War Resisters' International Staff and Executive Committee

Report 2002–2006

Covering the period July 2002 to June 2006

Introduction
Programme Work
Internal organisational matters
WRI Working Groups
Publications
Who was Who in WRI 2002-2006
Notes

Introduction

This is a Report from the staff, Executive Committee and Working Group convenors on the work of War Resisters’ International since the last “Triennial”, which was actually four years ago in Dublin.

Reports of the past few years often began with a statement that it was been “a year of challenges.” Those challenges were both internal – such as financial difficulties - and the challenges we face as war resisters in a world at war, a world full of violence and militarism.

Last year we reported that we were making progress on WRI internal matters. At the 2004 Council in Macedonia we asked “What kind of an organization do we want WRI to be in 2007?” That conversation lead to an affirmation of WRI as a radical antimilitarist network, and resulted in the development of the Nonviolence Programme. That programme, along with Right to Refuse to Kill, puts us more clearly on a path towards our goals of promoting nonviolence and antimilitarism. The combination of these programmes will provide more resources for our network and more opportunities to expand the network. The various campaigns and projects of these programmes can help strengthen the grassroots’ capacity to resist war and strive for the removal of all causes of war.

But we still face a lot of challenges to become the organization we want to be. The Nonviolence Programme is developing, but will only succeed with the participation of the network as it works to create resources to strengthen the network. As you will see in this Report, many of our challenges lie in the strengthening of that network. But it is also important to see that some of our achievements have been the strengthening the global aspect of our network beyond our traditional base. Our Council meetings have been in Macedonia and South Korea, but we were unable to find funding for the Council in Colombia in time. The Right to Refuse to Kill program works with resisters in Israel, the Balkans, South Korea, Russia, and Turkey among other places. We have had a regular presence with workshops and seminars at social forums in the past 18 months, an important focus of the Nonviolence for Change aspect of the Nonviolence Programme.

New publications, including web based resources, will help us be more global. We still struggle with translations of WRI publications into the WRI languages and beyond, but have made progress in that area as well.

The Working Groups can play an important role in bringing people together, renewed energy needs to be put into that effort.

WRI has a commitment to integrating a gender perspective into our antimilitarism work. While militarism and gender was discussed at the Council in Korea and the International CO Day events this past May, and WRI co-organized the conference on Nonviolence Training and Gender, it has not become integrated into our work. There is a shrinking number of women standing for Council, and the Women’s Working Group has no convenor.

Financial loss from the last Triennial was disastrous. Cancellation of the 2003 Council meeting in Colombia was a reflection of our financial situation. WRI received a legacy of £75,000 in June 2005 which helped tremendously. However, developing a funding base for the Nonviolence Programme is crucial.

The hope of War Resisters’ International is that more and more people will come to the understanding that war is a crime against humanity. Devi Prasad’s book of that name is a contribution towards that goal, the first major new book published by WRI in many years.

Joanne Sheehan
WRI Chair

Programme Work

Right to Refuse to Kill

The Right to Refuse to Kill programme was launched in 2001, with initial funding for 2 years (through to April 2003). War Resisters' International succeeded in securing further funding twice, now until April 2008. The programme is staffed by Andreas Speck.

Activities

Besides its regular activities around International Conscientious Objectors' Day (2003: Israel, 2004: Chile and Latin America, 2005: Greece, 2006: USA) and Prisoners for Peace Day (2002: Caucasus and Central Asia, 2003: South Korea, 2004: Finland, 2005: Eritrea), the programme has mainly focused on supporting a wide range of old and new movements for conscientious objection. Some of the foci were:

Israel: Since Prisoners for Peace Day 2001 focused on Israel and Palestine, the situation of conscientious objectors in Israel has been one major activity for the Right to Refuse to Kill programme. In 2003, WRI released a report titled Conscientious objection to military service in Israel: an unrecognised human right [1], and was published in English, German, and Spanish. The report was submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. In the same year, International Conscientious Objectors' Day focused on Israel and Palestine, with an international training and action taking place in Tel Aviv.
In February 2004, War Resisters' International released a second report titled Conscience on Trial [2], a documentation and evaluation of two high profile court martials against Israeli conscientious objectors.
WRI made special efforts to strengthen contacts with Israeli COs, and almost every year representatives from Israel joined in WRI's activities for International Conscientious Objectors' Day.
South Korea: War Resisters' International played an important role in supporting the CO movement in South Korea – activities, which culminated with Korean groups hosting WRI's international seminar and Council meeting in summer 2005. In December 2002, War Resisters' International visited South Korea for the first time, and participated in an international workshop on conscientious objection, followed by a larger international conference in March 2003 [3]. Two Korean activists participated in WRI's activities around CO Day in Israel in May 2003. Prisoners for Peace Day 2003 focused on South Korea, and was only possible because of a South Korean intern in the WRI office, Yongwook Yeong. In August 2004, WRI staff Andreas Speck visited South Korea and took part in a peace camp organised by Solidarity for Peace and Human Rights [4]. From November 2004 until February 2005 a Korean intern, Haran, contributed greatly to the preparation of the international seminar in Seoul in 2005, co-organised by Korean groups and War Resisters' International.
Russia: The work on Russia started back in November 2002, when then finance and admin worker Daniel Garay visited Russia on invitation of Fond Sozidanie [5]. En-route to Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, WRI's Right to Refuse to Kill staff Andreas Speck visited Moscow briefly in July and August 2003. This visit helped to establish a relationship with Autonomous Action, one of the most openly antimilitarist groups in Russia. In September 2003 [6], a special report on The Russian Federation: Human Rights and the Armed Forces was released, written by WRI intern Kaspar Jon Larsen. In February 2005, WRI took part in the Deserters' Festival in Moscow [7], and visited several peace groups in Moscow and St Petersburg. A follow-up visit is presently organised for June/July 2006.
Turkey: The work on Turkey has continued all though the years, and the arrest of Mehmet Tarhan in April 2005 has again made Turkey a central focus of WRI's CO work. Before, WRI acted on the cases of Mehmet Bal (TK12718) and Halil Savda (TK14682). Shortly after the arrest of Mehmet Tarhan, WRI published documentation on conscientious objection in Turkey [8]. WRI played a key role in organising two delegation to Turkey. The WRI Council in Seoul in June 2005 issued a statement on CO in Turkey, demanding the release of Mehmet Tarhan [9]. Presently, after the release of Mehmet Tarhan, WRI is working closely with groups in Turkey, Connection e.V., and Tobias Pflüger MEP on several activities in support of CO in Turkey.

The Right to Refuse to Kill programme cooperates closely with the Quaker United Nations Office in Geneva, and the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection in Brussels and Barcelona. There is also cooperation with the Quaker Council for European Affairs in Brussels.

The Right to Refuse to Kill programme attempts to broaden the understanding of conscientious objection. The co-update newsletter includes information on tax resistance (conscientious objection to military taxation), counter-recruitment work, and other activities against military service.

The programme is also committed to incorporate a feminist perspective. The links between militarism and gender (masculinity/femininity) are often part of articles by programme staff [10], and presently the Right to Refuse to Kill programme cooperates with the WRI Women's Working Group on an Anthology on Women CO, which – funding permitting – will be published in 2007.

Achievements

In September 2004, War Resisters' International launched CO Update [11], the monthly e-newsletter of the Right to Refuse to Kill programme. This newsletter, the report, and the regular co-alerts contributed to WRI's visibility and credibility on CO issues. As a result, War Resisters' International is again seen as the main point of reference on issues of conscientious objection.
Through the work on the Right to Refuse to Kill programme, it has been possible to strengthen the global WRI network (Israel, Balkan, South Korea, Latin America, Russia).
Although the participation in the WRI organised activities for 15 [th] May – International Conscientious Objectors' Day – has not improved much, 15 [th] May has clearly been taken on by a range of new CO groups in other countries as a day of action for the right to conscientious objection. Activities take place independently of WRI in Turkey, South Korea, on the Balkans, and elsewhere. The visibility of 15 [th] May itself has improved, and it is used as an opportunity for networking.
WRI has been able to secure core funding for the Right to Refuse to Kill programme until April 2008.

Challenges

While core-funding has been secured, funding for additional activities of the programme (such as 15 [th] May, or the development and improvement of WRI's system for co-alerts, and the Refusing to bear arms reports) always poses a major challenge. It was not possible to get funding for a permanent CONCODOC centre, whose task it would have been to keep the Refusing to bear arms country reports up-to-date. It has also not been possible to get funding for the implementation of a multi-lingual co-alert system.
The response to the “changing face of the military” in Europe is a major challenge, which few of WRI's European section have yet mastered. Facing the challenges of changing recruitment structures should be one of the major tasks for the future.
WRI has so far not been able to establish a stronger base in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Nonviolence Programme

At the War Resisters' International Council meeting in Ohrid, Macedonia, in June 2004, it was decide to merge the WRI programmes “Nonviolence and Social Empowerment” and “Globalisation and Militarism” to a new programme call “Nonviolence Programme.” [12]. The overarching aim of the Nonviolence Programme is to strengthen and deepen our understanding of nonviolence, nonviolent strategies, and nonviolent campaigning, and to develop and provide tools to support to groups using nonviolence. The programme is coordinated by Javier Gárate, who came on staff in March 2005, and has a Coordination Committee consisting of Joanne Sheehan, Majken Sorensen, Howard Clark, Stellan Vinthagen and Andreas Speck.

The Nonviolence Programme is divided in three main areas:

Nonviolence Resources: Development and distribution of resources on nonviolence and nonviolent strategies for use by the WRI network and the wider movement. Resources include a Handbook for Nonviolent Action, a collection of case studies of nonviolent campaign, nonviolence training and campaign development.
The Handbook for Nonviolent Action is in its development process. We are aiming to publish it in February 2007, with a first set of articles to be used by the Nonviolence Training for Beginners Theme Group at the International Conference in July 2006.The table of contents includes: intro to nonviolence, history of nonviolence, strategic campaigning, forms of action/tools for preparation for action, reflection on the media, anti-oppression, testimonies of campaigns in nonviolence.
Nonviolence for Change: Networking with groups interested in using nonviolence for social change, coordinating workshops at gatherings such as Social Forums, making WRI's resources available to grassroots activists doing antimilitarist and globalisation from below campaigns.
As part of the Nonviolence for Change, we have attended the European Social Forum in London 2004, Mediterranean Social Forum in Barcelona 2005, Alternative Social Forum and World Social Forum in Caracas 2006 and the European Social Forum in Athens 2006, giving workshops in conscientious objection and antimilitarism, war profiteers, militarisation of Europe, and training in nonviolence action.
We took part of the action against the G8 in Scotland and we are helping with preparations for the actions against the G8 in San Petersburg, sharing the information from their email list to WRI's listserves.
A Global Initiative against War Profiteers: Development of resources in war profiteers for WRI's global initiative. Networking with WRI affiliates working on such campaigns, supporting and coordinating nonviolent campaigns against war profiteers.
The September 2005 Broken Rifle [13] was dedicated to war profiteers as a first step in providing resources in the subject. We have given workshops at the European Social Forum in London and the Alternative Social Forum in Caracas, highlighting the networking aspect of it.
And we are currently strengthening our networking with the European Network Against Arms Trade (ENAAT), which includes several WRI affiliates, WRL's Stop the Merchant of Death Campaign, and Red Juvenil de Medellin's campaign against US Intervention and arms expenditure. A War Profiteers Theme Group at the International Conference will further develop this initiative.

Achievements:

Strengthening the relation between the office and network, as we work in areas that the WRI network are more involved with.
Strengthening the connections with groups in Latin America: Venezuela, El Libertario who organised the ASF, MOC Paraguay in the field of nonviolence training, Red Juvenil de Medellin with their work on war profiteers and nonviolence.
Regular presence of WRI at social forums, which contributes to WRI's visibility, especially through offering workshops and seminars.

Challenges:

One of the aims of the Programme is to be self financed. Funding has not been successful so far, we need to put a lot of effort into funding to secure the continuation of the Programme.
The Nonviolence Programme needs more visibility, by producing more resources, and making the network more involved in the programme.
Need to clarify what are successful strategies against war profiteers.
Need for a better understanding of how WRI wants to network with the globalisation from below movements.

Brief account on the Dealing with the Past Programme

At the 2002 Triennial a theme group on Dealing with the Past took place. It had a very broad participation and had a significant attendance and active participation of people coming from different walks of life. Some already belonged to WRI, others already had a link to or wanted to link to WRI beyond the meeting. The group gave a comprehensive report, and having the expertise of WRI staffperson Roberta Bacic, the Triennial Business Meeting agreed to the development of this programme area to address how to deal with post-conflict situations in a more structured way.

A working team was set up and met as a whole or sub group. It was co-ordinated by Roberta Bacic and joined by Vesna Terselic (Council member), Siva Ramamoorthy (Exec member), Sian Jones (Council member), Tony Kempster (Anglican Pacifist Fellowship) and Sophie Reynolds (nonviolence trainer and WRI volunteer).

2003 was an intensive year of activities for the Dealing with the Past programme with wide travel involved. WRI received numerous requests from affiliate groups, other organisations, NGOs, universities and peace groups for input and assistance in the field.

The team developed a Pilot Project for 2004, to work in Sri Lanka and Croatia. These places were chosen because both countries have endured war and we had elected council members from these regions who could make the necessary local links.

The Sri Lanka project worked at a grassroots level with war widows in the area of Batticaloa [14].

The Croatia pilot did not develop by way of WRI, though Vesna Terselic continues working on this topic, and Roberta gave workshops and seminars on request from other groups.

At the end of October 2004 Roberta Bacic decided to leave after 6 years, so Dealing with the Past is no longer a staffed programme. However, members of the network continue to work on this issue and resources are posted on the WRI website [15].

Internal organisational matters

Network

Since 2002, the WRI network has grown on paper and in reality. At the same time, the WRI office plays an increasingly important role in the network, with the WRI affiliates taking less responsibility to communicate with each other and with the office.

In 2003, War Resisters' International accepted Fond Sozidanie from Russia as a new Associated Organisation. This was reversed in 2005.

In 2003, WRI Korea was accepted as an Associated Organisation. As there was no Council meeting in 2003, both decisions were made by email consultation.

At the same time, Council decided to disaffiliated Partito Radicale because of their support for the war against Yugoslavia in 1999.

Council 2005 also accepted New Profile from Israel as an Associated Organisation.

Beyond formal membership, the WRI office has developed working relationships with a wide range of groups, from Latin America to Asia. These relationships build on programme work carried out by the WRI office, especially The Right to Refuse to Kill and more recently the Nonviolence Programme. Programme work also contributed to closer cooperation with existing affiliates, among them the Greek Association of COs and Forum voor Vredesactie. The WRI office facilitates direct communication through a variety of email lists, such as wri-internal or special email lists for different working groups.

In 2005, the WRI office introduced newsfromthenetwork as an email list based news service linked to WRI's website [16]. News sent by WRI affiliates or other members of the WRI network to this list appears automatically on WRI's website. However, use of this service still needs improvement.

However, all this does not make up for the weakness of WRI's traditional base, especially in Western Europe. With the decline of conscription, many of WRI's existing member organisations which focused on conscientious objection are in decline, facing the challenge of reorientation to other areas of pacifist and antimilitarist work. However, there was good networking among the Western European affiliates in planning for WRI participation in the European Social Forum in London.

Achievements

Development of new working relationships with groups in different parts of the world through the programme work
Increased communication among the WRI network, more visibility of the network in WRI (newsfromthenetwork)
The work around the European Social Forum in London was an example of successful networking among WRI's European affiliates, although with strong input from the WRI office.
There is more participation from the WRI network in WRI seminars linked to Council (Macedonia, South Korea)

Challenges

The biggest challenge remains the strengthening of the network.

Seminar/Council

Since the Triennial Conference in Porec, Croatia, in 1998, WRI Council meetings have been accompanied by a topical seminar, leaving 2-3 days for Council discussions.

The Council meeting in 2003, which was planned alongside a seminar organised by Red Juvenil in Medellin, Colombia, had to be cancelled, due to a lack of necessary funding. However, Red Juvenil went ahead with the planned seminar, and WRI contributed a considerable amount of funds raised for the seminar. WRI was also represented at the meeting.

The Council meeting in 2004 took place in Ohrid in Macedonia, hosted by WRI's section Peace Action. The theme of the accompanying seminar was “Conscientious objection and Peace” [17].

The Council meeting 2005 took place in Seoul in South Korea, hosted by a coalition of South Korean groups. The seminar theme was “Peace in North-East Asia” [18]. Participation in the seminar was exceptionally good, the local groups active participation on all levels which made it to success, and the seminar was the best funded seminar in WRI's recent history.

While the combination of seminar and Council has improved the attractiveness of the meeting for local hosts, and the funding for Council, it also poses problems: a seminar has to be focused on a certain theme, which leaves little space for general debate on issues of principle. It also reduces the time for the Council meeting to 2-3 days, which can lead to a rushed agenda.

Achievements

WRI has been able to hold a Council meetings outside of its traditional geographical base. The Council meeting in South Korea proved that this can be done successful.
The seminar contributes to Council expenses, with a full coverage of Council expenses in 2005.

Challenges

It is difficult for WRI to find a host for a seminar/Council meeting. Rarely does the WRI office receive invitations, and normally it requires some pleading by WRI staff and Executive members.
Participation in Council meetings is not especially high, and participation by section representatives from outside Europe and North America is extremely difficult unless extra funds can be raised. The Council members who meet are more European/USA-dominated than the full Council actually is.

Executive

In 2002/03 the Executive had a total of 4 meetings (including a meeting at Council). The number of meetings has been reduced to three annually, since more and more decisions are taken by email, and the Executive also uses online chats for discussion and decision making.

WRI Working Groups

Africa Working Group

Convenors: Jan vanCriekinge, Matt Meyer

The main work of the WG these past years has been communications, attempting to maintain and build the connections between WRI affiliates in and interested in Africa. This is most actively manifested in an informational list-serve, which helps to spread relevant news of events and organizations throughout the continent. WG members have also done follow-up and research regarding occasional inquires to the WRI office about affiliation and relationship building.

Achievements:

The most intensive campaign work during this period centered on Prisoners for Peace Day 2005, spotlighting conscientious objection issues in Eritrea. An information booklet, Documentation: C.O. and Desertion in Eritrea [19], was published by WRI, and excerpted in a special issue of The Broken Rifle. The booklet was first published in 2004 in German by Connection e.V. (Offenbach) and the Eritrean Anti-Militarism Initiative. Eritrean Anti-Militarism Initiative activist Abraham Gebreyesus Mehreteab represented WRI at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights meetings in Geneva, presenting on the situation in his country at the NGO forum.
In June 2003 co-convenor Jan VanCriekinge went to Angola where he made contact with many peace and human rights activists, especially with the women of Mulheres, Paz e Desenvolvimento and with Padre Jacinto Pio Wacussanga. Connection e.V. published a 2005 booklet on Angola, in close cooperation with Council member Emanuel Matondo. This was also translated into a shorter French version by Union Pacifiste de France.
In hopes of it helping the network, co-convenor Matt Meyer worked on the Africa Nonviolence and Economic Justice Foundation, which was to be under the leadership of Bill Sutherland and Africa World Press founder Kassahun Checole, but it derailed due to lack of funds. Much of that effort has been channelled into a collaboration with the International Peace Research Association, Seeds of New Hope: African Peace Studies for the Twenty-First Century (AWP, forthcoming 2007), featuring the writings of many WRI Africa WG members.

Challenges:

Passing the coordination of the working group into the hands of activists based in Africa.
Helping to make the realities of militarism and nonviolence in Africa something more centrally understood throughout the WRI network. The 2007 World Social Forum, to be held in Kenya, may provide an opportunity for building connections for WRI.
Developing the possibility of having a WRI Council meeting in an African country.

Colombia Working Group

Convenor: Howard Clark

The Colombia Working Group basically functions as an email list, circulating reports about nonviolent initiatives in Colombia – in particular involving our affiliate, la Red Juvenil de Medellín, or activities around peace communities, the women's peace movement and conscientious objection. In addition, we forward reports of nonviolent solidarity activities such as School of Americas Watch. The hope has been to connect with people working on Colombia in WRI sections and in time to produce compilations of reports about peace activity concerning Colombia. It is clear that with a dynamic affiliate such as Red Juvenil, the working group should be capable of a much higher level of activity - especially if we can overcome language barriers!

Accomplishment:

Creation of this working group.

Challenge:

Finding a convenor who can make this their priority as convenor Howard Clark takes on the responsibility of WRI Chair.

WRI Nonviolence Training Working Group

Convenor: Dorie Wilsnack

The WRI Nonviolence Training Working Group is like a plant that has a difficult time taking root. It has a number of green leaves, but it does not seem to be growing any roots. Still we keep trying.

Since the last Triennial, there were two efforts to get the Working Group going. We set up a listserve to make international communication easy. The first formation included 10 members, from a variety of countries. But there were very few messages exchanged and no ideas or suggestions for things we might work on together.

Some members of the Working Group, who were also members of the Women's Working Group, took part and helped to organize, along with IFOR, the October 2004 International Women’s Consultation of Trainers. (See the Women’s Working Group Report). It was a very successful and inspiring event.

With the arrival of staffperson Javier and the development of a nonviolence program, it seemed valuable to revive the group. There are ways that it could be helpful to the program, particularly in the development of an online nonviolence training manual.

So in December 2005, a revived Working Group came into being. Javier and the Nonviolence Programme Coordinating Committee asked the Working Group to help with the editing and writing of an online nonviolence training manual, using a Wiki program to facilitate shared editing. More participation is needed from the trainers in the working group on this project.

Hopefully, the International Conference will be a time when current and potential Working Group members can connect and find ways to work together.

Sometimes it takes a long time for a plant to take root, but when it does, it turns out to be worth the wait.

Achievements

The trainers consultation
The revival of the Working Group after many years of inactivity

Challenges

Creating a working group of trainers that will participate in the work of the Nonviolence Programme

Women’s Working Group

Convenor (until 2003): Casha Davis

At the Triennial 2002 a proposal by the WRI Women’ Working Group for a joint gathering of trainers with IFOR’s Women Peacemakers Programme was accepted. Organizing this training was been the main activity in this period. In October 2004, Asking the Right Questions: Nonviolence Training and Gender, an International Women’s Consultation of Trainers was hosted by International Women’s Partnership for Peace and Justice, a Thai-based feminist nonviolence training centre. The consultation took place in Chiang Mai, Thailand. An Issue of WRI Women Newsletter is devoted to the consultation, and is also available on WRI’s website [20]. There has been little follow-up so far.

Casha Davis was the convenor for the group until 2003. She had served since 1998 and made it clear before the Triennial in Dublin that she wanted someone to take over. Since 2003 the group has been without convenor. The group has however met at every Council meetings and had fruitful discussions, even there have been no activities in between.

The Council meeting in Seoul agreed to an anthology of statements from women COs in different regions and situations as a joint project with RtRtK.

Achievements

The trainers consultation
Promoting the idea of women’s anthology
Having good meetings during council-meetings

Challenges

Lack of a convenor
Follow up on the trainers consultation
Securing the future of the WWG

Publications

WRI has a wide range of publications, and some progress has been made in the last four years to make them more accessible. The biggest change was the end of the cohabitation agreement with Peace News at the end of 2004, which allowed Peace News to revert back from a quarterly international magazine to a monthly British based peace movement paper. Both parties felt that ending the cohabitation agreement would suit their own needs better. Peace News and WRI still cooperate on many practical issues, and WRI staff often contributes to Peace News.

War Resisters' International presently has the following regular publications:

The Broken Rifle: Published four times per year, in English, Spanish, French, and German. The English version is printed with Peace News, and distributed with the paper, with extra copies available for WRI's use (appeal mailing, etc). The other language versions are printed in A4 format, 8 pages, and send with the appeal mailing, although occasionally they are also printed/distributed with other magazines (Prisoners for Peace often forms part of DFG-VK's publication ZivilCourage and was occasionally also distributed with WRL's Nonviolent Activist and UPF's Union Pacifiste).
Sometimes, an issue of The Broken Rifle is also available in additional languages, such as Russian, Korean, or Turkish.
wri-irg.org: The multilingual WRI website, managed by WRI's long-time voluntary webmaster Ken Simons, is WRI's main portal to the world.
Co-update: The monthly e-newsletter of WRI's Right to Refuse to Kill programme, was originally launched in English. With issue 21 (June 2006), we began publishing it also in Spanish (Informe-OC) About 1000 subscribers.
warprofiteersnews: bi-monthly e-newsletter of WRI's Global Initiative against War Profiteers. First issue published in June 2006. This newsletter will be published in English and Spanish.
Documentations/Reports: In the last two years, WRI published two documentations: one on CO in Turkey, and one on CO and desertion in Eritrea. Documentations are published on the website in html and PDF format (the latter for download).
WRI also published a series of reports, mostly country reports from the Right to Refuse to Kill programme, written for the UN Human Rights Committee, or other human rights bodies. These reports are mostly published in English, but an increasing number of reports get translated, especially into Spanish.
Some ad-hoc publications include a background paper on the European Constitution, written by DFG-VK member Tobias Pflüger. This paper was translated into more than 10 languages and is one of the most widely know papers on the EU constitution.
Books: In 2005, WRI finally published Devi Prasad's book War is a Crime Against Humanity. The Story of War Resisters' International.

Achievements

WRI increased the number of publications, and WRI's main publication, The Broken Rifle, is published more regularly, at about 4 times per year.
The Broken Rifle was converted from an internal paper into WRI's window to the world, with more programme related content, and better layout.
With the co-update e-newsletter, WRI introduced a new, programme related email publication, which will serve as model for other similar newsletters (i.e. on war profiteers).
The WRI website has been made more accessible, and with its own Wiki WRI now offers open publishing tools. There are also more translations on the website than in the past.
The publication of Devi Prasad's book was a major achievement, and marks the first major new book for WRI for quite a while.
Tobias Pflüger's EU militarisation paper is an example of the value of translations into many languages.

Challenges

The translations of WRI publications into the different WRI languages (and beyond) poses a major problem for the WRI office.
The distribution of publications is not always easy, and should be improved. This is especially true for The Broken Rifle in languages other than English.
There is need for more ad-hoc publications on present conflict, providing easy access to an understanding of the issue.
The financing of WRI's print publications is a major problem, and this includes The Broken Rifle.

Who was Who in WRI 2002-2006

WRI Chair: Joanne Sheehan

Treasurer: Bart Horeman (2002-spring 2005)

Executive: Ellen Elster, Siva Ramamoorthy (2002-2003), Oscar Huenchunao (2004-2006), Majken Sørensen (2004-2006)

Council: Ellen Elster, Norway; Emanuel Matondo D, Angola/Germany; Hilal Demir, Turkey; Howard Clark, Britain/Spain; Jørgen Johansen, Norway/Sweden; Marija Kirjakovska, Macedonia; Oscar Huenchunao, Chile; Sergeiy Sandler, Israel; Siva Ramamoorthy, Sri Lanka/Ireland; Sian Jones, Britain; Vesna Terselic, Croatia.

Plus one representative of each WRI section.

Staff: Daniel Garay (-autumn 2003), Lyn Bliss (2003-2005), Yvonne Kassim (2005-), Roberta Bacic (-end-2004), Javier Garate (2005-), Andreas Speck, Kai-Uwe Dosch (Triennial staff, 2005-2006)

Working Group convenors:

Africa: Jan Van Criekinge, Matt Meyer;

Colombia: Howard Clark;

Nonviolence Training: Dorie Wilsnack

Women: Casha Davis (-2003)

United Nations representatives

Geneva: Michel Monod (-2004), Bart Horeman (-2005)

New York: John Miller, Joanne Sheehan

Interns: Silke Makowski (2002), Milana Müller (2002), Bernd Sahler (2002), Alberto Estefania (2002-2003), Katarina Putnik (2003), Yongwook Yeong (2003), Ima Katarina Segunda Drolshagen (2004), Pedro J Ballesteros (2004), Kat Barton (QPSW peaceworker 2004-2005), Sung Hye Jee (Haran) (2004/05).

Translation volunteers: Tikiri, Philippe Wannason, Alberto Estefania, Matias Mulet, Oscar Huenchunao, Javier Garate, Stephane Henault, Yolanda Bascon, Gerd Büntzly, Inge Dreger, Ima Katarina Segunda Drolshagen, Pedro J Ballesteros, Silke Makowski, and many others...

Webmaster: Ken Simons

IT support: Daniel Sewe, Anselm Heaton

Archiving: Martyn Lowe

...and many others for packing and the occasional help needed by WRI office and staff.

Notes

Table of Contents

Activities

Achievements

Challenges

Achievements:

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Achievements

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Achievements

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Accomplishment:

Challenge:

Achievements

Challenges

Achievements

Challenges

Achievements

Challenges