War Resisters' Stories: January

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Finnish activists standing outside a recruitment centre. They are playing music and juggling, and stood in front of a banner reading "join the circus, not the army!"
Issue number
52
January 2018
Conscription trends

For many years, it looked like obligatory military service was on the way out. But in the last five years, the picture has changed: Norway has extended conscription for women; Sweden has reintroduced conscription for all; Ukraine, Georgia, Lithuania and Kuwait have reintroduced conscription for men after short hiatuses; Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have introduced conscription for the first time. In this article our campaigner on conscientious objection, Hannah Brock, looks at why governments are turning to compulsion to fill their armies, and what this means for pacifist movements.

Read the article here...

Resisting police militarisation

A large number of heavily armoured police, with guns, march in Brazil

All over the world, police officers are looking more and more like soldiers. To help us understand this militarisation, War Resisters' International has developed a new web resource. We've researched how police forces are being militarised, drawn together the various trends we can see taking place, and illustrated all of this as a new online map. You can explore the resource here: www.wri-irg.org/police

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Countering youth militarisation in the Czech Republic, Finland, Turkey and the UK

Soldiers talk to young children, who are stood in front of a table covered with guns.

On Monday 5th February, the War Resisters' International office in London will host a public forum on countering youth militarisation. The event, following a 3-day training on "Gender and Countering Youth Militarisation", is going to take place at Housmans Peace Bookshop in London.

Featured affiliate: World Without War

Members of world without war take direct action at an arms fair. They are holding signs saying "shame on you".

Each month, we will feature a different WRI affiliate. This month it's World Without War in the Republic of Korea (South Korea).