War Resisters' Stories

Following Tamar Ze'evi's release last month, who got conscientious objector status as a political refuser after serving more than 100 days in military prison, Tamar Alon has also been released. Alon, refused to be conscripted in November last year, saying that joining the IDF would have contributed to the oppression of the Palestinian people. She has served six terms in military prison and spent 130 days in total behind bars.

On 24 April 2017, War Resisters' International joined a group of international organisations to observe the second hearing of Serdar Küni, a doctor and veteran human rights defender from Turkey imprisoned last October. The charges against Dr.

The arms trade is a global phenomenon and arms fairs are the nexus of this trade: the physical sites which bring together those who manufacture, profit from, orchestrate and deliver suffering and death. But asthe arms trade is global so is our resistance, with actions against arms fairs taking place worldwide and increasing levels of transnational activism reflecting the global reality and consequences of this trade.

From the 12th to the 18th of August, German activists are inviting internationals to join them at the  military base for a peace camp and actions against the deployment of the new B61-12 nuclear bomb by the US military at the base. The B61-21 will be completed by 2020 and deployed in Italy, Belgium, Holland, Turkey, and Germany.

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On 24th and 25th May, NATO leaders will be in Brussels for the inauguration of their new headquarters and an important NATO summit – the first to be attended by US president Donald Trump.

On the table will be a push to make certain that NATO member states increase spending on their military budgets to 2% of GDP, with 20% going towards buying arms; fuelling a destabilising arms race.

All around the world, police forces are being militarised. The lines between the roles of the police and the military are being blurred, with narratives of heightened threat (from terror, drugs, social unrest or people on the move) being used to justify this militarisation.