Disarmament to Combat Poverty
The South Asian countries are spending at least $10 billion on buying weapons every year. PILER believes that such huge spending by countries where people die of malaria must be curtailed and military resources must be diverted to social development.
PILER is the official partner of the international campaign on `Disarmament to Combat Poverty’ that was officially launched at the Indian Social Forum in October 2006. Two other civil society organizations, Ekta Parishad of India and the FDH of France are the campaign partners and all three jointly demand a 10 per cent reduction in defence budgets and redirection of military expenditures to social development in their origin countries. States are being pressurized to immediately freeze their respective defence budgets with zero per cent increase and 10 per cent reduction by 2010. Subsequent briefings were held in Jan 2007 during World Social Forum in Nairobi and then in March 2007, during People’s SAARC in Katmandu, Nepal. In May 2007, PILER attended the discussion meeting held in Paris, France. Around the same time, European Network against Armed Trade and IPB (International Peace Bureau), Geneva endorsed the campaign. More recently, a National Peace Consultation was held in Hyderabad on 20th April, 2008. The campaign is in the implementation phase.
FDH, the campaign partner in France, is mobilizing public opinion in France to dissuade the government from selling weapons to India and Pakistan. Both South Asian countries are major buyers of weapons from France.
Hence, PILER vehemently supports the idea that disarmament is the key to reducing poverty. PILER urges the governments to sign a `South Asian No-War Pact’.

Universalisation of Social Security in South Asia
PILER has long been associated with the campaign of “Mobilisation for Social Justice” advocating and networking for equitable and just systems. A relatively new association would be the campaign on “Universalisation of Social Security in South Asia” where PILER calls for widening the coverage of state-supported social protection and for provision of security in contingencies like old-age, unemployment, injury, chronic illness and abject poverty. This campaign is being launched from the platform of the South Asian Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE).