Britain

Fri
20
Mar
2015
New translation available
Submitted by antimili-youth

By Tracy Walker, Nottingham Post

Nottingham city centre stood to attention when shoppers were given an insight into life in the Armed forces.

Regular Army and Army reserve units from across the Midlands hosted a recruitment...

Wed
11
Aug

Human Rights Groups urged the UK military to stop recruiting under 18s

Young soldiers formed

An open letter signed by a coalition of human rights groups, including Child Rights International Network, Amnesty International UK and Human Rights Watch, urged the defence Ministry to stop recruiting children aged under 18.

The letter declared that the UK military recruits more soldiers at 16 than any other age, especially for combat infantry roles, whereas most countries around the world only allow adults to be recruited. Additionally, this recruitment practice needs to end as “figures showed that girls aged under 18 in the armed forces made at least 16 formal complaints of sexual assault to military police in the last six years” informed The Guardian in an article released in June covering the MPs debate around the Armed Forces Bill.

The joint letter also said:

Tue
31
Jul

Protests across Germany and the UK in response to public military days

Activists protesting at a military site in Mannheim, Germany, on the Bundeswehr Day

Activists in Germany and the UK organised actions during public military days in their countries.

In many Western countries, militaries recruit on a voluntary basis. This requires those militaries to pay more attention than ever to their 'public relations' (PR), to reach out to as many young people as possible and convince them to join their ranks. 'National days', or similar public days linked with the military, have been an effective component of this strategy. Last month, two examples of this occurred in two European countries: Germany and the UK.

Sun
15
Apr

UK: Defence contractors hand universities £40m

Britain’s universities are taking tens of millions of pounds from some of the world’s biggest defence contractors to help develop the next generation of military hardware. The close relationship between academia and the defence sector is credited with helping sustain tens of thousands of jobs in the UK but it is causing unease among some scientists, even as other sources of funding for universities dry up.

In the past three years alone, 15 universities with renowned engineering departments have received almost £40m in grants from the contractors, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act. Many of the companies distributing the grants are involved in both civilian and military aerospace sectors and their work has led to spin-offs that benefit the wider public.

Thu
23
Nov

Join the action! PPU calls for actions during the International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth

Peace Pledge Union from the UK calls for actions during the International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth.

Join the action! PPU calls for actions during the International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth
Mon
09
Oct

Scotland: SNP Youth motion to raise Army recruitment age passes at conference

The youth wing of the Scottish National Party (SNP) secured a landmark victory at the party's annual conference on Sunday (8 October) as members voted in favour of raising the army recruitment age from 16 to 18. 

SNP Youth have long-campaigned for the Ministry of Defence to ban the enlistment of 16- and 17-year-olds into the armed forces and yesterday a majority of party members agreed as the motion passed with a significant majority. 

Rhiannon Spear, Glasgow councillor and SNP Youth national convenor, told the conference: “This is about what society that we want to be, it is about how we value our young people. We believe that the interests and health of Scotland’s young people must come before the demands of British military recruiters.”

The passing of the motion, which was publicly backed by 17 MSPs, one MP and 12 local branches before Sunday's debate, means that the SNP as a whole will now actively push for an increase in recruitment age.

Tue
04
Jul

UK: New report on the effects of army training on attitudes, health, and behaviour

The First Ambush? Effects of army training and employment

Veterans for Peace UK has released a new report exploring the effects of army employment on recruits, particularly during initial training. The report, drawing on veterans’ testimony and around 200 studies, finds that the risk of violent offending and heavy drinking rises after joining the army.

Dan joined the army in 2006, at 18, having grown up in an area of high unemployment. He was told that military discipline would keep him out of trouble. After training he deployed to Iraq, and when he came home he assaulted a warrant officer. He was sentenced to 18 months in military prison.

Thu
29
Jun

UK: Protesting Armed Forces Day in Liverpool

By Rhianna Louise*

Today, on Saturday, June 24th, Liverpool is hosting Armed Forces Day in Britain. Armed Forces Day is a relatively new occasion in the UK; it began as Veterans’ Day, in 2006, and was then renamed Armed Forces Day in 2009 in response to declining public support for the armed forces. Events take place across the UK (this year there are over 350), and local councils bid to host the national event – for which they receive a small amount of government funding and sponsorship, and also spend significant amounts of their own money.

Wed
17
May

Arms and fossil fuel industries in British schools: Undermining the next generation?

Scientists for Global Responsibility

Philip Wood, Scientists for Global Responsibility

The arms and fossil fuels industries are putting a lot of resources into science and engineering educational material for British school children. We should be very concerned, argues Philip Wood, SGR.

In 2007 the head of the Army’s recruitment strategy stated, “Our new model is about raising awareness, and that takes a ten-year span. It starts with a seven-year-old boy seeing a parachutist at an air show and thinking, ‘That looks great.’ From then the Army is trying to build interest by drip, drip, drip.” Industries, crucially the arms and fossil fuels industries, are attempting to do exactly the same thing. They are using the notion of a skills shortage in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) to provide STEM ‘enrichment activities’ as a way of getting in front of and influencing a captive audience of impressionable children.

Thu
02
Mar

Guns assembled in the UK may be arming child soldiers, says report

Rifles and submachine guns assembled in the UK could be exported for use in conflicts involving child soldiers, according to a report by European children’s charities.

The report accuses Heckler & Koch (H&K) – a German company that is among the world’s largest producers of small arms – of sidestepping obstacles to exports at home by using its subsidiary in the UK, where a “lack of transparency” has frustrated attempts to scrutinise arms deals.

Read the full article here.

This is an article by Ben Knight and Ben Quinn which appears on the Guardian.

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