Aldrig Mere Krig er en dansk afdeling af Krigsmodstandernes Internationale Forbund, War Resisters' International (WRI) med hovedkvarter i London.
Håndbog i Ikkevold
WRI laver en elektronisk håndbog i ikkevoldelige aktioner og kampagner. Se håndbogen, og kom selv med emner, du synes skal med.
Kilde: Arne Hansen
April 2008: Massiv undertrykkelse af ikkevoldelige fredsaktioner under NATO-topmødet i Bukarest.
Undertrykkelse af menneskerettighederne er desværre ikke kun et kinesisk fænomen. Her beretter Javier Garate, talsmand fra WRI, om omfattende fredelige anti-NATO demonstrationer, og om det rumænske politis brutale undertrykkelse af demonstrationerne. Det er de færreste herhjemme der har noget kendskab til det han fortæller, for fredsaktivisternes aktioner i Bukarest har ikke fået nogen omtale i de danske medier:
Massive Repression during the NATO Summit in Romania: One day before the start of the Nato summit in Bucharest the situation gets worse. Hourly alternative looking people are detained by the police for no reason. Afterwards the police construct absurd offence, for example carrying a pocketknife amounting to possession a weapon. Every person coming to or leaving the convergence center is in danger of getting detained (some simply for walking to a nearby shop). The detained are interrogated, photographed and fingerprinted in police stations, and held for up to 24 hours.
At the Romanian border several groups of activists, as well as others, have been denied entry into the country. The most involved Romanian activists around the country have at this point been visited or called by either the local police or SRI (Romanian information service) to be warned against participating in any anti-nato protests or to have their families intimidated.
27000 police officers, military, snipers and secret police are occupying the city. The security alert code yellow has been announced, meaning that all demonstrations are forbidden in the whole city amongst other restrictive laws. In the face of this repression the actions of the few activists present are severely limited. Therefore we urgently need your solidarity. Please make solidarity actions in your cities.
Kilde: Arne Hansen
Marts 2008: har WRI udsendt to breve om forfølgelse af samvittighedsnægtere i Columbia og Tyrkiet
Columbia: I februar er samvittighedsnægteren Yesid Bosa Rico gået i sultestrejke i protest mod den behandling og de trusler han har været udsat for under myndighedernes illegale forsøg på at rekruttere ham til militærtjeneste. Andreas Speck, WRI, skriver bl. a.: Colombian conscientious objector Diego Yesid Bosa Rico, who has been illegally recruited on 23 February 2008, began a hunger strike in protest against his recruitment and treatment on 26 March 2008. He is also refusing to enter the dormitories. In response, the military offered him to do his military service in an office, without the need to take up arms. However, on the morning of 27 March 2008, they threatened him with five soldiers.
Diego Yesid Bosa Rico was recruited in a 'batida' (raid of military in public places) on 23 February 2008, and initially brought to the Battalion Simon Bolivar in Tunja, about three hours from Bogota. He was then transferred to the Special Energetical and Road Batallion No 6 'Jose Maria Carbonell', where he is supposed to serve his military service as a regular soldier.
The Colombian military claims that this practice is legal. According to Article 50 of degree 2048, the recruitment authorities have the right to carry out patrols to find draft evaders and/or persons who did not define their military situation. While - according to the degree - it might be legal to check people's papers, what usually follows is certainly illegal, and does not meet neither Colombian nor international legal standards. According to the law, those who do not define their military situation in time can be compelled to do so. However, the practice of taking those without military ID to the barracks to process them there directly deprives those youth of their right to a proper legal process, as they have almost no chance to claim legal exemptions, to submit any prove or other papers supporting their right to exemption, and so on. That this kind of process is illegal has also been stressed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in a decision on a case from Guatemala in 1993.
Once recruited, Diego Yesid Bosa Rico maintained his position that he does not want to be part of any military, based on his conscientious objection and his belief in nonviolence. In his conscientious objector declaration he said: "Violence only breeds evil, and therefore I don't want to be involved in violence of any kind, not as a recruit of any army, legal or illegal, as they all say they want to achieve peace and justice, but under the crossfire of their weapons the life of many human beings is taken away and with them there is no hope for a better future",
The military even claims that Diego Yesid Bosa Rico signed documents stating that none of the reasons for excemption mentioned in article 28 of the law 48 of 1993. However, Diego Yesid Bosa Rico did refuse to sign any papers, although he was under pressure to do so.
On March 2008, Diego Yesid Bosa Rico refused to take a rifle. He also noted, i.e. from the response to the petition of his mother, that documents he refused to sign appeared with his signature. In his response to this, he decided to go on hunger strike. War Resisters' International considers the forced recruitment of Diego Yesid Bosa Rico as arbitrary detention. It constitutes a violation of Colombian law 48/1993, of articles 7, 11, and 22 of the American Convention on Human Rights, and of Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Den tyrkiske samvittighedsnægter, Halil Savda, blev igen arresteret 28. marts 2008 under en solidaritetsdemonstration for den fængslede samvittighedsnægter Ismail Saygi. Andreas Speck: Soon after, he was taken into custody by police, because of an outstanding arrest warrant on charges of desertion. Halil Savda already spent several months in military prison, and has been sentenced repeatedly on charges of "persistent disobedience" or "desertion". On 12 April 2007, Halil Savda had been sentenced to six month imprisonment on charges of "persistent disobedience" between 25 January and 5 February 2007 (see co-alert from 12 April 2007). On 15 March of the same year, he had already been sentenced to 15.5 months imprisonment on charges of desertion (see co-alert from 20 March 2007).
Both sentences constitute a violation of Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion), both of which Turkey has signed and ratified. Videre skriver Andreas Speck: Halil Savda had been released from prison on 28 July 2007, after serving the six months prison sentence, as at that time an appeal against the 15.5 months sentence was still pending. However, this appeal had been turned down recently. In addition, Halil Savda had been ordered to report to 'his' military unit within 48 hours, which he did not do. Following this, an arrest warrant on charges of desertion had been issued.
Following his arrest on 27 March, it is highly likely that Halil Savda will be brought to 'his' military prison in Corlu, to serve his 15.5 months sentence, and to await trial on new charges of desertion. This means that it is highly likely that after serving his present sentence, he will need to serve a new sentence, and might also be brought back to the military unit, only to be given - and refuse - new military orders. The vicious circle has again begun.
Yderligere information om Halil Savda og samvittighedsnægtelse i Tyrkiet på:
wri-irg.org/co/turkcampaign-en.htm
Kilde: Arne Hansen
Marts 2008: Amerikanske tropper kan igen operere i Afghanistan fra baser i Uzbekistan
Med BBC News som kilde fortæller Andreas Speck, at Uzbekistan igen har tilladt amerikanske tropper at benytte baser i den sydlige del af landet til operationer ind i Afghanistan. Tyske tropper har hele tiden kunnet benytte baserne, mens amerikanerne har været udelukket siden de i 2005 anklagede Uzbekistan for at overtræde menneskerettigheder i forbindelse med demonstrationer i Adijan city.
14. februar 2008: I anledning af det kommende Sociale Forum i Malmø i efteråret 2008.
Coordinating and strengthening Nonviolent at social forums. War Resisters ' International and many of its affiliates have been present at many social forums, the meeting place of the so-called "movement of movements, for quite some years now - from local or regional forums, over European Social Forums (London 2004 and Athens 2006) to World Social Forums (Caracas 2006, Nairobi 2007)). While these events provide many opportunities, WRI often felt a certain unease on several levels.
The forums are increasingly dominated by rather mainstream development oriented NGOs on the one hand and traditional Marxist groups in numerous flavours on the other hand. Independent grassroots activities tend to get more and more marginalised. Nonviolence, though mentioned in the charta of the WSF, is not visible as a political approach at these forums. especially the anti-war forum is dominated by Marxist and Trotskyist organisations around the UK based Stop the War Coalition and its international allies.
While some of these problems are linked to the much smaller organising capacity of nonviolent action groups, or their different focus, which makes social forums a less appealing and important place, we also see a lack of coordination and cooperation and a tendency towards self-marginalisation at work.
While some of these problems are linked to the much smaller organising capacity of nonviolent action groups, or their different focus, which makes social forums a less appealing and important place, we also see a lack of coordination and cooperation and a tendency towards self-marginalisation at work.
To respond to these problems, WRI made efforts at the European Social Forum in London in 2004 and the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya in 2007 to coordinate activities with (some) other nonviolent groups and organisations, and to increase the visibility of nonviolence at these forums. While this has been somewhat successful, WRI has gone beyond its limits in doing so, and cannot maintain this level of activity on its own - a level that in any case is not sufficient.
A Nonviolent Action Forum? At discussions during the WRI Council meeting in Israel in August 2007 arose the idea of a Nonviolent Action Forum at social forums, which could bring together these activities and would give them a joint name, place, and thus more visibility. A Nonviolent Action Forum would provide a joint framework for workshops and seminars related to nonviolence, and would - via a nonviolent assembly - feed into the assembly of social movements as the body that passes the closing statement of a social forum. More importantly, a Nonviolent Action Forum would be a visible axis in a social forum programme. and would provide many opportunities for networking and discussion among nonviolent groups from a variety of nonviolent perspectives and countries.
ESF Malmo - first Nonviolent Action Forum? Presently, WRI is looking into the feasibility of a first slef-organised Nonviolent Action Forum at the European Social Forum in Malmo in September 2008. We are beginning discussions with WRI affiliates and other nonviolent groups about this idea, and are receiving first positive feedback. Our vision for Malmo is as follows:
A joint printed programme of events of all groups participating in the Nonviolent Action Forum; sharing of ideas and resources for workshops and seminars at the ESF, including getting speakers onto the larger events of the ESF; a joint large stall of all participating groups as a meeting place and networking point.
Building on the work for the ESF, we also aim for a larger cooperation for the WSF in Amazonia in January 2009, being aware that many groups from Europe will not be able to be present there, and that this will require other partners from South and North America.
WRI's 2008 rapport om dansk militær kan læses ved at klikke her
WRI webside: wri-irg.org - Abonnement på elektronisk nyhedsbrev: info@wri-irg.org.
Håndbog i Ikkevold
WRI laver en elektronisk håndbog i ikkevoldelige aktioner og kampagner. Se håndbogen, og kom selv med emner, du synes skal med.
Kilde: Arne Hansen
April 2008: Massiv undertrykkelse af ikkevoldelige fredsaktioner under NATO-topmødet i Bukarest.
Undertrykkelse af menneskerettighederne er desværre ikke kun et kinesisk fænomen. Her beretter Javier Garate, talsmand fra WRI, om omfattende fredelige anti-NATO demonstrationer, og om det rumænske politis brutale undertrykkelse af demonstrationerne. Det er de færreste herhjemme der har noget kendskab til det han fortæller, for fredsaktivisternes aktioner i Bukarest har ikke fået nogen omtale i de danske medier:
Massive Repression during the NATO Summit in Romania: One day before the start of the Nato summit in Bucharest the situation gets worse. Hourly alternative looking people are detained by the police for no reason. Afterwards the police construct absurd offence, for example carrying a pocketknife amounting to possession a weapon. Every person coming to or leaving the convergence center is in danger of getting detained (some simply for walking to a nearby shop). The detained are interrogated, photographed and fingerprinted in police stations, and held for up to 24 hours.
At the Romanian border several groups of activists, as well as others, have been denied entry into the country. The most involved Romanian activists around the country have at this point been visited or called by either the local police or SRI (Romanian information service) to be warned against participating in any anti-nato protests or to have their families intimidated.
27000 police officers, military, snipers and secret police are occupying the city. The security alert code yellow has been announced, meaning that all demonstrations are forbidden in the whole city amongst other restrictive laws. In the face of this repression the actions of the few activists present are severely limited. Therefore we urgently need your solidarity. Please make solidarity actions in your cities.
Kilde: Arne Hansen
Marts 2008: har WRI udsendt to breve om forfølgelse af samvittighedsnægtere i Columbia og Tyrkiet
Columbia: I februar er samvittighedsnægteren Yesid Bosa Rico gået i sultestrejke i protest mod den behandling og de trusler han har været udsat for under myndighedernes illegale forsøg på at rekruttere ham til militærtjeneste. Andreas Speck, WRI, skriver bl. a.: Colombian conscientious objector Diego Yesid Bosa Rico, who has been illegally recruited on 23 February 2008, began a hunger strike in protest against his recruitment and treatment on 26 March 2008. He is also refusing to enter the dormitories. In response, the military offered him to do his military service in an office, without the need to take up arms. However, on the morning of 27 March 2008, they threatened him with five soldiers.
Diego Yesid Bosa Rico was recruited in a 'batida' (raid of military in public places) on 23 February 2008, and initially brought to the Battalion Simon Bolivar in Tunja, about three hours from Bogota. He was then transferred to the Special Energetical and Road Batallion No 6 'Jose Maria Carbonell', where he is supposed to serve his military service as a regular soldier.
The Colombian military claims that this practice is legal. According to Article 50 of degree 2048, the recruitment authorities have the right to carry out patrols to find draft evaders and/or persons who did not define their military situation. While - according to the degree - it might be legal to check people's papers, what usually follows is certainly illegal, and does not meet neither Colombian nor international legal standards. According to the law, those who do not define their military situation in time can be compelled to do so. However, the practice of taking those without military ID to the barracks to process them there directly deprives those youth of their right to a proper legal process, as they have almost no chance to claim legal exemptions, to submit any prove or other papers supporting their right to exemption, and so on. That this kind of process is illegal has also been stressed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in a decision on a case from Guatemala in 1993.
Once recruited, Diego Yesid Bosa Rico maintained his position that he does not want to be part of any military, based on his conscientious objection and his belief in nonviolence. In his conscientious objector declaration he said: "Violence only breeds evil, and therefore I don't want to be involved in violence of any kind, not as a recruit of any army, legal or illegal, as they all say they want to achieve peace and justice, but under the crossfire of their weapons the life of many human beings is taken away and with them there is no hope for a better future",
The military even claims that Diego Yesid Bosa Rico signed documents stating that none of the reasons for excemption mentioned in article 28 of the law 48 of 1993. However, Diego Yesid Bosa Rico did refuse to sign any papers, although he was under pressure to do so.
On March 2008, Diego Yesid Bosa Rico refused to take a rifle. He also noted, i.e. from the response to the petition of his mother, that documents he refused to sign appeared with his signature. In his response to this, he decided to go on hunger strike. War Resisters' International considers the forced recruitment of Diego Yesid Bosa Rico as arbitrary detention. It constitutes a violation of Colombian law 48/1993, of articles 7, 11, and 22 of the American Convention on Human Rights, and of Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Den tyrkiske samvittighedsnægter, Halil Savda, blev igen arresteret 28. marts 2008 under en solidaritetsdemonstration for den fængslede samvittighedsnægter Ismail Saygi. Andreas Speck: Soon after, he was taken into custody by police, because of an outstanding arrest warrant on charges of desertion. Halil Savda already spent several months in military prison, and has been sentenced repeatedly on charges of "persistent disobedience" or "desertion". On 12 April 2007, Halil Savda had been sentenced to six month imprisonment on charges of "persistent disobedience" between 25 January and 5 February 2007 (see co-alert from 12 April 2007). On 15 March of the same year, he had already been sentenced to 15.5 months imprisonment on charges of desertion (see co-alert from 20 March 2007).
Both sentences constitute a violation of Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion), both of which Turkey has signed and ratified. Videre skriver Andreas Speck: Halil Savda had been released from prison on 28 July 2007, after serving the six months prison sentence, as at that time an appeal against the 15.5 months sentence was still pending. However, this appeal had been turned down recently. In addition, Halil Savda had been ordered to report to 'his' military unit within 48 hours, which he did not do. Following this, an arrest warrant on charges of desertion had been issued.
Following his arrest on 27 March, it is highly likely that Halil Savda will be brought to 'his' military prison in Corlu, to serve his 15.5 months sentence, and to await trial on new charges of desertion. This means that it is highly likely that after serving his present sentence, he will need to serve a new sentence, and might also be brought back to the military unit, only to be given - and refuse - new military orders. The vicious circle has again begun.
Yderligere information om Halil Savda og samvittighedsnægtelse i Tyrkiet på:
wri-irg.org/co/turkcampaign-en.htm
Kilde: Arne Hansen
Marts 2008: Amerikanske tropper kan igen operere i Afghanistan fra baser i Uzbekistan
Med BBC News som kilde fortæller Andreas Speck, at Uzbekistan igen har tilladt amerikanske tropper at benytte baser i den sydlige del af landet til operationer ind i Afghanistan. Tyske tropper har hele tiden kunnet benytte baserne, mens amerikanerne har været udelukket siden de i 2005 anklagede Uzbekistan for at overtræde menneskerettigheder i forbindelse med demonstrationer i Adijan city.
14. februar 2008: I anledning af det kommende Sociale Forum i Malmø i efteråret 2008.
Coordinating and strengthening Nonviolent at social forums. War Resisters ' International and many of its affiliates have been present at many social forums, the meeting place of the so-called "movement of movements, for quite some years now - from local or regional forums, over European Social Forums (London 2004 and Athens 2006) to World Social Forums (Caracas 2006, Nairobi 2007)). While these events provide many opportunities, WRI often felt a certain unease on several levels.
The forums are increasingly dominated by rather mainstream development oriented NGOs on the one hand and traditional Marxist groups in numerous flavours on the other hand. Independent grassroots activities tend to get more and more marginalised. Nonviolence, though mentioned in the charta of the WSF, is not visible as a political approach at these forums. especially the anti-war forum is dominated by Marxist and Trotskyist organisations around the UK based Stop the War Coalition and its international allies.
While some of these problems are linked to the much smaller organising capacity of nonviolent action groups, or their different focus, which makes social forums a less appealing and important place, we also see a lack of coordination and cooperation and a tendency towards self-marginalisation at work.
While some of these problems are linked to the much smaller organising capacity of nonviolent action groups, or their different focus, which makes social forums a less appealing and important place, we also see a lack of coordination and cooperation and a tendency towards self-marginalisation at work.
To respond to these problems, WRI made efforts at the European Social Forum in London in 2004 and the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya in 2007 to coordinate activities with (some) other nonviolent groups and organisations, and to increase the visibility of nonviolence at these forums. While this has been somewhat successful, WRI has gone beyond its limits in doing so, and cannot maintain this level of activity on its own - a level that in any case is not sufficient.
A Nonviolent Action Forum? At discussions during the WRI Council meeting in Israel in August 2007 arose the idea of a Nonviolent Action Forum at social forums, which could bring together these activities and would give them a joint name, place, and thus more visibility. A Nonviolent Action Forum would provide a joint framework for workshops and seminars related to nonviolence, and would - via a nonviolent assembly - feed into the assembly of social movements as the body that passes the closing statement of a social forum. More importantly, a Nonviolent Action Forum would be a visible axis in a social forum programme. and would provide many opportunities for networking and discussion among nonviolent groups from a variety of nonviolent perspectives and countries.
ESF Malmo - first Nonviolent Action Forum? Presently, WRI is looking into the feasibility of a first slef-organised Nonviolent Action Forum at the European Social Forum in Malmo in September 2008. We are beginning discussions with WRI affiliates and other nonviolent groups about this idea, and are receiving first positive feedback. Our vision for Malmo is as follows:
A joint printed programme of events of all groups participating in the Nonviolent Action Forum; sharing of ideas and resources for workshops and seminars at the ESF, including getting speakers onto the larger events of the ESF; a joint large stall of all participating groups as a meeting place and networking point.
Building on the work for the ESF, we also aim for a larger cooperation for the WSF in Amazonia in January 2009, being aware that many groups from Europe will not be able to be present there, and that this will require other partners from South and North America.
WRI's 2008 rapport om dansk militær kan læses ved at klikke her
WRI webside: wri-irg.org - Abonnement på elektronisk nyhedsbrev: info@wri-irg.org.
AldrigMereKrig.dk ©2008
Aldrig Mere Krig War Resisters' International - 2008