Italy

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.

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.

In an article entitled The truth about Sishawan, the Italian edition of the website PeaceReporter reported on 1 August 2008 on the cases of two Italian helicopter crew who refused to fire at civilians.

Issues

Italy does not recognise the right to conscientious objection for professional soldiers.

Military recruitment
Conscription

The Italian Parliament decided to end conscription in November 20001.
Originally, it was planned to end conscription by 2007, but the transformation process into professional armed forces went faster than anticipated.

The Italian parliament voted at the end of July in favour of an end to compulsory military service. However, those who want to join the police, the carabinieri, the customs service and even the fire brigade will still have to do one year of military service as professional soldiers, at a salary of €980.

Defence Minister Antonio Martino said that the abolition of compulsory military service would be advantegous both to young people, who would be able to start their careers earlier, and to the military, which presently is unable to send conscripts on military operations abroad.