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International Prisoners for Peace Day has been celebrated on December 1st for years. The purpose of the day is to provoke conversation and commemorate peace prisoners with different expressions of support and solidarity.

This year we commemorated especially conscientious objectors in South Korea. In South Korea t no alternatives to military service exist, nor a right to conscientious objection. Therefore about 700 peace prisoners are serving time - just for their views. The sentence for objection in South Korea is very long; 18 months in prison.

Last Monday Abraham passed away in Offenbach, Germany. For many years he had been engaged in the Eritrean Antimilitarist Initiative and recently translated the Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns, as well as the book From Dictatorship to Democracy, into Tigrigna and spread them in the Eritrean community.

He was only ten years old when he suffered from consequences of the war in his country. Playing on the ground, a mine exploded in his hand. He lost his right arm and became practically blind. He was able to finish his High School and study law at the university in Asmara, the capital city of the newly founded state Eritrea.

Tahir Elçi, Chairperson of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, a prominent human rights lawyer and a well-known figure as a “peace envoy”, was killed on 28 November 2015 in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey. He dedicated his life to peace and human rights. His last words were “We don’t want weapons, clashes and military operations in the birthplace and home of many civilisations” at a press conference a few minutes before he was shot.

Joves d'Esquerra Verda activists in front of the Department of Education of Catalonia, 20.11.2015The 2nd International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth was held between 14-20 November with many activists taking actions and organising events across the world.

Write to peace activists in prison - find the details you need here.

Each year on 1st December War Resisters' International and its members mark Prisoners for Peace Day, when we publicise the names and stories of those imprisoned for actions for peace. Many are conscientious objectors, in gaol for refusing to join the military. Others have taken nonviolent actions to disrupt preparation for war. This day is a chance for you to demonstrate your support for them.

WRI has a permanent Prisoners for Peace list, and we make a special effort to update for Prisoners for Peace Day on December 1st.

We're delighted to add a new publication to WRI's online book store! Against All Odds: Voices of Popular Struggle in Iraq, from Ali Issa of War Resisters League.

Collected from dozens of interviews with, and reports from, Iraqi feminists, labor organizers, environmentalists, and protest movement leaders, Against All Odds presents the unique voices of progressive Iraqi organizing on the ground. Dating back to 2003, with an emphasis on the 2011 upsurge in mobilization and hope as well as the subsequent embattled years, these voices belong to Iraqis asserting themselves as agents against multiple local, regional, and global forces of oppression.

You can find the accompanying Organizing & Study Guide here.

Buy it here: /node/25212

Dear friends,

I am writing from World Without War in South Korea. Alongside War Resisters' International, World Without War has just hosted the “Stopping the War Business” seminar and

actions against the ADEX arms fair. It has only been two years since we launched our campaign against ADEX, but thanks to international solidarity, significant progress has already been made.

Now I'm asking you to support with your donation WRI's work as the international pacifist network that nurtures this solidarity.

I’m convinced pacifism knows no borders. International solidarity within WRI has been vital to the work of World Without War, and the work of this global network has greatly benefited and helped the work of organisations like ours.

This week is the 2nd International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth. Join us with your nonviolent actions this week and stand against the many ways young people are engaged in wars all around the world. 

Share your word using #YouthAgainstWar hashtag on social media and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for further updates.your nonviolent actions this week and stand against the many ways young people are engaged in wars all around the world.

The coming week is the 2nd International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth where youth groups and activists from different countries will be taking actions against the many ways militaries engage with the young and militarise our public spaces.

Happening now: direct action against NATO's Trident Juncture military exercises that are taking place across Spain, Italy and Portugal.

Members of the European Antimilitarist Network join antimilitarists from state of Spain.

Follow #TJ15 #WarStarstHere #OTANno on social media for updates