All articles

Tue
12
Aug

Example: Committee on the Rights of the Child on Britain

CRC/C/OPAC/GBR/CO/1

Concluding observations:
UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND

Voluntary recruitment

12. The Committee notes that, according to the State party’s declaration under article 3 made upon ratification, the minimum age for voluntary recruitment is 16 years and regrets the fact that the State party indicates that there are no plans to change this.

13. The Committee encourages the State party to consider reviewing its position and raise the minimum age for recruitment into the armed forces to 18 years in order to promote the protection of children through an overall higher legal standard. In the meantime, the Committee recommends that, in recruiting among those persons who have not yet attained the age of18, priority is given to those who are the oldest.

Tue
12
Aug

Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict

Article 1

States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of 18 years do not take a direct part in hostilities.

Article 2

States Parties shall ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 18 years are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces.

Explanation

by Lothar Krappmann (member, Committee on the Rights of the Child)

Tue
12
Aug

Civilian Ally: Veterans as an Affected Population

This manual focuses on building the GI resistance movement, and doing so requires an understanding of how veterans are directly impacted by war and militarism. Civilian organizers need this awareness in order to to build relationships and organize effectively in the military community. Below we explore veterans’ experiences with the military.

Tue
12
Aug

Resolution at National Union of Teachers conference, 2008: War

War

Conference reaffirms existing Union policies which:

1. Call for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
2. Oppose military action or intervention in Iran.

The Global Campaign for Education have reported that over half of the children out of school are now living in countries where there are wars taking place. Conference notes with particular concern the huge refugee crisis within and beyond Iraq’s borders, one consequence of which is the impossibility of education for most learners of all ages.

Tue
12
Aug

Non-military schools in Germany

As part of the work against the militarisation of the education system, several schools in Germany have refused to cooperate with the German Armed Forces and won’t tolerate appearances from them in schools.

Robert Blum Grammar School in Berlin passed the motion of “Schools Without Military” on Thursday the 24th of March 2011 with a 7:1 majority. The motion went as follows:

Robert Blum Grammar School - Schools without Armed Forces

Robert Blum Grammar School refuses to work together with the Armed Forces in regards to education. Included in this refusal is:

- Any cooperation agreements with the armed forces

- The invitation of educational officers to lessons or school activities

- The advertisement of placements in armed forces buildings

Tue
12
Aug

The Bundeswehr (German Federal Armed Forces) and Schools: Driving back influence - Political education is the task of teachers

Resolution of the GEW National Executive dated 5/6 March 2010

In recent years the Bundeswehr- Armed Forces have been striving for more influence in schools. There have been many incidents where exhibitions of weapons and information events took place in schoolyards and gyms.

Cooperation agreements with State governments (f.i. in North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate …) support the Bundeswehr's aggressive engagement. Although the agreements underline that they are not allowed to promote jobs within the Bundeswehr. They are, however, granted far-reaching opportunities in the field of political education/teaching of politics as well as in professional and vocational education and training of teachers and student teachers. State governments agree to publish learning opportunities offered by the Bundeswehr in their official journals and on their online platforms.

Tue
12
Aug

Stop drift towards militarization of brave new democracy

On 27 April the Defence Review Committee appointed by the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans published its Defence Review draft report. The last time South Africa undertook a Defence Review was in the late 1990s and it was in the context of a new democratic dispensation. However, those civil society organizations who participated in the 1996-98 review were disappointed and felt compromised by the final outcome. Although we already feel that civil society’s contribution has already been trivialized, the Ceasefire Campaign has made a submission to the Committee in the hope that the greater militarization the review promotes can at least be tempered.

Tue
12
Aug

Militarisation of youth in Bolivarian Venezuela

Rafael Uzcátegui

In 1998 lieutenant colonel Hugo Chávez won the presidency of Venezuela, after staging a coup d’etat in 1992. For the first time in Venezuela’s democratic period (which began in 1958), a member of the Armed Forces was elected head of state. One of the consequences was that a new phase of progressive militarisation had begun in the country, initiated with a constitutional reform in 1999, which granted members of the Armed Forces the right to vote, in addition to other political rights, such as the right to be elected to public office in a public vote. Today, soldiers occupy different offices, such as ministers, governors, and mayors. Although there is a coalition of political parties that supports president Chávez, the Gran Polo Patriótico, there is a lot of evidence that shows that, in fact, the Armed Forces are Hugo Chávez's political organisation of trust to exercise political power.

Tue
12
Aug

The life story of a true Israeli: On the militarization of youth in Israel

“A true Israeli doesn't dodge draft!” [1] – this slogan stands at the centre of a large-scale publicity campaign in Israel. The campaign was not run by the Israeli military, and it was not aiming to add more soldiers to the dwindling ranks of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Israel has (at least de jure) universal conscription, for both men and women. But this slogan did express, and strengthen, how most Israelis understand the role of military service in the life of an Israeli – a true Israeli.

Tue
12
Aug

On militarisation in Colombia

The most recent manifestations of the conflict in Colombia date back to 1948, when the presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitán was assassinated, cutting off the possibility that socialist-leaning ideas might have a place of decision and power in the Colombian state.

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