Reports and briefings
This section contains information about different aspects of war and peace, and will help your campaigning. It is frequently added to and updated. The more we can share our knowledge and educate each other, the easier it will be to inform and educate others about the possibility of eradicating war.
- Armed Drones and International Law, Oxford Research Group, 2011
- Barcelona Report, EU's Centre for the Study of Global Governance, 2004
- Britain's Child Soldiers, Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, 2011
- Challenge Militarism, WILPF, 2010
- Climate and Conflict, Dr Stuart Parkinson, Director, Scientists for Global Responsibility, 2008
- Conscientious Objection: A briefing, 2013
- Making War History, Bruce Kent, 2005
- National Security Strategy UK, Cabinet Office, 2008
- National Security Strategy - A Strong Britain in an Age of Uncertainty, UK Government, 2010
- Network for Peace AGM - Marching orders for the military ethos, Sam Walton & Emma Sangster 2013
- Searching out Gandhi, John Hills 2017
- Seville Statement on Violence, 1986
- Shared Responsibilities, Institute for Public Policy Research, 2009
- War is not inevitable, Pugwash Group, 2010
Armed Drones and International Law
In June 2011 the Oxford Research Group produced a discussion paper on the legal obligations governing the use of armed drones. You can read the press release and download the paper here
An article by Lesley Docksey of MAW on this and some of the other legal issues surrounding these weapons can be read here.
An article by Lesley Docksey of MAW on this and some of the other legal issues surrounding these weapons can be read here.
The Barcelona Report
The EU's Barcelona Report - 'A Human Security Doctrine for Europe' - from the Centre for the Study of Global Governance was published in 2004. Read it here.
See Christine Titmus's comments: 'A building-block towards the abolition of war'
See Christine Titmus's comments: 'A building-block towards the abolition of war'
Britain's Child Soldiers
Catch 16-22 Recruitment and retention of minors in the British armed forces
We think of child soldiers as being a problem in places like the Congo. But "child soldiers" include all those under the age of 18. And under those terms we enlist them in Britain too. This report by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers highlights all too clearly another area for antiwar campaigners to inform themselves on.
Read the report
We think of child soldiers as being a problem in places like the Congo. But "child soldiers" include all those under the age of 18. And under those terms we enlist them in Britain too. This report by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers highlights all too clearly another area for antiwar campaigners to inform themselves on.
Read the report
Challenge Militarism
A publication from Women's International League for Peace & Freedom
Read it here.
"Whilst military capacity is exposed every day to be a terminally ineffective method of assuring security given the nature of modern threats, militaries the world over consume ever-increasing amounts of the world’s human and economic resources. Despite this realization, we keep spending more money on more weapons - and by doing so invest in brutal and destructive conflicts. This publication will provide an insight to the misguided nature of prevailing priorities with regard to security demonstrating their real costs and consequences."
Read it here.
"Whilst military capacity is exposed every day to be a terminally ineffective method of assuring security given the nature of modern threats, militaries the world over consume ever-increasing amounts of the world’s human and economic resources. Despite this realization, we keep spending more money on more weapons - and by doing so invest in brutal and destructive conflicts. This publication will provide an insight to the misguided nature of prevailing priorities with regard to security demonstrating their real costs and consequences."
Climate and Conflict - Chaos or Co-Operation?
Our earth's environmental crisis will almost certainly be the driver of any future wars - directly or indirectly.
The speaker at our AGM in 2008, Dr Stuart Parkinson, sets the scene with his presentation 'Climate Change and Military Conflict'.
He is the Director of Scientists for Global Responsibility, whose website (www.sgr.org.uk) contains a wide range of material you may find useful in addressing this issue.
The speaker at our AGM in 2008, Dr Stuart Parkinson, sets the scene with his presentation 'Climate Change and Military Conflict'.
He is the Director of Scientists for Global Responsibility, whose website (www.sgr.org.uk) contains a wide range of material you may find useful in addressing this issue.
Opposing World War One: Courage and Conscience
An information briefing about conscientious objection and peace activism in the First World War.
Published 2013 by Fellowship of Reconciliation, Pax Christi, Peace Pledge Union, Quaker Peace and Social Witness, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Published 2013 by Fellowship of Reconciliation, Pax Christi, Peace Pledge Union, Quaker Peace and Social Witness, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Making War History - Bruce Kent
“Making Poverty History” must also mean making war history. World
annual military expenditure is again creeping up to the 1 trillion dollar
mark .... [read more]
annual military expenditure is again creeping up to the 1 trillion dollar
mark .... [read more]
National Security Strategies
In recent years, the UK Government has published its first 'National Security Strategy' and also a 'Strategic Defence and Security Review' (2010) - the first since 1998.
The National Security Strategy of the United Kingdom (2008)
'The aim of this first National Security Strategy is to set out how we will address and manage this diverse though interconnected set of security challenges and underlying drivers, both immediately and in the longer term, to safeguard the nation, its citizens, our prosperity and our way of life.'
'Providing security for the nation and for its citizens remains the most important responsibility of government.' This essential document, presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister, explains how our leaders intended to do this.
Read it here
The National Security Strategy of the United Kingdom (2008)
'The aim of this first National Security Strategy is to set out how we will address and manage this diverse though interconnected set of security challenges and underlying drivers, both immediately and in the longer term, to safeguard the nation, its citizens, our prosperity and our way of life.'
'Providing security for the nation and for its citizens remains the most important responsibility of government.' This essential document, presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister, explains how our leaders intended to do this.
Read it here
National Security Strategy - A Strong Britain in an Age of Uncertainty (2010)
"Today, Britain faces a different and more complex range of threats from a myriad of sources. Terrorism, cyber attack, unconventional attacks using chemical, nuclear or biological weapons, as well as large scale accidents or natural hazards – any one could do grave damage to our country.
These new threats can emanate from states, but also from non state actors: terrorists, home-grown or overseas; insurgents; or criminals. The security of our energy supplies increasingly depends on fossil fuels located in some of the most unstable parts of the planet. Nuclear proliferation is a growing danger. Our security is vulnerable to the effects of climate change and its impact on food and water supply. So the concept of national security in 2010 is very different to what it was ten or twenty, let alone fifty or a hundred years ago."
Read it here
"Today, Britain faces a different and more complex range of threats from a myriad of sources. Terrorism, cyber attack, unconventional attacks using chemical, nuclear or biological weapons, as well as large scale accidents or natural hazards – any one could do grave damage to our country.
These new threats can emanate from states, but also from non state actors: terrorists, home-grown or overseas; insurgents; or criminals. The security of our energy supplies increasingly depends on fossil fuels located in some of the most unstable parts of the planet. Nuclear proliferation is a growing danger. Our security is vulnerable to the effects of climate change and its impact on food and water supply. So the concept of national security in 2010 is very different to what it was ten or twenty, let alone fifty or a hundred years ago."
Read it here
Network for Peace
Network for Peace AGM 2013 AGM report, with reports of the talks by Sam Walton, Quaker Peace and Social Witness, and Emma Sangster, Forces Watch on 'Marching orders for the military ethos: a culture of peace vs a culture of war' - How and why the government is planning to increase military influence in our schools, and society as a whole.
Read the report here
Read the report here
Searching out Gandhi:
MAW Executive Member John Hills visited the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi in October 2016 - read his account of this landmark moment
MAW Executive Member John Hills visited the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi in October 2016 - read his account of this landmark moment
Seville Statement on Violence
"We, the undersigned scholars from around the world and from relevant sciences, have met and arrived at the following Statement on Violence. In it, we challenge a number of alleged biological findings that have been used, even by some in our disciplines, to justify violence and war..." Read more
Shared Responsibilities: a national security strategy for the UK
At the end of June 2009 the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) published the final report of their Commission on National Security for the 21st Century - Shared Responsibilities: a national security strategy for the UK. It makes for some interesting reading.
Here is the Summary with the Commission's Recommendations.
A copy of the full report can be obtained from ippr
Here is the Summary with the Commission's Recommendations.
A copy of the full report can be obtained from ippr
War is not inevitable
In 2010, the Bristish Pugwash Group published a statement in which three distinguished scientists argue that "War is not inevitable: aggressiveness can be tamed"
Read it here.
British Pugwash is the UK arm of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, an international network of scientists and others concerned about the social impact of science, with particular emphasis on abolishing weapons of mass destruction and war. Their website www.britishpugwash.org is well worth a visit.
Read it here.
British Pugwash is the UK arm of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, an international network of scientists and others concerned about the social impact of science, with particular emphasis on abolishing weapons of mass destruction and war. Their website www.britishpugwash.org is well worth a visit.