United Kingdom

On Wednesday 15h of October a mass protest against Brighton-based arms manufacturers EDO MBM/ITT took place in Brighton. Organised by the Smash EDO campaign, the event was called Shut ITT! and was the third such demonstration this year. Last June, Brighton saw the Carnival Against the Arms Trade, organised by Smash EDO too. During this last demonstration the 600 or so protesters managed to reach the Brighton bomb factory despite police attempts to stop them.

BAE Systems, the British arms manufacturer under investigation in several countries for alleged bribery, paid at least £20m to a company linked to a Zimbabwean arms trader allied to President Robert Mugabe, documents seen by the Financial Times show.

John Bredenkamp, who has indefinite leave to remain in Britain, has had a controversial career ranging from supplying military equipment to the Zimbabwean military to mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On 11 June 2008, by a unanimous verdict of the jury, the Raytheon 9 were found not guilty of three counts of criminal damage at the Raytheon offices, Derry Northern Ireland on 9 August 2006.

Immediately afterwards, the defendants addressed supporters and press outside Belfast’s Laganside Court. Colm Bryce began:

British teachers are to launch a campaign against military recruitment campaigns which employ "misleading propaganda" in schools.

Police have intervened across the UK to censor 'On the Verge' an independent documentary about the Smash EDO campaign to shut down the Brighton's weapons manufacturer EDO MBM. So far establishments in Southampton, Chichester, Bath and Oxford as well as Brighton have come under police pressure to cancel film showings.

Resolution at NUT conference, 2008

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.

Disarm UCL is a campaign in the UK which has widespread support among University College London students, staff and alumni. UCL Student Union fully supports the campaign.

It aims to get UCL to divest its shares in arms company Cobham plc, which profits significantly from the sale of military components. Cobham plc is the world's 46th largest arms producer by military revenue. UCL as a major university sets an important precedent for the whole sector.

Main concerns

The regulations governing the right to conscientious objection are not in the public domain, and information is difficult to obtain by members of the public, and also by members of the Armed Forces.

Decision making on an application for conscientious objection in the first instance is by the respective branch of the Armed Forces itself, and not by an independent body.

Using the UK Freedom of Information Act, War Resisters' International finally obtained the regulations governing the right to conscientious objection for the three branches of the British Armed Forces, in time to examine them for a counter-report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which will examine the United Kingdoms human rights record in its sessions in October 2007 and July 2008.

The regulations governing this right have so far not been publicly available, although War Resisters' International did make a le

Submission to the 91st Session of the Human Rights Committee: October 2007 SUMMARY:

On the surface, the UK’s record with regard to conscientious objection to
military service is exemplary.

The British regulations governing the right to conscientious
objection have long been a well hidden "secret". In its 1998 report "Refusing to bear arms. A
world survey on conscription and conscientious objection to military
service", War Resisters' International wrote: "The current army
rule covering the procedure on conscientious objection is Instruction
No. 6 [D/DM(A) 7/5/3(M1(A))] - which is actually forbidden to be
published outside the army.

Index of papers relased under the Freedom of Information Act

WRI has obtained the following papers from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) pursuant to a Freedom of Information request in August 2007.

Cover letter 17-08-2007-161349-004 Speck (Ministry of Defence)
Armed forces policy on conscientious objectors (Ministry of Defence)
AGAIs Vol 5 Instruction 006 - Retirement or discharge on grounds of conscience (Royal Army)

Personnel, Legal, Administrativeand General orders 0801.