Network News

On 1st December 2025, antimilitarist organisations, collectives, activists and artists carried out a nonviolent direct action against the Expodefensa Arms Fair, held in Bogotá, Colombia, from 1st to 3rd December. The action, called as a peaceful sit-in outside the Corferias exhibition centre at 2pm on the opening day of the fair, was harassed, hindered and obstructed from the outset by the presence of Public Forces.

The Movement for a Non-Violent Alternative (MAN) in Lyon, together with the Raja Tikva Association, is hosting two young Israeli conscientious objectors, Itamar and Soul, on a tour of France from 13 to 28 November 2025.

We are pleased to announce our international gathering in Barcelona: “Disarming Militarism: Resisting War, Building Peace", a meeting point for our wide and diverse network of antimilitarist and pacifist activists from across the world.

As arms dealers queued to enter one of the world's largest weapons fairs in London last week (the euphemistically titled Defence and Security Equipment International, or DSEI), they were greeted with a remembrance ceremony for all the victims of their deadly trade.

New Profile, an Israeli antimilitarist and feminist organisation, and a member of the War Resisters’ International network, has just published its Annual Report. The report outlines the group’s work over the past year, including their efforts to end the genocide in Gaza, support conscientious objectors, and promote a demilitarised society in Israel.

On 3rd July 2025, peace campaigners from around the UK held an online discussion with Russian conscientious objectors (COs) who are refusing to fight in the war in Ukraine. This online event brought together four Russian COs, coordinated by a contact in Georgia who works with several NGOs to support COs, along with British peace campaigners working to raise awareness about their struggles.

This article, written by two participants from the Canary Islands in the Global March to Gaza, recounts the experience of a self-organised international mobilisation that brought together over 4,000 people from around the world to denounce the genocide in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine. Through a non-violent and collective action, they reflect on the lessons learned, challenges faced, and future prospects of a global struggle for justice, dignity, and human rights.

A record number of demonstrations and other actions to challenge Armed Forces Day took place in towns and cities across the UK last weekend. Protest organisers report a three-fold increase compared with 2024, with demonstrations, vigils, stalls and flyering in over fifty locations this year.

Conscientious Objection Watch shares its mid-year update for 2025. Since the beginning of the year, conscientious objectors have been tried and sentenced to prison for refusing to do compulsory military service. The effects of the deepening economic and political crises in Turkey have begun to have increasingly deeper and more destructive effects on the individual/daily lives of conscientious objectors due to the civil deaths they have been suffering.

On Friday, 6th June, EBCO released its Annual Report on Conscientious Objection to Military Service in Europe, reviewing key developments related to conscientious objection and conscription across the continent in 2024. The report underscores the urgent need to protect and support conscientious objectors amid a global rise in militarisation — from the reintroduction of conscription and soaring military expenditures to the devastating toll of ongoing wars.

On February 23rd, a protest took place at Kudirki Square in Vilnius, organized by Belarusian organizations in exile, including WRI's affiliate Our House, along with other initiatives. The demonstration gathered around 25–30 participants who expressed their strong opposition to the presence of Russian foreign military bases in Belarus.

The anti-militarist group from Bilbao and WRI's affiliate, KEM-MOC, carried out a nonviolent direct action outside the BBVA headquarters on Gran Vía in Bilbao. The aim of the protest was to denounce that the record profits announced by the bank at its shareholders' meeting largely stem from financing the arms industry.