Germany

As reported earlier in CO-Update, Germany seems to be going ahead with the shortening of military and substitute service from nine months to six months. Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and Family Minister Kristina Schröder presented a draft law to the Defence Committee of the German parliament in March. According to the proposal, all conscripts will be able to benefit of the shorter term from 1 October 2010, while for conscientious objectors the shorter term will come into force from 1 August 2010.

Despite the bad weather thousands of Bombspotters have gathered in Kleine Brogel today to denounce the illegal nuclear policy of the Belgian government. They responded to the appeal of Vredesactie and were not intimidated by the massive presence of police and military personnel, kilometres of barbwire, several helicopters and guard dogs that were being deployed in order to try to keep the illegal nuclear policy in place.

Actions for nuclear disarmament at nuclear weapon bases all over Europe

Overview on http://www.bombspotting.org

During the Easter weekend peace organisations all over Europe are staging actions at nuclear weapon bases and command centres, as part of a European Day of Action against nuclear weapons. One month prior to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) Review Conference, peace movements in all the European countries with nuclear weapons on their territory (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey and the UK) are sending one message: it is time for nuclear disarmament. The continuing deployment of nuclear weapons does not provide more security, but rather encourages the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Resolution of the GEW National Executive dated 5/6 March 2010

In recent years the Bundeswehr- Armed Forces have been striving for more influence in schools. There have been many incidents where exhibitions of weapons and information events took place in schoolyards and gyms.

On Tuesday, 9 February 2010, German total objector Fabian Schulz had to face trial a third time for his refusal to do substitute service.

After the German federal elections in October, the new German governing coalition of Christian Democrats and Free Democrats (Liberals) announced that military service will be shortened to six months from 1 January 2011 on, and conscription will be reviewed. This means that substitute civilian service for conscientious objectors will also be reduced to six months. At present, both services are nine months long.

Today at 10:30am 60 musicians from the action group "Lebenslaute", packed with instruments and music stands, climbed the four meter high wall around the site of the planned final storage site in Gorleben and began a protest concert with mainly classical music.

The "bombodrom" is a 120 square kilometers big area in Germany, 80 km north of Berlin. This area was used by the Russian Air Force as bombing and shooting training area (therefore named with the Russian word "bombodrom".). The people in this area suffered for the noise and the poisoning of the environment for more than 30 years. After the unification of Germany. they had hoped that this will stop. But since 1992 the German government wanted to use this area for the German Air Force.

In this presentation I will give an overview of the right to conscientious objection, its
legal practices and frameworks in the 27 European Union member states. Before I do so, I want to step back a bit and have a brief look at the existing international standards about the right to
conscientious objection, as these standards allow us to put the practices in the EU member states into a perspective.

(c) Connection e.V.

On 27 November 2008, U.S. Army
Specialist Andre’ Shepherd applied for asylum in Germany. After
attending college and failing to find meaningful employment, Shepherd
enlisted in the military early in 2004. The promises of financial
security and international adventure easily trumped working at a fast
food chain. He became an Apache airframe mechanic, hoping to someday
qualify up to the role of helicopter pilot.

On 14-15 November, antimilitarist nonviolent actions took place in a number of countries around Europe, as part of the a European Day of Action against military infrastructure. The day of action was another step in the coordinated work of radical nonviolent antimilitarist groups in Europe.

FRANKFURT – An AWOL (Absent Without Leave) American soldier will file his application for German asylum Thursday (27 Nov. 2008) in the Frankfurt area. He is the first American veteran of the war in Iraq to pursue refugee status in Europe. A press conference will take place at 10:00 the same day at Presseclub in Frankfurt.