WRI Statement

Die WRI hat ein Statement herausgegeben, in dem der Mord an Tahir Elçi, dem Vorsitzenden des Anwaltsverbands von Diyarbakir, verurteilt wird. Tahir Elçi war ein bekannter Menschenrechtsanwalt und in der Türkei als „Botschafter des Friedens“ bekannt. Das Statement drückt die Solidarität der WRI mit Tahir Elçis Familie, FreundInnen und FriedensaktivistInnen in der Türkei aus und fordert von den türkischen Behörden, dass sie seine Ermordung gründlich und unparteiisch untersuchen. 

WRI have released a statement condemning the murder of Tahir Elçi, Chairperson of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, a prominent human rights lawyer and a well-known figure as a “peace envoy” in Turkey. The statement expresses WRI's solidarity with Elçi's family, friends, and the peace activists in Turkey, and calls on the Turkish authorities to investigate his murder thoroughly and impartially. Read the full statement

Tahir Elçi, Chairperson of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, a prominent human rights lawyer and a well-known figure as a “peace envoy”, was killed on 28 November 2015 in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey. He dedicated his life to peace and human rights. His last words were “We don’t want weapons, clashes and military operations in the birthplace and home of many civilisations” at a press conference a few minutes before he was shot.

Members of the RAMALC in solidarity with the victims of AyotzinapaThe Latin American and Caribbean Anti-Militarist Network (RAMALC), in the city of Mexico on September 23, 2015, with representatives from Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Chile, Paraguay Brazil, Bolivia, Serbian anti-militarists and United States, together with their peers from Mexico, would like to express our solidarity with the mothers, fathers and relatives of the 43 student teachers of the Ayotzinapa Rural

War Resisters' International (WRI) is concerned for the safety of its members and of their fellow human rights defenders in Venezuela.

On 13 May the President of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, publicly shared details of the travel arrangements of WRI member Rafael Uzcátegui from the Venezuelan Programa Venezolano de Educación-Acción en Derechos Humanos (Program for Education and Action on Human Rights - PROVEA), as well as those of Carlos Correa from Espacio Público (Public Space). The information was shared in Diosdado Cabello’s weekly television show “Con el Mazo Dando”. On this programme the work of human rights defenders is regularly questioned and details of their whereabouts are shared. The president of Venezuela, Nicholas Maduro, has described NGO workers who criticise the government as 'bandits', and called for the production of a documentary to be broadcast on television exposing the 'truth' about the work of human rights organisations. 

Among other details, on “Con el Mazo Dando” Diosdado Cabello announced that Rafael Uzcátegui and Carlos Correa were travelling to Chile to meet the former coordinator of PROVEA. This information had only been shared in private online communications, so there is cause to believe these communications are being monitored by the authorities.

Sharing such information puts Rafael, Carlos, and their friends and colleagues at risk. It arms militant government sympathizers with the information they would need to intimidate or attack them.

We, peace and human rights organizations, declare our support and solidarity with No to Compulsory Military Service Movement and with the Egyptian conscientious objector, Mark Nabil Sanad. We condemn the silence of Egypt’s authorities over conscientious objectors’ suffering. We call on the Egyptian authorities to restore his civil rights and to recognize his right to an exemption from the military service based on his conscientious beliefs.

During this, the International Week of Action for Military-Free Education and Research, WRI and other organisations have issued this call to action: War is not the answer: resist youth militarisation!

From the moment we are born, children and young people all over the world are exposed to the military and military values around them. They are taught that armed force and violence can solve problems.

We call this the militarisation of youth.

In some countries, this militarisation is visible and obvious: young people (mainly, though not exclusively, young men) are forced to join the military through conscription. This might include forced recruitment, or recruitment of children.

World Leaders Take Action Now Save precious lives, give peace a chance!

 

October 2014

We are a Pan-African Network of Peacemakers from over 30 countries across the African continent and represent more than 20 organisations. Our 20-member Steering Committee has representatives from West, East, Central Africa, southern Africa and the islands. Some of our members are also from the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, with strong African connections. We work at the grassroots level, training in Nonviolence and mobilising communities for Peacebuilding.

War has returned to European soil, and it seems that Europeans are not capable, or not willing, to apply the lessons they try to teach in other parts of the planet. The European Union, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, put Ukraine in an impossible position when it asked it to choose between a political pact with the EU or a close economic relationship with Russia. Ordinary people in Ukraine have some of the lowest wages in the continent, and face one of the highest levels of political and economic corruption, creating hopelessness among many of them - hence the offer from the EU seemed to many like a golden opportunity to take a first step out of the mire.

The use of violence by both sides in the later stages of the Maidan protests created a precedent, and served as a justification for the use of violence in parts of Ukraine where many people disagree with the country's new political course. Also, the presence of neo-nazis in the new official Ukrainian politics, and the rise of the paramilitary units connected with them, encouraged other Ukrainians - in areas where many feel more attracted to and connected with Russia than with the EU - to consider armed struggle a legitimate method of dealing with conflict.

War Resisters International, a ninety-three year old antiwar/pacifist organization, after having gathered from over 60 countries at its Quadrennial conference in Cape Town, South Africa, expresses its deep sorrow over the self-immolation on 29 June of the Japanese man, and its deeper sorrow over the cause of that drastic action.

In the wake of the terrible suffering in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as victims of the world's first, and to date only, use of nuclear weapons in war, the Japanese adopted as Article 9 of their Constitution a prohibition against maintaining army for deployment outside the country's borders.

It seems to us terrible and tragic that, knowing what it collectively knows, Japan is now facing the repudiation of Article 9's prohibition on overseas war, and we entreat the nation and its legislators to reject this move, and maintain Article 9 as a beacon of nonviolence and non-aggression for the rest of the world.

10 July, 2014

On Behalf of the WRI assembly

The Assembly of the War Resisters’ International, gathered in the City Hall of Cape Town, South Africa, strongly condemns the ongoing assault by the Israeli military on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. War Resisters’ International considers all war a crime against humanity, and we therefore call for the immediate end of hostilities, and in particular the repeated aggression by the State of Israel against Palestinians.

As opponents of war, we also oppose the causes of war, and stand in solidarity with oppressed people all over the world. We therefore call for the end of the occupation of Palestine and—especially gathered at the building from which Nelson Mandela made his first speech after release from prison—we call for the end of all forms of Apartheid everywhere.

Declaración de la Red Latinoamericana Antimilitarista por el día mundial de acción contra el gasto militar

La Red Latinoamericana Antimilitarista, red definida como una coordinación que promueve a través de diversas acciones el antimilitarismo en la sociedad, cuestionando la estructura militar y las prácticas de dominación en la región; hace un llamamiento a celebrar el día mundial contra el gasto militar diciendo: No queremos más armas para Latinoamérica.