Czech Republic

A new report published by an international coalition of peace organisations explores the way arms companies in Europe and Israel are fuelling violence in Mexico.

CBC Global Ammunition is a holding company which owns a number of subsidaries around the world, specialising in ammunition for portable weapons. The subsidiaries included: Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos (CBC), Brazil; Czech company Sellier & Bellot; MEN in Germany; and Magtech, based in Minnesota in the USA.

Activists have resisted and challenged arms fairs and exhibitions in Canada, Czech Republic, Israel and Spain in recent weeks.

The Czech ministry of interior publishes a report about extremist groups four times a year. With regard to militia activities, the ministry claims that they recently decreased. As main reasons, the ministry indicates “personal animosity, power disputes and disagreement about the direction of the organization. Several recruits were suspected of being part of a militia for business reasons, rather than patriotism and state defence.”

This November, many activists from around the world took action against the militarisation of young people in their countries, cities and towns. This was part of a global action: the International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth. Initiated by War Resisters' International, the week was held for the 5th time this year. 

Next week (12-18 November) is the International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth. For the fifth time, activists from across different countries will be organising events to raise awareness on how the military and military values are promoted to young people, and how we can challenge it.

Each month, we feature a different WRI affiliate. This month it is the Independent Social Ecological Movement - NESEHNUTÍ in the the Czech Republic. They say:

We were accepted as a War Resisters International affiliate in 2016, so we are pretty new in the network. We are a social and environmental non-governmental organization from the Czech Republic, settled in the city of Brno. This month we are celebrating our 20th anniversary!

In May and June 2017, activists in Canada, Israel and France have taken nonviolent direct action against arms fairs. In Ottawa, Canada, 40 activists blockaded the entrance to the CANSEC fair for over an hour. CANSEC is an annual two day event hosting 800 companies from across the arms industries, and attended by 12,000 people. As well as exhibits of weapons and other equipment, attendees were given the opportunity to hear presentations from government ministers and attend evening receptions sponsored by Lockheed Martin.

This year, the annual ENAAT (European Network Against Arms Trade) meeting took place from 15th to 17th May in Brno, Czech Republic. Organized by NESEHNUTÍ, a local NGO, the aim of the meeting was to strengthen the cooperation among the ENAAT members, and to come up with some new ideas regarding ENAAT’s future and discuss the trends of the arms trade of European countries, many of which keep preferring business to human rights by selling arms and weapons to authoritarian and oppressive regimes.

In April, The Czech government announced plans to create a register of citizens who would be willing to volunteer for military service. The Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said that the move was in response to threats from Islamic State and insecruity in Ukraine, but did not amount to conscription, which was abolished in 2005. The legislation still needs approving by both houses of parliament, where the ruling party has a majority, and signed by the president.

From 15th to 17th of May, the European Network Against the Arms Trade (ENAAT) will meet in Brno, Czech Republic. The aim of the meeting, organised by local ENAAT member NESEHNUTÍ, is not only to discuss current trends in the European arms trade, but also to strengthen cooperation among the members in campaigns against arms exports. These exports are fuelling armed conflicts in many parts of the world, and are helping various dictators and repressive regimes to suppress their own populations.

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.