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Sat

Jan

2024

Elective Military Corps Programs in Schools Should Not Be Forced Upon Minority and Low-income Students

Submitted by nnomy

Wed

Apr

At least 62 children killed in Yemen in past week: UNICEF

Submitted by antimili-youth on Wed, 01/04/2015 - 16:39

The violence is leaving children terrified and more of them are being recruited as child soldiers, UNICEF said.

At least 62 children have been killed and 30 injured in Yemen over the past week as fighting has escalated with a Saudi-led air campaign, the UN children's agency UNICEF said Tuesday.

"Children are in desperate need of protection, and all parties to the conflict should do all in their power to keep children safe," said UNICEF's representative for Yemen, Julien Harneis.

Fighting has escalated sharply in Yemen after a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes five days ago to block an advance by Shiite rebels know as Huthis.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon separately said he was "deeply concerned" by reports of numerous civilian deaths from the military campaign including an attack on Monday on a camp for displaced people that left dozens dead.

Tue

Mar

S. Sudan army admits recruiting children into armed services

Submitted by antimili-youth on Tue, 31/03/2015 - 17:59

In February, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) team reported that 89 children were abducted while doing exams, but said the actual number could be much higher.

The South Sudanese army (SPLA) has admitted forcefully recruiting children into its armed ranks in Upper Nile state, but claimed they were returned to their respective homes.

Army spokesperson Col. Philip Aguer told Sudan Tribune the military leadership directed the department of child protection to carry out joint investigation and found only 36 children in the army.

He however added that these children were successfully reunited with their parents.

Fri

Mar

Japan Looks to End Taboo on Military Research at Universities

Submitted by antimili-youth on Fri, 27/03/2015 - 17:51

Government wants to tap best scientists to bolster defenses

By Eric Pfanner and Chieko Tsuneoka / The Wall Street Journal

Japan's military is prying open long-closed doors at university research labs, boosting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's U.S.-backed effort to cast off some of the country’s pacifist constraints.

Mr. Abe’s government says Japan needs to tap its best scientists to bolster its defenses. U.S. military officials, eager to make use of Japanese expertise in areas such as robotics and electronics, have encouraged the shift.

Critics say it marks a further erosion of the bedrock value—pacifism—on which Japan’s postwar society was built. But they concede they may be fighting a losing battle.

Fri

Mar

More than 15 million children directly affected by violence in 2014

Submitted by antimili-youth on Fri, 27/03/2015 - 15:46

During a Security Council meeting on children in armed conflicts, UN officials urged today protection for the war's youngest victims.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the UN 15-member body that "increasingly, children are snatched from a normal life of school and family, abducted by armed groups and thrown into a life of violence and horror."

He added "from north-eastern Nigeria, to Iraq, from South Sudan to Syria, we have witnessed a wave of such abductions used to terrorize and humiliate entire communities."

He also noted that last year was considered one of the worst ever for children in areas affected by conflict, with up to 15 million children directly affected by the violence.

Thu

Mar

IS 'trains hundreds of child soldiers in Syria'

Submitted by antimili-youth on Thu, 26/03/2015 - 17:43

The Islamic State group has trained more than 400 children in Syria as fighters in 2015 alone, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Tuesday.

Calling them “Cubs of the Caliphate,” the jihadist group provides intense military and religious training to children throughout its areas of control in Syria, the Britain-based monitor said. Sleek videos published by I.S.-affiliated accounts show boys—some appearing to be as young as eight years old—loading and firing guns and crawling through sandy brush as part of military training. The footage also shows children gathered around a table studying religious texts.

Thu

Mar

Navy Calls In The Big Guns To Stop Peaceful Uni Protest

Submitted by hannah on Thu, 26/03/2015 - 14:02

STUDENTS who staged a spontaneous peace protest at an armed forces recruitment stand at their university were threatened with arrest yesterday.

The students say they were intimidated by military recruiters, university staff and security guards who called the police. One protester was told: “Go back to Greece.”

The Royal Navy, navy reserves and Royal Air Force were running a recruitment stand at the University of Bradford’s annual spring careers fair.

Protester and biomedical science student Beth Davies said: “This was just a group of students. We saw what was going on and decided something should be done about it.

“The military called security and security threatened to call the police.

“Nobody was arrested because we left before the police arrived.”

The protesters said one foreign student’s identification card was confiscated by security guards, leaving him unable to attend lectures and facing possible exclusion from exams.

Wed

Mar

BAE funds Malaysian cyber school

Submitted by hannah on Wed, 25/03/2015 - 11:02

BAE is funding a new post-graduate cybersecurity program at Malaysia's National Defense University.

The program will offer a three-year Master of Science degree in cyber security and management. The program was developed in cooperation with Warwick Manufacturing Group and the Univ. of Warwick in Coventry, England.

"The extensive program will offer 10 specifically designed cyber security and management modules delivered at the National Defense University of Malaysia each year of the program," said a BAE news release. "Each annual class can accommodate a maximum of 24 students for a total of up to 72 students over the three-year program."

BAE's funding will offset the company's pending sale of Bofors guns to the Malaysian Navy.

Source: c4isrnet.com

Tue

Mar

Nine-year-old girl in record release of South Sudan child soldiers

Submitted by hannah on Tue, 24/03/2015 - 16:55

By Katy Migiro

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A nine-year-old girl was among hundreds of child soldiers freed in South Sudan over the last three days, part of the largest ever release of child fighters in the world's youngest nation, the United Nations said on Monday.

It is the third release by the South Sudan Democratic Army (SSDA) Cobra Faction since its leader David Yau Yau signed a peace deal with the government in May.

Read more at Reuters

Image: Afronline

English translation unavailable for .

Wed

Mar

Castilla - La Mancha to introduce military training in the educational system

Submitted by hannah on Wed, 18/03/2015 - 10:33

> This is planned to take place through workshops and courses so that the teachers spread the culture of security and defence among young people.

The Minister of Education, Culture and Sports in the Government of Castilla - La Mancha, Marcial Marín, held a working session to see first hand the programmes carried out in the Spanish Institute of Strategic Studies, including the possibility of integrating subject matter on security and defence in the Castilian-La Mancha education.

The meeting was held with Brigadier General Miguel Angel Ballesteros Martin, the director of the Spanish Institute of Strategic Studies, an agency under the Ministry of Defence of Spain; the Chief of Defence, Benito Fernando Payo Braojos; the Chief of Defence Ministry analyst, Ignacio García Palomero; and Lieutenant Colonel Angel Montes Ramos, responsible for recruitment.

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Countering Military Recruitment

WRI's new booklet, Countering Military Recruitment: Learning the lessons of counter-recruitment campaigns internationally, is out now. The booklet includes examples of campaigning against youth militarisation across different countries with the contribution of grassroot activists.

You can order a paperback version here.