Thailand

In the trial of Vitaliy Shalaiko, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Ukraine’s high court has affirmed the right of conscientious objectors to refuse to be drafted to the army even in times of war. COs will be allowed to do alternative service instead of being drafted. Also in the Ukraine, President Petro Poroshenko has declared that the age of conscription will be increased from 18 to 20, and that the conscripts will not be required to fight in Anti-Terrorist Operation zones. He added that the army would move towards having more contracted soldiers.  

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict

Concluding observations: Thailand

(...)

Military schools

15. The Committee is concerned that at undergraduate level, where the minimum age for attendance is 16 years and over, the curriculum includes military subjects, such as weapons handling, land, naval and air logistics, military disciplines, and international laws.

16. The Committee recommends that the State party:

18/11/2009

The right to conscientious objection is not recognised for professional soldiers, nor for
serving conscripts.

Military recruitment
Conscription

Conscription is enshrined in article 73 of the Constitution of 2007, which reads: “Every person shall have a duty to serve in armed forces (...)”1.
It is further regulated in the Military Service Act B.E.

In the early morning of March 22, three peace activists were arrested at Saab Aerospace Systems’ weapons factory in Linköping, Sweden. Martin Smedjeback, Annika Spalde and Pelle Strindlund were on their way to disarm Jas 39 Gripen fighter jets intended for export to India, Thailand and South Africa.

The peace activists, who are all part of the anti-militaristic network
Ofog, entered Saab’s industry area in Linköping, 200 kilometers from the

An International Women's Consultation for Trainers

October 3-8, 2004
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Costs: €200 (Includes materials, food and accommodation)

What is it, and why?

Are you a nonviolence trainer, wondering how to introduce gender issues into your work? A community-based health care or development worker, a student organizer or trade unionist who wishes to integrate nonviolence into your trainings, activism, or movement?

Last December a 14-member Japanese police team visited Thailand on a study tour on how to fight prostitution. Police officer Hiroyuki Kita said that there are 50,000 Thai prostitutes in Japan, about 10 percent of whom are under 18 years of age. Japanese organized crime (the yakuza) are behind the traffick in women. Kita said the number of prostitutes in Japan is falling in the wake of a concerted government campaign.

Mary is a statistic. She is a Karen, one of the largest minority groups in Burma. She is also a refugee, forced to flee her home near the rebel capital of Manerplaw when it fell in late January. The 46-year old civil war in Burma has created at least 100,000 refugees along the Thai-Burma border; the recent fighting has increased that number by 10,000 people. Mary belongs in this latter number.

by Julia O'Connell Davidson

According to the Tourist Association of Thailand (TAT), Pattaya is Thailand's ´premier beach resort.' Travel brochures depict it as both an ´exotic paradise' of palm trees and white beaches and as a ´single man's playground' of bars and women. Once the site of small fishing villages, Pattaya bay began to develop in the 1960s and 1970s when the US military used it for ´rest and recreation'. Today, nearly one and a half million tourists visit Pattaya each year.

Bienvenue, Dominique!

Dominique Saillard is the new woman on staff at WRI's London office, and the official liaison with the WRI Women's Working Group. She works three days a week at the office, and you can write or speak to her in French, Spanish, German or English. Dominique was born in France and educated as a professional translator; she lived in the US for awhile, where she was active in peace and environmental groups. She is deeply committed to women's empowerment. A very warm welcome from all of us, Dominique.

It is more than a decade now since a small group of Thai women began to systematically raise gender questions. They had to struggle against all kinds of difficulties. First they had to clarify for themselves what the reality of the situation was between men and women and what kind of relationship they wanted between them, both universally and in the Thai context. Next, they had to decide what they should do to address related problems.

Many thanks to all the women who worked on preparations for the WRI Women’s Conference at the Triennial. Much progressive was made: we now have a date—November 25 (International Day Against Sexual Exploitation of Women) to December 1 (WRI Prisoners for Peace Day) 1992. The proposal by Laddawan and Niramon to hold the conference within the framework of PP21 was accepted. PP21 stands for Peoples Power in the 21st Century, and it is a broad-based Asian coalition of groups and movements dealing with trade unions, the environment and womens rights, to name a few of its many issues.

by Shelley Anderson