Petition to end recruitment of 16 year olds into UK Armed Forces

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERASign on-line Petition.

January 2015: The children’s commissioner for England has accused the armed forces of breaching the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by recruiting soldiers from the age of 16.

In an interview with The Sunday Times to mark the imminent end of her five-year term, Maggie Atkinson said: “You are too young to join the armed forces at 16. The convention says you shouldn’t be a child soldier . . . If you were serious about the convention, you would not expect them to join the armed services until they are 18.”

What better way to commit our country to peace during the commemoration of World War One and remember the hundreds of thousands who died from the UK alone, including boy soldiers like Rifleman V J Strudwick who was killed at 15? Why is it that in 2014 the UK is the only country in Europe – and the only country among the permanent members of the UN Security Council – to recruit 16 year olds into its armed forces?  Download paper copy of  petition.  To date we have 2,000 signatures on paper and around 1,700 on-line.  Help us reach 10,000

 

Initiated by Pax Christi and supported by:
Baptist Peace Fellowship, Child Soldiers International, Christian CND, Columban Justice Peace & Integrity of Creation, Conscience, Fellowship of Reconciliation, ForcesWatch, Movement for the Abolition of War, National Justice & Peace Network, National Union of Teachers, Network for Peace, Northern Friends Peace Board, Peace Education Network, Peace Pledge Union, Quaker Peace & Social Witness, Student Christian Movement, URC Peace Fellowship,War Resisters International, Woodcraft Folk, Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom

General Election Briefing 2015

2_NCPO-ElectionPax Christi with the Network of Christian Peace Organisations has produced an election briefing on issues of war, peace and justice.  It has background information and questions on the following themes: Military spending, the UK and the arms trade, the renewal of Trident, UK Drones programme and  Britain’s role in the world.  A must for meetings, hustings and letter-writing.

Archbishop Malcolm McMahon and 25 other faith leaders call on nuclear weapons states to join with other states to implement new approaches to eliminate nuclear arsenals.

26 faith leaders from eight faith traditions among them Archbishop Malcolm McMahon, Archbishop of Liverpool and National President of Pax Christi, have signed a statement in advance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference meetings scheduled for April urging nuclear weapons states, of which the UK is one, and the international community to develop a robust plan of action that will lead us to a world free of nuclear weapons.  Read more here