESERVE: And what the prospects of this code being adopted?

ARIAS: Well, this is an idea whose time hasn't come, you know.

MESERVE: Has not come?

ARIAS: Yes, it has not come.

MESERVE: Why not?

ARIAS: The world is spending today $780 billion in defense. It's a big business. And I got into our value system profits comforts. Profits come before principles.

And the industrialized countries of the world -- and China is one of them, a big exporter of arms -- but the U.S. is the main exporter of arms -- most of the arms go to the impoverished countries of the developing world.

And take Latin America now. The U.S. is trying to sell F-16s, Lockheed Martins, F-16s fighter jets to Chile. Well, Latin America needs many things today at the beginning of the 21st century. Certainly, the new arms race is not one of them. And the point here is, you should put principles before profits. Otherwise, what you are doing by selling arms to Chile is simply perpetrating poverty in the Latin American countries.

MESERVE: President Oscar Arias, thanks so much for joining us here today.

ARIAS: Thank you.

MESERVE: And next hour, Nobel laureate Betty Williams of Northern Ireland -- Leon, now back to you.

HARRIS: All right, thank you Jeanne. We'll check back with you later on.

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