From the office

1. Abraham Gebreyesus Mehreteab, Eritrea/Germany

Nominated by Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft/Vereinigte KriegsdienstgegnerInnen
Email: abrahamgebr@hotmail.com

My name is Abraham Gebreyesus Mehreteab. I was born in Eritrea on the 9th of February 1971. I studied law in Asmara for my first degree and masters programme in The Netherlands for my LLM on International Law and the Law of International Organizations. Since 2002, I am living in Frankfurt Germany as a political refugee.

Action

On 1 December, put aside at least one hour and write at least four cards to prisoners; Get your peace group or class or meeting place to organise a card-writing session; Set up a stall in your town centre, perform a bit of street theatre, or do whatever else it takes to attract attention and interest.

Sending cards and letters

Always send your card in an envelope; Include a return name and address on the envelope;

Dear WRI supporter,

Some of you might not have heard from WRI for some time. With this appeal mailing, we wish to reconnect and streng­then our relationship with you, the present and past supporters of WRI.

These days, new rhetoric notwithstanding, the so-called “war on terror” continues as before, with continuing military interventions, state terrorism and torture.

Joint statement of European Bureau for Conscientious Objection, Quaker
United Nations Office, Geneva, and War Resisters' International on
the ECtHR Third section judgement Bayatyan v. Armenia (Application no.

I enter my second term as chairperson much more optimistic than in 2005 when I was elected as chair. And with the state the world is in, there is need for optimism about what movements can achieve. The Executive and staff will review our work more thoroughly in the report which is being prepared for our conference, but key features are that

there is a solid set of achievements in the programme work carried out or coordinated by the office

War Resisters’ International is looking for a Finance and administration worker (2.5 days per week).

We - antimilitarists from different Latin American countries, with the support of the worldwide network War Resisters' International (WRI-IRG) - reject and condemn the coup d'état carried out by the Honduran armed. We oppose the use of military intervention to impose a solution on social conflicts. We oppose all forms of repressions and smashing the freedoms of expression and association now occurring in this Central American country, and in particular now we oppose the military repression that favours one political sector in civil conflicts.

Programme1>

On 26 April 2009, five members of WRI's Israeli affiliate New Profile were detained by Israeli police, their homes raided, and their computers, and also computers of partners, seized. Among those detained was also Sergeiy Sandler, a member of the WRI Council and Executive Committee. All those detained were interrogated at Ramat Hachiyal police station in the Yarkon Region of the police. After the interrogation, all five were released, but only after agreeing to bail conditions which do not allow them to contact each other in the coming thirty days.

Without question, were I to face call-up again, I would again object to military service. However, at the same time, I don't ever want to be put into prison again.

At the time of writing this appeal, more than 450 conscientious objectors are serving prison sentences of usually 18 months in South Korea. Since 1939 more than 15,000 conscientious objectors have been to prison in the country, which up still does not recognise the right to conscientious objection.

International Confe­rence, Ahmedabad, India, January 2010



War Resisters' Interna­tio­nal is cooperating with Indian partner organisations for an international conferen­ce investigating the links between local nonviolent livelihood struggles and global militarism, including war profiteering. This parti­cipatory conference will bring together campaigners from all over the world to analyse the role of states and multinational corpora­tions in depriving local com­munities of their sources of livelihood, and learning from the experience of nonviolent resistance at various levels – from the community to the global – and at various phases, from preventing displacement to planning for return.

War Resisters' International is part of the international coalition "No to war - no to NATO", which called for protests at the NATO summit in Baden Baden (Germany) and Strasbourg (France) on 3 and 4 April 2009, and is continuing with an International Working Conference "No to war - No to NATO" in Berlin on 17/18 October 2009.

This page gives an overview of resources available on the WRI website.