Structure

Staff

WRI has a small office in London, UK, with a team of staff who work on different programmes of work alongside our affiliated organisations, and deal with the network's administration and finances. You can use the contact page to get in touch with them.

A picture of Andrew Metheven

Andrew works on the Nonviolence Programme, which develops resources and organises training in nonviolent social change, with a specific focus on resisting "war profiteers". Andrew is involved in the anti-nuclear and anti-arms trade movements in the UK, and studied Politics and Peace Studies at the University of Bradford.

Email: andrew@wri-irg.org

Semih Sapmaz

Semih works on the Right to Refuse to Kill Programme (RRtK) which supports conscientious objectors to military service internationally. Alongside the RRtK, Semih is also one of the coordinators of the Countering the Militarisation of Youth Programme of WRI. Semih studied human rights (MA) at the University of Sussex.

Executive Committee

WRI's Executive Committee is made up of 5 or 6 people, elected from the Council, and manages day-to-day affairs more. The Executive Committee works in close collaboration with the WRI staff team. They meet several times a year in person, and via Skype.

Merve Arkun

Merve Arkun is a researcher who has been working on the right to conscientious objection in Turkey. She declared her conscientious objection with feminist motivations in 2011, and took part in the organising process of the Initiative for Solidarity with Conscientious Objector İnan Suver and the Platform for Conscientious Objection for Peace. She is one of the founders of the Conscientious Objection Association in 2013. Currently, she is the coordinator of Conscientious Objection Watch, a civil initiative working on conscientious objection in Turkey. Since 2014, she has been one of the vice presidents of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection and is also a member of the Right to Refuse to Kill committee of War Resisters' International.

Sergeiy Sandler

Dr. Sergeiy Sandler is the Treasurer of War Resisters' International, and of New Profile in Israel. He has been active in the peace movement - both in Israel and within the WRI network - for many years. He is a conscientious objector and a long-time activist in the Israeli feminist antimilitarist movement New Profile.

David Scheuing

David Scheuing is a member of the German pacifist affiliate DFG-VK. He has worked on border militarization, asylum for conscientious objectors and the right to conscientious objection in Germany. He currently serves as editor of the German Peace Science Journal "Wissenschaft und Frieden (W&F)" which aims to translate findings from Peace and Conflict Research for a wider audience. David is a member of the Executive Committee since 2023.

Koldobi Velasco photo

Koldobi Velasco, from Canary Islands, Spain, has been a member of Alternativa Antimilitarista.Moc (AA.Moc) since 1991. As part of her activism, Koldobi has been involved in multiple campaigns, including tax objection to military spending, campaigning against war profiteering, and promoting peace education and culture of nonviolence. Koldobi Velasco has been part of WRI Executive Committee since August 2019. 

Individual Council Members

The WRI Council consists of section representatives, twelve internationally elected Council members, and the Chair and Treasurer.

A page on the duties of council members (elected or appointed) can be read here in English, French, German, and Spanish.

The twelve elected members are:

Merve Arkun

Merve Arkun is a researcher who has been working on the right to conscientious objection in Turkey. She declared her conscientious objection with feminist motivations in 2011, and took part in the organising process of the Initiative for Solidarity with Conscientious Objector İnan Suver and the Platform for Conscientious Objection for Peace. She is one of the founders of the Conscientious Objection Association in 2013. Currently, she is the coordinator of Conscientious Objection Watch, a civil initiative working on conscientious objection in Turkey. Since 2014, she has been one of the vice presidents of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection and is also a member of the Right to Refuse to Kill committee of War Resisters' International.

Jungmin Choi

Jungmin Choi is the coordinator of nonviolence trainings at 'World Without War', a South Korean organisation based in Seoul that supports conscientious objectors and takes action against the arms trade.

A picture of Moses John, from South Sudan

Moses Monday John is member of the council of the War Resisters' International (WRI). He serves as co-chair of the Pan African Nonviolence and Peace-building Network (PANPEN). Mr. John is a founding member and current Executive Director of the Organization for Nonviolence and Development (ONAD) in South Sudan. He has more than 15 years’ experience in planning, designing and facilitating nonviolence and peacebuilding trainings in African and Europe. He is an associate lecturer in conflict management at the School of Public Service, University of Juba. He holds Master of Arts in peace and development studies from the Centre for Peace.

Subhash Chandra Kattel

Subhash Chandra Kattel, from Nepal, is the Country Coordinator of Friends Peace Teams Asia West Pacific, Chairperson of Child Welfare Nepal, and part of a number of other peace/nonviolence/social justice groups. He is one of the initiators of Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) in Nepal in 2008. He is a training facilitator in cultures of peace and nonviolence. He continues to be part of the largest nonviolent social movement in Nepal for land and agrarian reform. Subhash has been a member of WRI Council since 2014.

Default profile placeholder

Rosa Moiwend is a human rights activist, campaigner, community organiser, and educator from West Papua. Since 2008, she has been actively involved in the Pacific Nonviolence Network. As a Malind Anim woman, she is also part of the campaign against MIFEE, the planned food and palm oil plantation in Merauke (the south) Papua. She has been involved in helping support the development of Indonesian solidarity with West Papua, firstly through NAPAS then later FRI-WP, the Indonesian People's Front for West Papua. Since 2013 she has been actively building solidarity in the Pacific region and supported the development as well as an active member of the Wansolwara movement and Youngsolwara movement. Since 2018 until now she is part of the core group developing an anti-militarist campaign to nonviolently disrupt and ultimately stop foreign government support for the Indonesian police and military who are occupying West Papua. Inside the country, she is helping to strengthen the capacity of the nonviolent resistance movement through training, education, action research, and supporting local initiatives, including developing an Indigenous women's movement. Rosa Moiwend has been an individual member of WRI Council since August 2019.

Default profile placeholder

Julián Ovalle, born in Colombia, is a conscientious objector to mandatory military service and to the Army reserve, since 2005. He is a founding member of the Collective Action of Conscientious Objectors - ACOOC (2006-2015), and current active participant of the Latin American and Caribbean Antimilitarist Network (RAMALC). His antimilitarist commitment has been focused on contributing to the recognition of the right to conscientious objection to military service and to denounce and transform militarism in the cultural sphere. He has contributed to the construction of political advocacy strategies (legislative lobby in Colombia, human rights organizations of the United Nations system, among others) as well as communication strategies.

Default profile placeholder

Marcela Paz is an antimilitarist, anarchist, and feminist conscientious objector from Chile. Her current activism focuses on the resistance against extractivism, the militarization of territories and everyday life. Marcela is part of the Latin American and Caribbean Antimilitarist Network (RAMALC). She has lived and involved in peace and antimilitarist campaigns in multiple Latin American countries. She likes to travel a lot, to know other places, to inhabit new geographies, to know different cultures, to ride a bicycle, to recycle, to knit and to practice Taichi.

David Scheuing

David Scheuing is a member of the German pacifist affiliate DFG-VK. He has worked on border militarization, asylum for conscientious objectors and the right to conscientious objection in Germany. He currently serves as editor of the German Peace Science Journal "Wissenschaft und Frieden (W&F)" which aims to translate findings from Peace and Conflict Research for a wider audience. David is a member of the Executive Committee since 2023.

Hülya Üçpinar

Hülya Üçpinar is a human rights lawyer from Turkey, and has a long track record of campaigning for the right to conscientious objection in Turkey. She is a member of the Conscientious Objection Watch in Turkey, and one of the co-founders of the Nonviolent Education and Research Centre, based in Istanbul. Hulya Ucpinar has been a member of the WRI Council since 2014 and was a member of the WRI Executive Committee between 2014 and 2023.

Koldobi Velasco photo

Koldobi Velasco, from Canary Islands, Spain, has been a member of Alternativa Antimilitarista.Moc (AA.Moc) since 1991. As part of her activism, Koldobi has been involved in multiple campaigns, including tax objection to military spending, campaigning against war profiteering, and promoting peace education and culture of nonviolence. Koldobi Velasco has been part of WRI Executive Committee since August 2019. 

Stay up to date with our international antimilitarist activism.

Sign up to our email lists here