Month: June 2011

response to Armed Forces Day

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Today [Saturday 25 June] is Armed Forces Day, one of the clearest examples of the creeping militarisation of British society.

From the military covenant to Help for Heroes, from military displays at summer festivals to an increased engagement of the the armed forces with our schools, a massive PR apparatus is being deployed to promote military culture and its values.

To date, over 370 UK armed forces personnel have died while serving in Afghanistan Most of these deaths were of men and women in their early 20s. Nearly 30 were just 18 or 19 years old.

While public involvement in events such as Armed Forces day is rooted in concern for members of the forces, veterans and their families, the Government has other ends in mind. After 10 years of unpopular wars, it clearly gains from creating a climate of uncritical acceptance of all things military.

After so many military deaths – not to mention the uncounted numbers of civilians killed in the conflict zones – surely it is time to reflect on the longer-term impact of our military culture and to ask what steps we might take to prevent war itself.

ForcesWatch… Read more

Campaigners and churches back Armed Forces Bill amendments on recruiting children into the armed forces

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Organisations and churches who have questioned the recruitment of under 18s into the armed forces are backing an amendment which could see children no longer able to enlist and bring the UK into line with international standards. The UK is the only country in Europe to routinely recruit people aged under 18 into the armed forces.

On Tuesday 14 June, the amendment (1) will be raised as part of the House of Commons debate on the Armed Forces Bill, five-yearly legislation that provides the basis for military law in the UK.

The organisations, including the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Quakers in Britain, the Unitarian Church and ForcesWatch, have argued that, since the last Armed Forces Bill, there have been calls for the policy of recruiting minors to be reviewed from two significant authorities on children’s rights – the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UK Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights. These calls echo the recommendations made in 2005 by the Defence Select Committee. (2)

Support for a change in policy on recruiting children has also come from leading UK children’s rights organisations including UNICEF UK, the Children’s Society, and the Children’s Rights Alliance for England who wrote to parliamentarians urging them to use the Armed Forces Bill as an opportunity to raise the recruitment age.… Read more

Teenage soldiers given right to discharge

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Quakers welcome campaign success

Quakers have been central to a campaign that resulted in a change to government policy last week, as a minister announced that teenage soldiers will be given the right to discharge at any time before turning eighteen.

The news was warmly welcomed by Michael Bartlet, parliamentary liaison secretary for Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW), a department of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM), the formal organisation of British Quakers.

Michael Bartlet has long campaigned on issues affecting young people in the armed forces. He described the change as a ‘significant step’ towards the goal of raising the minimum enlistment age from sixteen to eighteen.

After their first six months in the forces, sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds currently have no right to discharge until they turn twenty-two. They can be discharged if ‘genuinely unhappy’, but only at the discretion of their commanding officer.

The UK is the only country in Europe to routinely recruit minors to the forces.

QPSW lobbied ministers over the issue earlier this year, along with other groups including the Unitarians and the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. The pressure grew as Liberal Democrat backbencher Julian Huppert proposed an amendment to the Armed Forces Bill to give under-eighteens a right to discharge.… Read more

‘MoD unfairly imprisons teenagers’

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Teenage soldiers have been unfairly detained in military prisons due to a failure from the MoD to effectively implemenent discharge policies, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers has said.

The human rights body said provisions that should allow recruits under the age of 18 to be discharged had not been consistently applied, meaning that young soldiers who had gone absent without leave (AWOL) had been detained in a Colchester military prison.

“The Ministry of Defence has repeatedly claimed that recruits under the age of 18 can get a discharge just by asking for it. If this was the case they wouldn’t be risking imprisonment by going AWOL”, said Martin Macpherson, interim director of the coalition.

“The reality is that many young people who join the armed forces quickly realise it’s not what they want. If this is the case they should be allowed to leave as a matter of right rather than depending on the discretion of their commanding officer.”

It was claimed that in 2010 at least eight under-18s who had gone AWOL were sentenced by court martial to military imprisonment.… Read more