patth (Patt Haring) (08/15/89)
Ported from PeaceNET's announcements conference:
/* Written 3:34 pm Aug 11, 1989 by gn:hyy in cdp:announcements */
/* ---------- "Right to Refuse Military Orders" ---------- */
PEACE UNION OF FINLAND - ASSOCIATION FOR UN
PEACE STATION
VETURITORI
SF-00520 HELSINKI
FINLAND
TEL. +358-0-141314
+358-0-142915
TELEFAX +358-0-147297
EMAIL gn:comof100 (GreenNet)
THE RIGHT TO REFUSE MILITARY ORDERS
INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR SEPTEMBER 29 - OCTOBER 1, 1990
Elaborating on an idea by Bruce Kent, Chairman of International Peace
Bureau, we have in Finland been thinking of the possibility to
organize, in connection with the Nuremberg Day 1 October 1990,
an International Seminar under the theme "The Right to Refuse
Military Orders".
Since the Nuremberg Tribunal the international law has included a
rule according to which the order of a superior does not reduce the
responsibilities of anyone who makes himself guilty to serious
crimes against peace or against humanity or to war crimes. Today,
the Nuremberg Principles are acute as wars, torture, apartheid and
in situations where military forces are used against the own citizens
of a state occur in our world. Mass destruction weapons, the use of
which would necessarily lead to issues of personal responsibility
under the Nuremberg Principles, exist and are deployed.
The proposed event would continue the tradition of three previous
seminars in Finland during the 1980s. In 1983 a seminar "Children
and War" was organized and its material was later published as a
book in English. "Youth and Conscription" was the theme in 1985 and
a book came out in 1987. And in 1987 the seminar "Women and the
Military System" was convened. Again an English book was published
in 1988. The previous seminars have been an effort to combine the
activities of peace movements and a scholarly orientation to
questions of war and peace.
The programme of the seminar we are now proposing could include
lectures by experts of international law and international criminal
law, personal reflections on individual cases of refusing military
orders (e.g. a Uruguayan colonel who refused to partcipate in
torture and was imprisoned), descriptions of campaigns by peace
or other voluntary organizations on issues related to objection
to military orders, some films, and a press conference.
Now we are thinking of a seminar with 40 - 50 persons from 29
September to 1 October 1990 in Helsinki. We wish to receive your
comments and proposals concerning the event. Our primary target
is to find a form and contents which would enable a constructive
dialogue between peace activists and lawyers. We are also
interested to hear your willingness to act as one of the
organizers of the seminar, and hope to hear from you before
15 December 1989. Of course we are eager to answer all your
questions even before that dead-line.
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Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations
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