Teaching peace

Wed

Apr

2015

Kindergarten kids holding 'AK-47s' during 'patriotic class' cause outrage in Russia

New translation available

Submitted by antimili-youth

Moscow: Pictures of young Russian children posing with mock AK-47 rifles and other weapons at a kindergarten have provoked a storm of controversy, but some defended them as patriotic education.

Pictures making the rounds online show boys...

Thu

Nov

Join the action: 6th International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth, 23-29 November

Submitted by jenh on Thu, 07/11/2019 - 15:29

On 23-29 November this year, activists from across the world are taking action against the militarisation of young people in their countries, cities and towns.

Join us this November in the International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth with your own nonviolent actions and events!

The International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth is a concerted effort of antimilitarist actions across the world to raise awareness of, and challenge, the ways young people are militarised, and to give voice to alternatives. The week is coordinated by War Resisters' International.

Mon

May

5th International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth to take place between 12-18 November

Submitted by antimili-youth on Mon, 07/05/2018 - 15:01

On 12-18 November this year, activists from across the world are taking action against the militarisation of young people in their countries, cities and towns.

Join us this November in this global action with your own nonviolent actions and events!

Fri

Dec

International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth held for the fourth time

Submitted by antimili-youth on Fri, 15/12/2017 - 20:34

In 20-26 November 2017, 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 4^th time this year. Throughout 20-26 November, groups from South Korea, Greece, Israel to the USA and many other places, organised their autonomous actions, workshops, vigils and other events. Touching upon various issues, activists raised awareness on, and challenged, those many ways young people's minds and bodies are recruited into war and violence.

Sat

Aug

Call for Articles: Examples of Youth Militarisation in Different Countries/Regions

Submitted by antimili-youth on Sat, 27/08/2016 - 12:22

War Resisters' International is organising the third International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth this year. The week is going to take place between November 14-20 with the participation of groups and individuals from different countries. See our call out here.

Alongside events and actions, this year we are also planning to share examples of youth militarisation, and resistance to it, from different countries via a series of articles. The articles will be published on our website www.antimili-youth.net. If you'd like to write to us about your country and/or community please contact us via cmoy@wri-irg.org.

Wed

Jun

A Call to Action: International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth

Submitted by antimili-youth on Wed, 08/06/2016 - 10:58

Would you like to take action against the militarisation of youth with many others across the world?

You can join War Resisters' International's week of action, which will be held between 14-20 November for the third time this year. You can join as an individual or as a group.

War Resisters' International is organising the 3rd International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth from 14 to 20 November this year. The week is a concerted effort of antimilitarist actions across the world to raise awareness of, and challenge, the ways young people are militarised, and to give voice to alternatives.

Tue

Feb

German Armed Forces Recruiting Minors on the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers

Submitted by antimili-youth on Tue, 16/02/2016 - 15:16

By Antimili-Youth

Last week the Bundeswehr (the German Armed Forces), had a stall at a school's job fair in Bad Saulgau, Germany. The event took place on 12 February 2016, the very same day which marks the anniversary of the signing of a protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that forbids the use of children in conflict, and is being commemorated as Red Hand Day, or the International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers.

Wed

Jan

When did you get the gun?

Submitted by antimili-youth on Wed, 20/01/2016 - 18:05

Highschool studants waving israeli flags in Treblinka extermination camp as part of the Holocast remembrance trip to Poland

By Or Segal, Israel Social TV

Hello to you, little girl with a gun. You, who were dressed in a uniform, who was placed second row on the side, between your fellow pre-schoolers. You who marched to the beat and saluted to the sound of parents clapping in the Independence Day party. You wanted to make the largest Purim food package1 in class, you wrapped all the sweets in colourful paper. One older kid passed between the classroom and asked for an “educational shekel”2. You didn't even know what that was, but you gave three shekels anyway.

Mon

Dec

Uganda: Visiting the rehabilitation centre using art as therapy for children freed from a brutal militia

Submitted by antimili-youth on Mon, 21/12/2015 - 16:30

By Jacqui Thornton, The Independent

The pictures are drawn in a childish hand, but they are visions that no child should have to witness: militia shooting captives tied to trees; army helicopters above firing on their enemy; the central African bush in flames.

These are all artworks produced by children held in captivity after they, or their parents, were abducted by the feared Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda. Many of those taken spent years in the bush, constantly on the move to evade capture, walking barefoot carrying heavy loads for the commanders and even fighting for the militia.

Tue

Jun

Young People, the Military, and the Aftermath of the UK’s General Election

Submitted by antimili-youth on Tue, 23/06/2015 - 15:59

It has been more than a month since the General Elections in the UK which ended up with a Conservative Party majority in the Parliament. We asked Forces Watch* to review these results and their implications on the militarisation of youth in the UK for Antimili-Youth.

Mon

Jun

War veterans call for rethink on recruitment of 16-year-olds

Submitted by antimili-youth on Mon, 22/06/2015 - 11:03

Former professionals condemn recruitment of teenagers by ‘pushing the notion of a noble military career to children’

A group of British war veterans will launch a campaign this week against enlisting 16-year-olds into the military.

Britain is the only state in Europe or Nato that still enlists minors, a policy criticised by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the parliamentary joint committee on human rights and other groups including Child Soldiers International and British Quakers. The organisation Veterans For Peace (VFP) is demanding change, but the MoD says it depends on 16-year-olds for a quarter of the intake needed to sustain UK forces.

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Languages

Countering Military Recruitment

WRI's new booklet, Countering Military Recruitment: Learning the lessons of counter-recruitment campaigns internationally, is out now. The booklet includes examples of campaigning against youth militarisation across different countries with the contribution of grassroot activists.

You can order a paperback version here.