Blog

Run for Saferworld

The ASICS British London 10k Run will be taking place this year on Sunday 10 July.

Every year Saferworld offers places in the British London 10k Run to raise vital funds for our work in conflict affected communities and we have 18 places available in the 2011 race!

The route is set in the heart of historic London and passes by many of the city’s most famous sites, including Hyde Park, St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.

Last year, the Saferworld team made the 2010 race our most successful yet, raising a total of £4,088 to support our work improving community security around the world. It would be fantastic if we could match, or even beat, this figure in our 2011 race appeal raising money for Saferworld’s Small Arms and Transfer Controls programme.

The recent use of weapons against protestors across the Middle East and North Africa has been viewed by some to have caused several situations of humanitarian “crisis” in the region, and has renewed demand for stronger controls on the international arms trade. The case of Libya in particular, has revealed serious flaws in how international rules and regulations meant to control arms have been put into practice (see Saferworld’s recent article on Libya and arms transfers).

Without effective international controls, we risk weapons being diverted for use in the commitment of human rights violations or in regions of conflict and instability. Here, they can aggravate existing tensions, help to escalate already violent situations and have a devastating effect on lives and livelihoods in the world’s most vulnerable countries. According to the World Bank’s most recent World Development Report, “No low income fragile or conflict-affected country has yet achieved a single Millennium Development Goal.”

Saferworld’s Small Arms and Transfer Controls Programme helps create safer communities and improve the lives of those facing situations of armed conflict by working at national, regional and international levels to advocate for stronger controls on the global arms trade. We work with partners in UN offices and agencies in New York, and at regional and national levels on a variety of themes and initiatives including working to ensure a robust and effective UN Arms Trade Treaty.

Find out about Saferworld’s work on this issue at the community level through a photo story on our project in Kenya, where we are working with local partners to support community based initiatives for arms management and control.

We have set up an event for the London 10K on our Virgin Money Giving charity page to make fundraising fun, easy, and secure for our runners and their sponsors. Through the site, runners set up personalised profiles, linked to our event, which can be promoted through their own Facebook and Twitter accounts and sponsors can make online donations and get updates on progress in training and fundraising.

The run is also featured in the ‘Support Us’ section of our website and on Saferworld’s Facebook page, so please feel free to “share” the event with friends, family and colleagues who could be potential Saferworld Runners 2011!

After the run the Saferworld team will be having a picnic in St James Park. So if you would like to find out more about our work, please feel free to come along.