Douglas Roche

Douglas Roche is a Canadian author, parliamentarian and diplomat who is currently Chair of Canada's National Committee for the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations. He served as Canada's Ambassador for Disarmament from 1984 to 1989 and was Chair of the United Nations Disarmament Committee, the main UN body dealing with political and security issues, at the 43rd General Assembly in 1988.

Douglas Roche was elected to the Canadian Parliament four times, serving from 1972 to 1984. He has served as President of the United Nations Association in Canada and was elected in 1985 as Honorary President of the World Federation of the United Nations. He is the author of 11 books. In his latest book, Bargain for Humanity: Global Security By 2000, he examines the movement away from militarism, the Earth Summit, the resurgence of the UN and standards for an equitable new world order.

"The roots of conflicts and insecurity include poverty, economic disparities within nations and between them, oppression and the denial of fundamental freedoms. Unless problems of economic and social underdevelopment and ecological damage are resolved, common security can never be truly attained. Confronted by multiple threats to humanity's survival, the adversaries in the old East-West conflict no longer stand on opposite sides; they face the same danger, especially in the North-South divide. Thus, common security ought now to evolve from a concept intended to protect against war to a comprehensive approach to world peace, social justice, economic development and environmental protection."