Category Archives: DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

Hiroshima Peace Declaration on 80th anniversary of atomic bombing

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

The following is the full text of the Peace Declaration read on Aug. 6 by Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui at a ceremony to mark 80 years since the 1945 atomic bombing of the city.

Visitors hold their hands together in prayer in front of the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward on Aug. 6, 2025. (Mainichi/Kenjiro Sato)

Eighty years ago, Hiroshima was strewn with bodies too damaged to identify even their sex. One hibakusha (survivor) ignored the many glass shards piercing her body to cremate her father with her own hands. Elsewhere, a young woman begged, “I don’t care if I die. Please! Give me water!” Decades later, a woman who heard that plea still regretted not giving the young woman water. She told herself that fighting for the elimination of nuclear weapons was the best she could do for those who died. Another hibakusha spent his life alone because the parents of the woman he loved refused to let her marry anyone exposed to the bomb.

One hibakusha leader frequently reminded younger audiences, “Building a peaceful world without nuclear weapons will demand our never-give-up spirit. We have to talk and keep talking to people who hold opposing views.” Today, conveying the ardent pleas for peace derived from hibakusha experiences is more crucial than ever.

The United States and Russia still possess about 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the chaos in the Middle East are accelerating military buildups around the world. Feeling the pressure of this situation, policymakers in some countries even accept the idea that “nuclear weapons are essential for national defense.” These developments flagrantly disregard the lessons the international community should have learned from the tragedies of history. They threaten to topple the peacebuilding frameworks so many have worked so hard to construct.

Despite the current turmoil at the nation-state level, we, the people, must never give up. Instead, we must work even harder to build civil society consensus that nuclear weapons must be abolished for a genuinely peaceful world. Our youth, the leaders of future generations, must recognize that misguided policies regarding military spending, national security, and nuclear weapons could bring utterly inhumane consequences. We urge them to step forward with this understanding and lead civil society toward consensus through expanded participation at the grassroots level. In this process, we must all remember to think less about ourselves and more about each other. Thinking of others is how humanity has resolved much conflict and turmoil on our path to the present day. Clearly, nations, too, must look beyond narrow self-interest to consider the circumstances of other nations.

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Question related to this article:

Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

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In expanding grassroots initiatives, solidarity will be indispensable. Cultural arts and sports exchanges contribute enormously to the culture of peace we seek. And in fostering that culture of peace, young people can easily take the lead. All they need to do is conceive and initiate projects they can carry out in the course of daily life, such as peace-centered art and music projects or planting seeds and saplings from atomic-bombed trees. The City of Hiroshima continuously offers opportunities to experience the culture of peace built by Hiroshima’s hibakusha and other predecessors in their spirit of mutual support. The more our peace culture transcends national borders, the more it will pressure policymakers now relying on nuclear deterrence to revise their policies.

Policymakers around the world, can you not see that security policies derived from narrow self-interest are fomenting international conflict? Nations now strengthening their military forces, some including nuclear arsenals, must engage constructively in talks aimed at abandoning reliance on nuclear weapons. Please, visit Hiroshima. Witness with your own eyes what an atomic bombing does. Take to heart the peace-loving spirit of Hiroshima, then begin immediately discussing a security framework based on trust through dialogue.

Japan is the only nation that has suffered an atomic bombing in war. The Japanese government represents a people who aspire for genuine and lasting peace. Hiroshima demands that our government lead toward unification of our divided international community. As president of Mayors for Peace, already the world’s largest network of peace cities and still growing, the City of Hiroshima will collaborate with our more than 8,500 member cities worldwide to instill the culture of peace, which stands in firm opposition to military force. We will call on policymakers to revise their policies. We call on Japan, for example, to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Doing so would manifest the spirit of Hiroshima and begin to answer the supplications of our hibakusha, represented by Nihon Hidankyo, last year’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is on the brink of dysfunctionality. The TPNW should serve as strong support for that treaty, helping it remain the cornerstone of the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime. We demand that Japan at least participate as an observer during the first TPNW Review Conference next year. Furthermore, in light of the intensified global challenges of coping with radiation damage due to nuclear testing, we demand that our government strengthen measures of support for all hibakusha, including those living abroad. With their average age now exceeding 86, they still face myriad hardships caused by radiation damage to their minds and bodies.

At this Peace Memorial Ceremony marking 80 years since the atomic bombing, we offer our heartfelt condolences to the souls of the victims of the atomic bombings. We renew our determination to work together with Nagasaki and with likeminded people around the world to reach humanity’s long-sought goal — the abolition of nuclear weapons leading to lasting world peace.

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August 30, 2025DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, East AsiaEast AsiaCPNN Coordinator

CPNN in the Peace Wave 2025

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY .

Here at CPNN we have contributed to the Peace Wave 2025 with a video based on last month’s CPNN bulletin and concluding with the Peace Manifesto 2025..

Click on the following image to see our contribution:

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Question related to this article:

The Peace Wave: Its history and effects

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And here are the links for the full 24 hours of the Peace Wave:

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July 29, 2025DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, globalglobalCPNN Coordinator

The damage foreign military bases do in 2025

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY .

A report from World Beyond War

A new report by World BEYOND War finds that military bases used by foreign militaries are growing in number, as are public protests and advocacy against those bases. Of 1,247 foreign military bases in the world, 877 of them, by latest count, are U.S. bases outside of the United States. Eighteen other nations, combined, have 370 bases outside their borders.

The full report is available below or as a PDF here.

While U.S. bases are in 95 foreign countries all over the globe and virtually encircling the borders of Russia and China, the nation with the second-most foreign bases, Türkiye, has them all near Türkiye, with the exception of one base in Somalia, and the majority of them in Syria and Iraq where Türkiye has been waging wars. During U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States added, and later closed, hundreds of bases. Türkiye and the U.S. are allied members of NATO and weapons traders, and the United States maintains a military presence at nine bases within Türkiye, at one of which it keeps nuclear weapons. The only other nation on Earth with even a tenth as many foreign military bases as the United States is the United States’ very closest military ally, the United Kingdom, some of whose bases are joint U.S.-UK operations.

The combined foreign military bases of the top three nations on the list, NATO members all, total 1,127. The fourth nation on the list, NATO’s raison d’être, Russia, has 29 foreign military bases. These are all found in 10 countries, all of which are near Russia, apart from one base in Sudan.

Foreign bases are catching on in a minor way with other nations. And governments like that of Djibouti that host bases for numerous nations for a fee increase the risk of sparking conflict. But foreign bases remain primarily and uniquely a U.S. enterprise, with no other foreign basing approaching in scale that of U.S. basing in nations such as Germany, Japan, and South Korea. The biggest change in U.S. bases in the past three years is the creation of dozens of new bases in Norway, Sweden, and Finland. The U.S. has also opened new bases in Western Asia, Somalia, South Africa, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Peru, and significantly in the parts of the world southeast of China: Taiwan, the Philippines, Guam, the Northern Marianas, Papua New Guinea, and Australia.

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Question related to this article:

Can foreign military bases be shut down?

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People have built popular movements to prevent planned bases and to close existing bases at many locations around the world, and increasingly they are in touch with each other. On February 23, 2025, and surrounding days, individuals and organizations around the world took coordinated action to call for the closure of all military bases as part of the Global Day of Action to Close Bases. In over 60 locations people protested the foreign bases of various countries, including the United States, the UK, and Russia. See https://DayToCloseBases.org

Bases are often on stolen land and often perpetuate systems of segregation and colonialism. They do incredible environmental damage, tend to increase sexual violence and drunkenness, cost a financial fortune, prop up brutal governments, and facilitate drone attacks and wars.

In some places, movements against bases have achieved official support. The Governor of Okinawa has repeatedly visited the United States to insist that military bases be closed. Almost 20 years ago, the Government of Ecuador evicted the U.S. military and banned foreign bases. More recently, the Ecuadorian government has violated its Constitution to allow foreign bases in the Galapagos Islands and proposed to do the same on the mainland, despite opposition from members of Parliament.

In some places, bases have been prevented or closed. In 2024, after years of struggle, supported by World BEYOND War and others, the Save Sinjajevina campaign met with the Prime Minister of Montenegro and gained his promise that there would be no military training ground built at Sinjajevina in Montenegro. This was to have been a massive and destructive project for the benefit of NATO and the U.S. military. In 2006, people in the Czech Republic learned of plans to create U.S. bases in their country. They organized and prevented those bases from being built. In 2007 localities in the Czech Republic held referenda that matched national opinion polls and demonstrations; their opposition moved their government to refuse to host a U.S. base. In Colombia, a popular movement has prevented construction of a base for use by the U.S. military on Providencia Island, and a new movement to prevent such a base on Gorgona Island is drawing on the lessons from that success.

As shown in the new report, complaints against foreign military bases are numerous. Bases deny sovereignty, make nations into targets, make wars more likely, support unpopular governments, do extensive environmental damage, proliferate nuclear weapons, provide criminal immunity to occupying troops, and create a segregated structure in which people do not all have the same rights.

The U.S. public, and as far as can be determined, every other public whose government has foreign bases, has never been asked to decide on creating or closing such bases, and very rarely if ever even been surveyed in an opinion poll on the matter.

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July 14, 2025DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, North Americaglobal, North AmericaCPNN Coordinator

Fourth Annual 24-Hour Peace Wave

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY .

An announcement from World Beyond War

Easy way to get to this page: http://24hourpeacewave.org

The Fourth Annual 24-Hour Peace Wave is coming on July 12, 2025.

The peace wave is a 24-hour-long Zoom featuring live peace actions in the streets and squares of the world, moving around the globe with the sun. The peace wave visits dozens of locations around the globe and includes rallies, concerts, production of artworks, blood drives, installation of peace poles, dances, speeches, and public demonstrations of all variety.

In 2025 we are encouraging participants to address the need to abolish nuclear weapons.

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Question related to this article:

The Peace Wave: Its history and effects

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All parts will have machine-translated captions in Zoom. Some parts will have human voice interpretation.

Organized by: International Peace Bureau, Stop the War Coalition Philippines, Gensuikyo, and World BEYOND War.

The Peace Wave will happen on July 12, 2025, from 0:00 to 24:00 UTC. In Japan that is 9 a.m. July 12 to 9 a.m. July 13. In Europe that is 2 a.m. July 12 to 2 a.m. July 13. In U.S. and Canada Eastern Time that is 8 p.m. July 11 to 8 p.m. July 12.

Get the Zoom Link to Watch the Peace Wave
Host Contact Info: David, david@worldbeyondwar.org

Embed the Registration Form on Your Own Website

See Past Years’ Peace Waves.
https://worldbeyondwar.org/wavesofpast/

(Click here for this article in French or here for the article in Spanish).

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June 29, 2025DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, globalglobalCPNN Coordinator

The Sarajevo Declaration of the Gaza Tribunal (28 May 2025)

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY .

An article by Richard Falk from the Transcend Media Service

The Sarajevo Declaration of the Gaza Tribunal, a consensus document prepared in conjunction with participants in the first of two Public Sessions of the Gaza Tribunal, was released on 28 May 2025. The second session of the tribunal is scheduled for late October. The proceedings in Sarajevo consisted of survivor testimony from Gaza, invited expert speakers, a round-table on media complicity, and the reports of three chambers tasked with documenting evidence and consequences of alleged genocide and crimes associated with forcible application of the Settler Colonial Project to Gaza following 7 Oct, as well as the failure of the UN, growing public protests, and of leading governments to bring the genocide to an end in accordance with international law and hold the perpetrators accountable.

The Sarajevo Declaration is a comprehensive text intended to convey the orientation, broad scope of the goals of civil society solidarity activation and reflecting the diversity of concerns among members of the Gaza Tribunal community. Sarajevo was our chosen site to express symbolic solidarity with an earlier genocide at Srebrenica that occurred 30 years ago. Encourage wide sharing of the Sarajevo Declaration. It is my honor to serve as president of the GTP in concert with dedicated scholars, witnesses, and activists from around the world, including the inspiring participation of our Palestinian sisters and brothers.

The Sarajevo Declaration of the Gaza Tribunal

28 May We, the members of the Gaza Tribunal, having gathered in Sarajevo from 25 to 29 May 2025, declare our collective moral outrage at the continuing genocide in Palestine, our solidarity with the people of Palestine, and our commitment to working with partners across global civil society to end the genocide and to ensure accountability for perpetrators and enablers, redress for victims and survivors, the building of a more just international order, and a free Palestine.

We condemn the Israeli regime, its perpetration of genocide, and its decades-long policies and practices of settler colonialism, ethno-supremacism, apartheid, racial segregation, persecution, unlawful settlements, the denial of the right to return, collective punishment, mass detention, torture and cruel and inhuman treatment and punishment, extrajudicial executions, systematic sexual violence, demolitions, forced displacement and expulsions, ethnic purges and forced demographic change, forced starvation, the systematic denial of all economic and social rights, and extermination.

We are horrified by the Israeli regime’s systematic devastation of Palestinian lives, lands, and livelihoods, including its intentional destruction of all sources and systems for food, water, healthcare, education, housing, culture, as well as mosques, churches, aid facilities, and refugee shelters, and its targeting of medical personnel, journalists, aid workers, and United Nations staff, and its direct targeting of civilians, including children and older persons, women and men, girls and boys, persons with disabilities and those with medical conditions.

We demand an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces and an end to the genocide, to all Israeli military action, to forced displacement and expulsions, to settlement activities, to the siege of Gaza and restrictions on movement in the West Bank. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners, including the thousands of Palestinian women, men and children held in abusive Israeli detention facilities. We insist on the immediate resumption of massive humanitarian aid to all of Gaza without restriction or interference, including food, water, shelter, medical supplies and equipment, sanitary equipment, rescue equipment, and construction materials and equipment. We call as well for a complete withdrawal of all Israeli forces from all Lebanese and Syrian territory.

We call for an end of the smearing of UNRWA and other humanitarian workers, for the free and unhindered access of UNRWA and all other United Nations and humanitarian organizations in all areas of Gaza and the West Bank, for full compensation by the Israeli regime for damage caused to UN and humanitarian facilities, alongside full compensation and reparations to the Palestinian people, and for full accountability for the harassment, abduction, torture, and murder of UNRWA and other humanitarian workers and their families.

We call on all governments and on regional and international organizations to end the historic scandal of inaction that has characterized the past nineteen months, to urgently respond with all means at their disposal to end the Israeli assault and siege, to uphold international law, to hold perpetrators to account, and to provide immediate relief and protection to the people of Palestine.

We denounce the continued complicity of governments in the perpetration of Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Palestine, and the shameful role of many media corporations in covering up the genocide, dehumanizing Palestinians, and in the dissemination of propaganda fueling anti-Palestinian racism, war crimes, and genocide.

We equally denounce the wave of persecution and crackdowns on human rights defenders, peace activists, students, academics, workers, professionals, and others, perpetrated by Western governments, police agencies, the private sector, and educational institutions. We honor those who, despite this persecution, have had the courage and moral convictions to stand up and speak out against these historic horrors, and we insist on the full protection of the human rights of free expression, opinion, assembly, and association, as well as the right to defend human rights without harassment, retaliation, or persecution.

We reject the unjust tactic of smearing as “antisemites” or “supporters of terrorism” all those who dare to speak up and act to defend the rights of the Palestinian people and to condemn the injustices and atrocities of the Israeli regime and its perpetration of apartheid and genocide, or those who criticize the ideology of political Zionism. We stand in solidarity with all those who have been smeared or punished in this way.

We are convinced that the struggle against all forms of racism, bigotry, and discrimination necessarily includes the equal rejection of Islamophobia, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism, and antisemitism. It also includes an acknowledgment of the horrific effects that Zionism, apartheid, and settler-colonialism have had and continue to have on the Palestinian people. We commit to fighting all such scourges.

We also reject the destructive ideology of political Zionism, as the official state ideology of the Israeli regime, of the forces that colonized Palestine and established the Israeli state on its ruins, and of pro-Israel organizations and proxies today. We insist, in the words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and that there are no exceptions to this rule. We call for decolonization across the land, an end to the ethno-supremacist order, and the replacement of political Zionism with a dispensation founded on equal human rights for Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others.

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Question related to this article:

How can war crimes be documented, stopped, punished and prevented?

How can a culture of peace be established in the Middle East?

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We are inspired by the courageous resistance and resilience of the Palestinian people in the face of over a century of persecution, and by the growing movement of millions standing in solidarity with them around the world, including the principled advocacy and nonviolent action of thousands of Jewish activists who have rejected the Israeli regime and its ethnonationalist ideology, and have declared that the Israeli regime neither represents them nor acts in their name.

We recognize the right of the Palestinian people to resist foreign occupation, colonial domination, apartheid, subjugation by a racist regime, and aggression, including through the use of armed struggle, in accordance with and as recognized in international law and as affirmed by the United Nations General Assembly.

We recall that the Palestinian right to self-determination is jus cogens and erga omnes (a universal rule not subject to exception and binding on all states) and is non-negotiable and axiomatic. We recognize that this right includes political, economic, social, and cultural self-determination, the right to return and full compensation for all harms suffered in a century of persecution, to permanent sovereignty over natural resources, and to non-aggression and non-intervention. We respect Palestinian aspirations and full Palestinian agency and leadership over all decisions affecting their lives, and we stand in solidarity with them.

We are gravely concerned at the direction of international relations, international politics, and international institutions, and by attacks on those international institutions that have challenged genocide and apartheid in Palestine. We believe that the normative foundations of the global order, grounded in human rights, the self-determination of peoples, peace, and the international rule of law, are being sacrificed at the altar of ruthless political realism and obsequious deference to power, with the people of Palestine left undefended and vulnerable on the front lines. We insist that another world is possible and intend to fight to bring it about.

We fear that the nascent and flawed international normative order, built up since the Second World War, with human rights at its center, is at risk of collapse as a result of the sustained attack waged on the system by the Israeli regime’s Western allies in their quest to buttress Israeli impunity. We pledge to oppose this attack and to work to protect and advance the project of building a world in which human rights are governed by the rule of law, beginning with the struggle for Palestinian freedom. And we believe that the weaknesses and inequities hard-wired into the international system from the start, including the geopolitical right of exception codified in the United Nations Security Council veto, the disempowerment of the General Assembly, and the structural obstacles that mitigate against the enforceability of International Court of Justice (ICJ) decisions, must be reformed and rectified.

We demand immediate action to isolate, contain, and hold accountable the Israeli regime through universal boycott, divestment, sanctions, a military embargo, suspension from International organizations, and the prosecution of its perpetrators, and we commit ourselves to this cause. We equally demand individual criminal accountability for all Israeli political and military leaders, soldiers, and settlers implicated in war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, or gross violations of human rights, as well as accountability for all persons and organizational actors guilty of complicity in the regime’s crimes, including external proxies of the Israeli regime, government officials, corporations, arms manufacturers, energy companies, technology firms, and financial institutions.

We applaud the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its ongoing historic genocide case against the Israeli regime and for its landmark advisory opinion findings on the illegality of the Israeli occupation, of the apartheid wall, and of the Israeli practice of apartheid and racial segregation, and its findings that the rights of the Palestinian people are not dependent upon or subject to negotiation with their oppressor and that all states are obliged to abstain from treaty, economic, trade, investment, or diplomatic relations with Israel’s occupation regime. We celebrate the principled action of South Africa in bringing to the ICJ the historic genocide case against the Israeli regime.

We call on all states to ensure the implementation of all provisional measures adopted by the ICJ in the genocide case against Israel, to fully respect the findings of the ICJ in its advisory opinion of July 2024, to comply with all elements of the United Nations General Assembly resolution of 13 September 2024 (A/ES-10/L.31/Rev.1), ending all arms trade with and implementing sanctions on the Israeli regime, and to support accountability for all Israeli perpetrators. We urge civil society organizations and social movements around the world to initiate and strengthen campaigns to support the ICJ’s decisions and opinions on Palestine, and to press their own governments to abide by them.

We similarly applaud the International Criminal Court for (albeit belatedly) issuing arrest warrants for two senior Israeli regime leaders and call on the ICC to both expedite action on these cases and to issue further warrants for other Israeli perpetrators, both civilian and military. We call on all ICC State Parties to urgently act on their obligations to arrest these perpetrators and hand them over for trial, and we demand that the United States lift all ICC sanctions and cease all obstruction of justice.

We express our gratitude and admiration to the independent special procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council for their expert contributions and for their strong and principled voices in holding the Israeli regime to account and defending the human rights of the Palestinian people. They have shown themselves to be the conscience of the organization, and we call on the United Nations and all member states to defend and support these mandate holders without fail. We applaud, as well, the principled action of those United Nations agencies that have acted to defend the rights of the Palestinian people and to provide aid and relief to the survivors of genocide in Palestine in the face of unprecedented risks and obstacles, foremost among them, UNRWA.

We believe that the world is approaching a dangerous precipice, the front edge of which is in Palestine. Dangerous forces in both the public and private spheres are pushing us toward the abyss. The events of the past nineteen months, and our own deliberations, have convinced us that both key international organizations and most countries of the world, whether acting individually or collectively, have failed in defending the human rights of the Palestinian people and in responding to the Israeli regime’s genocide in Palestine.

We are convinced that the challenge of justice now falls to people of conscience everywhere, to civil society and to social movements, to all of us. As such, our work in the coming months will be dedicated to meeting this challenge. Palestinian lives are at stake. The international moral and legal order is at stake. We must not fail. We will not relent.

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June 3, 2025DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, MideastEurope, globalCPNN Coordinator

100,000 Documented Deserters from Ukraine and Russia — and the Invisible Army for Peace

. DISARMAMENT & SECURITY.

An article received at CPNN from Olga Karatch* published on the no-to-nato riseup list.

Dear friends,

Yesterday, an important update came from the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection. They shared a striking article from Belgian national radio RTBF:

Guerre en Ukraine: près de 50.000 personnes arrêtées pour avoir tenté de fuir le pays depuis 2022

This means that 50,000 Ukrainian men have been arrested for trying to flee the country — in other words, 50,000 Ukrainian deserters.

When we add the 49,000 documented deserters from the Russian army (as reported earlier), we arrive at a staggering total: 100,000 named and documented individuals who have refused to fight in this war from both sides (+including Belarusian men).

Frame from video of soldiers who refused to fight for Russia – See article from 2023 here.

As someone who has spent years building databases of victims of political repression, I can tell you: compiling verified lists of names is no easy task. The fact that 100,000 names are now on record means the real number is much higher — possibly five, eight, or even ten times more.

That would mean up to a million Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian men who are actively trying to avoid participating in war, who do not want to take up arms, who are looking for a different path. That is, quite literally, a massive army for peace — and yet, no one is paying attention.

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Question related to this article:

“Put down the gun and take up the pen”, What are some other examples?

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Worse: many of these men are being systematically criminalized. Across the region — including in EU countries like Lithuania — conscientious objectors and deserters are often labeled as “national security threats” and sent back to the countries they fled. Even men who have refused to commit war crimes and openly rejected violence are treated as criminals.

This is not just a tragedy. It is Orwellian. Everything is reversed.

Those who choose peace are punished — those who choose violence are armed.

We are talking about an enormous, invisible force of men across three countries who are resisting this war — not by force, but through refusal. And yet they are completely ignored.

There is hope in these numbers. But it will mean nothing unless we recognize, protect, and support this invisible army of conscience.

Our coalition and our work together — small but dedicated — is doing what we can. But we are few, compared to the scale of this humanitarian and moral crisis.

We need recognition. We need protection. And above all, we need to make these people visible again.

Warmly and with determination,

Olga
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* Olga Karatch is one of the most active Belarusian dissidents and is the founder and director of the civil rights movement “Nash Dom”, or “ Our House.

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May 21, 2025DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, EuropeEuropeCPNN Coordinator

Turkey: Peace Mothers to mothers of soldiers and police officers: “Let there be no tears on either side”

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from Bianet

Following the PKK’s decision to disband and lay down arms, the Mothers for Peace Assembly issued a statement regarding the “Peace and Democratic Society Process.”

The announcement, made at the Diyarbakır branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD), was attended by numerous lawyers and human rights defenders alongside the Peace Mothers.

Photo: Diyarbakır İHD / X

Who are the Peace Mothers?

The Peace Mothers are a women’s civil rights group in Turkey, mainly Kurdish women, who advocate for peace between Turkey’s different ethnic groups, especially regarding the conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Many of these mothers have lost children or other relatives in the conflict, or have children in prison, and they use non-violent means like protests and vigils to call for an end to the fighting.

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Questions related to this article:

Do women have a special role to play in the peace movement?

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“No more dead bodies”

Havva Kıran, spokesperson for the Mothers for Peace Assembly, called for a bilateral ceasefire: “A ceasefire cannot be one-sided – it must involve both parties. As mothers, we appeal to the state, the president, and leaders – everyone must act. This process has given hope to both Kurds and Turks. Let their planes stop bombing Kurdish lands. No more dead bodies. Let the tears of Turkish and Kurdish mothers cease.”

“Let there be no tears on either side”

Kıran noted that “the state has yet to take a promising step” and addressed mothers of soldiers and police, urging them to join hands for peace:

“Only the Kurdish side has taken steps. They’ve laid down their arms, held their congresses. They’re ready for peace. As Peace Mothers, we call on the mothers of soldiers and police – hold hands with us. Let no more mothers’ hearts ache. Let us hold hands and bring peace. Let there be no tears on either side. Let us bring peace to Turkey and live together. Let us strengthen those who are willing to shoulder the responsibility for peace.”

“You too must take a step”

“The end of war is now peace. War leads nowhere. There’s no alternative – peace must prevail. A grieving mother doesn’t say, ‘I’ve given one child, I’ll give another.’ Let us live freely and in peace in this country. Everyone has the right to live and speak their own language – but Kurds are denied this right. We opened the path for this process – now you must take a step. We want not war, but calm and peace.”

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May 21, 2025DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Europe, WOMEN'S EQUALITYEuropeCPNN Coordinator

Mazin Qumsiyeh: keep the hope alive

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION .

An article from the blog of Mazin Qumsiyeh

There are now credible reports from many sources that the levels of extermination and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the Gaza strip is higher than officially released and in 19 months could be over 250,000 [1]. The evidence is so compelling that all human rights organizations and the UN documented GENOCIDE and ETHNIC CLEANSING [2].

Meanwhile ‘business’ goes on as usual: billions milked from corrupt Arab dictators, Israeli embassies function around the world (no sanctions), the Zionist lobby infiltrated more organizations and governments globally, blackmailing/extorting weak politicians like Trump and Bin Salman with scandalous videos and information gathered by Mossad agents like Epstein, “Israel” is competing in Eurovision, Arab “leaders” (not one of them elected fairly by people) met in Baghdad to issue yet another useless declaration that their masters feel happy about, famine spreading, expenditure on arms expand to trillions, the climate and environmental global catastrophe deepens, education and healthcare globally get worse.
The tiny 0.5% (in numbers) continue to reap money and get richer from their positions and now own 50% of the world’s money by thievery from the poor [3]. US taxpayers are saddled with trillions in debt thanks to wars fought on behalf of Zionism [4].

The bad news may lead some to despair and tell us we are entering a new dark age [5]. Yet, candles in this darkness are far too many to snuff out by the Zionist/imperial/colonial juggernaut [6]. Actually hundreds of millions of good people acting positively for sustainability, peace and justice.

Look around you for these positive initiatives and support them and create more. Organize. Afterall, every social positive movement came from such people action: there are thousands of examples from women right to vote to civil rights to Zapatista empowerment to Rohingya to Algeria and Vietnam independence.

Even in the heart of the empire today, the movement is tremendous. Look at student movements at universities or even common people in Palestine and how they resist. These are the true heroes. The profiteers (oppressors) will be swept to the dustbin of history. They are the few, we the oppressed are the many and must organize better (it is an existential threat). Action based on knowledge is the best antidote for despair.

For us at the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (palestinenature.org), we do this daily and thus balance our lives by doing positive work/building on the ground and educating globally [6]. This is how we keep our sanity and how we keep the hope alive. We urge you to join us (email PIBS@bethlehem.edu to learn more

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Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

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[1]
Lancet article (till July 2024) and life expectancy losses Lancet abstract

[2]
HRW article, Amnesty article, document

[3] There was increased sales and valuation of arms companies like Elbit,
Rafael, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Lockhead Martins. Companies like
Microsoft and Google help Israeli genocide (e.g. look up Nimbus project).
The Zionist billionaires (article) with some of the being Israeli (article)
while subservience enriches some goyim/gentiles: Gulf monarchs, Trump,
Mahmoud Abbas’ family and their circle, Elon Musk and this character (article) among hundreds of war/oppression profiteers.

[4]
Sachs article, NY Times article

[5] https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-new-dark-age – very good analysis based on things like what Bisan explains (video) illustrated in Hamas Says Witkoff Personally Promised to Lift Gaza Blockadein Exchange for Edan Alexander (article).

[6] Few examples from thousands just last week:
– Ben Cohen from Ben & Jerry’s confronts RFK Jr. and Congress: “you’re killing poor kids in Gaza and paying for it by cutting medicaid for kids here.” video
– Taxpayers against genocide file historic case in US document
– Cannes Selects Film on Gaza Photographer Fatma Hassona (she was killed by
Israel a day later) video
– Students and faculty at Stanford University announce they are joining the nationwide campus hunger strike movement to protest attacks on academic freedom and complicity in the Gaza genocide. Mondoweiss
– Conservative MP Pritchard does a 90 degree change on Israel.(video)
– 15 May Joint Nakba day event held in Beit Jala (Palestine) (video)
– Medea Benjamin deserves a Nobel Prize for her daily, relentless efforts. Examples: video, video

[7] Check out our facebook page for daily posts about activities
and our short video
Also the evolving plans for the new museum video.
I stand beside the mountain gazelle video.
Example talk given 23 April University of Notre Dame “Conflict, War and Ecology” (video)
(in Arabic) Hima magazine from Lebanon includes an article (page 26-27) about us learning from regional experiences
article.

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May 19, 2025DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, MideastMideastCPNN Coordinator

Joint Statement on Palestine by Seven European Countries

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION .

A press release from the Ireland central website for government services and information

May 16: We will not be silent in front of the man-made humanitarian catastrophe that is taking place before our eyes in Gaza. More than 50.000 men, women, and children have lost their lives. Many more could starve to death in the coming days and weeks unless immediate action is taken.

We call upon the government of Israel to immediately reverse its current policy, refrain from further military operations and fully lift the blockade, ensuring safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian aid to be distributed throughout the Gaza strip by international humanitarian actors and according to humanitarian principles. United Nations and humanitarian organizations, including UNRWA, must be supported and granted safe and unimpeded access.

We call upon all parties to immediately engage with renewed urgency and good faith in negotiations on a ceasefire and the release of all hostages, and acknowledge the important role played by the United States, Egypt and Qatar in this regard.

(article continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

(article continued from left column)

This is the basis upon which we can build a sustainable, just and comprehensive peace, based on the implementation of the two-State solution. We will continue to support the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, and work in the framework of the United Nations and with other actors, like the Arab League and Arab and Islamic States, to move forward to achieve a peaceful and sustainable solution. Only peace can bring security for Palestinians, Israelis and the region, and only respect for international law can secure lasting peace.

We also condemn the further escalation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with increased settler violence, the expansion of illegal settlements and intensified Israel military operations. Forced displacement or the expulsion of the Palestinian people, by any means, is unacceptable and would constitute a breach of international law. We reject any such plans or attempts at demographic change.

We must assume the responsibility to stop this devastation.

Kristrún Frostadóttir, Prime Minister of Iceland; Micheál Martin, Taoiseach, Ireland; Luc FRIEDEN, Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; Robert Abela, Prime Minister of the Republic of Malta; Jonas Gahr STØRE, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway; Robert Golob, Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia; Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government of Spain

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May 19, 2025DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Europe, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, MideastEurope, MideastCPNN Coordinator

Spain: Signature Collection for Peace, “No to War and No to the Rearmament of Europe”

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from Tribuna Avila

The Movimiento por la Paz has launched a signature collection to challenge the Spanish government on its European rearmament strategy.

At last Monday’s peace rally, held as usual in the San Roque Garden, next to the Statue dedicated to Human Rights, the Movimiento por la Paz announced a new initiative underway, collecting citizen signatures to request the Spanish government intervene with Europe in response to the rearmament strategy that has been implemented in recent weeks. The signature collection will be carried out using the traditional method of sheets distributed in different locations throughout the city, through digital means that will be shared on social media, using the following link or QR code: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe-CNczPhyWm_Ad4FwVDEUPqNiK_hJxKJOWit5VKAr4Wyy5Uw/viewform

The intention of the Movimiento por la Paz of Ávila is to collect as many signatures as possible over the coming weeks, with the aim of raising awareness among the people of Ávila of the need to contribute with their signatures to changing the rearmament dynamic that Europe is embarking on and the risk this poses to living conditions and well-being, as well as the increased risk of further armed conflicts.
The manifesto justifying the signature collection, which is reported, is made public:
“For Peace, No to War, and No to the Rearmament of Europe.”

Peace is a universal human aspiration, and war is a tragedy that causes suffering, death, and destruction. Respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states must be guaranteed through commitment to international law and the peaceful resolution of disputes through dialogue, negotiation, and mediation.

(Click here for a version in Spanish.)

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Question related to this article:

Is there resistance to the rearmament of Europe?

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Promoting a culture of peace based on respect, tolerance, justice, and cooperation means supporting the efforts of diplomacy, conflict prevention, and peacebuilding through international organizations and civil society.

Demanding peace and diplomatic alternatives is an exercise of responsibility for all individuals and democratic institutions to build a more just and secure world.

The rearmament strategy in Europe poses a danger to the political, social, and economic project of the European Union because it jeopardizes well-being and the fight against climate change. Increased military spending does not guarantee security and only fuels distrust and the escalation of conflicts. tensions, jeopardizing public and universal policies such as healthcare and education.

A cessation of hostilities in ongoing conflicts and a reduction in international tension are necessary. Democratic states must intervene in international institutions to promote disarmament at the regional and global levels and encourage investment in peace education, intercultural dialogue, and nonviolent conflict resolution.

The Movimiento por la Paz of Ávila invites citizens to sign this manifesto with the aim of demanding that the Government of Spain:

Guarantee the Welfare State and public policies in the face of Europe’s and Spain’s rearmament strategy.

2. Promote a diplomatic strategy within the European Union to achieve a definitive ceasefire in Ukraine and Palestine that guarantees a definitive peace process.

3. Develop a program of social, cultural, and educational initiatives aimed at promoting peace education and education in democratic values and human rights, integrated into the education system and in collaboration with regional and local governments.

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May 13, 2025DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, EuropeEuropeCPNN Coordinator