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. --- Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange