Ten very current issues of global pacifism

ALBERT - International Bulletin for Peace and Disarmament

1. Japan : Defending Article 9 and Resisting Rearmament. Thousands of people took to the streets to defend Article 9 of the Constitution, which since 1947 has enshrined the "solemn rejection of war." The government of ultranationalist Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi wants to amend it to rebuild a strong anti-Chinese army. Japan is a candidate for exporting the new sixth-generation GCAP fighter-bomber , developed with Italy and the United Kingdom. Protests have grown: 40,000 people on May 3, 2025, in Tokyo; 25,000 in March 2026 in front of Parliament; and over 30,000 a week later with 137 simultaneous protests in all prefectures. Young people organized a rave with the slogans "No to war! No to hatred!" and posted on social media. The main actors in the peace movement are Nihon Hidankyo (the confederation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors, winner of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize), Peace Boat (reconciliation ships), Gensuikyo (Japan's largest peace NGO), Soka Gakkai (a Buddhist peace movement), and the Japanese Communist Party. Breaking news: the government authorizes the export of lethal weapons , definitively breaking with its constitutionally mandated tradition.

2. Germany : Youth revolt against the reintroduction of conscription. The German government approved the reform of military service on December 5, 2025 (323 votes in favor, 272 against), which came into force on January 1, 2026. It includes a mandatory questionnaire for all 18-year-old males (approximately 680,000 young people), a mandatory medical examination starting July 1, 2027, and six months of service with a pay of €2,600. The hidden goal is to force conscription if there are not enough volunteers. The youth group “Schulstreik gegen Wehrpflicht” ( School Strike Against Conscription ) organized a nationwide strike on March 5, 2026, in over 100 cities with 55,000 participants. In Berlin, 3,000 students held banners reading “We are not cannon fodder” and “Send Friedrich Merz to the front line!” Testimonies: Alex Krzeszka (15 years old) “I don't see why anyone would go to the front for politicians”; Marcus (Berlin) “I don't want to die in war or spend six months in a barracks with mobbing, sexism, and racism.” In schools, only 4.7% of students said they were willing. The Ostermärsche (Easter marches) in April 2026 saw tens of thousands of people demanding “No to conscription, no to US missiles in Germany, yes to negotiations.” Among the groups: DFG-VK (Germany's oldest peace association, founded in 1892), Netzwerk Friedenskooperative (organizes the Easter marches), Pax Christi, War Resisters' International, and the peace faction of the SPD.

3. No King Movement : From Trump to Europe. Born in the US after the start of Trump's second term (January 2025), the "No King" movement has organized three waves of national protests: 5 million people on June 14, 2025, 7 million in October 2025, and over 3,000 events on March 28, 2026, with the goal of 9 million participants. The movement is a coalition of over 500 groups, including CODEPINK (a women's peace organization founded in 2002, known for its creative actions and beautiful website). Bruce Springsteen spoke in St. Paul, Minnesota, calling the Trump administration "a reactionary nightmare." March 28 has been declared "International No Kings Day," with protests in Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. In Rome, Italy, organizers reported 300,000 participants, representing over 700 organizations, including the CGIL (led by Maurizio Landini) and the Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra (Angelo Bonelli). The slogan was "Against kings and their wars." The movement has already crossed the Atlantic and is growing in Europe, rejecting a model based on hatred, militarization, and oppression.

4. Spain : A laboratory against the offensive use of US military bases and for a break with Israel. On February 28, 2026, the US and Israel began their offensive against Iran. The Spanish government of Pedro Sánchez banned the use of the US military bases in Rota (Cádiz) and Morón de la Frontera (Seville) for military operations, citing the absence of a UN resolution. On March 30, 2026, Defense Minister Margarita Robles closed Spanish airspace to US military flights to Iran, declaring, "This war is illegal and profoundly unjust." On March 14, 2026, over 150 demonstrations across Spain chanted "No to war," with 5,000 people in Madrid in front of the Reina Sofía Museum, home to Picasso's Guernica. Intellectuals such as Pedro Almodóvar, Joan Manuel Serrat, and Miguel Ríos signed a statement condemning it. On April 21, 2026, Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia proposed that the EU suspend the Association Agreement with Israel due to human rights violations (Article 2). Italy and Germany vetoed the proposal. Amnesty International called the decision "a moral failure"; Pax Christi International deplored the "disregard for civilian life." It was a shameful chapter in the EU's history. At the vote, 15 countries opposed suspending the agreement with Israel.

5. Russia-Europe tensions , conscientious objectors and deserters in Ukraine . The war has entered its fifth year, with numerous military and civilian casualties. In Ukraine, the right to conscientious objection is not recognized during martial law. Between February and March 2026, four Jehovah's Witnesses were imprisoned: Serhii Myniov (48, Odessa, pre-trial detention on February 25), Ruslan Khramtsov (39, Lviv, pre-trial detention on March 2), Dmytro Petrov (49, sentenced to three years on March 11, with the statement: "The examples of God's faithful servants help me remain steadfast"), and Dmytro Prodan (32, sentenced to three years on March 18). In total, at least 18 conscientious objectors are in prison. Yurii Sheliazhenko, secretary of the Ukrainian Peace Movement, was arrested on the night of March 19, 2026, beaten, pepper-sprayed, dragged by his hair, and detained for 44 hours without a lawyer. Released on March 21, he remains under threat of forced conscription. World BEYOND War's petition has garnered over 12,000 signatures. Furthermore, Ukraine has approximately 1.5 million administrative evaders (failure to register at recruitment centers) and 290,000 criminal cases for draft evasion, totaling nearly 1.8 million military offenses—a number the judicial system cannot handle.

6. Middle East : Genocide in Gaza, illegal attack on Iran, and the killing of journalist Amal Khalil. The US State Department acknowledged the attack at Israel's request. A UN commission of inquiry accused Israel of genocide in Gaza on April 6, 2026. The provisional toll is 71,769 Palestinians killed and 171,483 injured, according to Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese. On February 28, 2026, the US and Israel attacked Iran without UN authorization. A Tomahawk missile struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' primary school in Minab, killing 175 girls between the ages of 7 and 12. UN experts stated: "There is no excuse for killing girls in a classroom." The European Commission did not condemn the attack; Spain, however, called it illegal and closed the bases and airspace. Lebanon has been heavily bombed: on April 8, 2026, over 100 Israeli airstrikes killed more than 300 people and injured 1,150, with bridges over the Litani River destroyed and 85 medical workers killed. On April 22, 2026, journalist Amal Khalil, a reporter for Al-Akhbar, was killed in Tiri (southern Lebanon) while covering the bombing; rescue efforts were hampered for hours by the Israeli army. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) declared Israel responsible for her death. The October 2025 ceasefire has been violated at least 1,620 times, with 733 killed in Gaza.

7. Ghana : UN split over slave trade and leadership for Africa's denuclearization. In March 2026, Ghana sponsored a resolution at the UN General Assembly condemning the transatlantic slave trade as a "crime against humanity," establishing a mechanism for remembrance and reparations, and an international decade of reflection. Western countries (NATO, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Belgium) abstained or voted against the resolution; Italy and Germany abstained; and Spain voted in favor. Ghana's representative, Harold Adlai Agyeman, stated: "We are not asking for money. We are asking for truth and recognition." In parallel, Ghana ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in July 2025. In January 2026, it hosted the West and Central Africa Regional Conference on the Universalization of the TPNW in Accra, with 22 participating countries. The country is an active party to the Pelindaba Treaty, which makes Africa a nuclear-weapon-free zone, and is developing a civilian nuclear program under IAEA control, with the first power plant planned for 2027-2028. The Ghanaian president has reiterated that denuclearization is a "moral imperative."

8. Diego Garcia Island : The nuclear base in the Indian Ocean violates the Pelindaba Treaty and nuclear tests in the Pacific 80 years after their inception. The Chagos Archipelago (Indian Ocean) is geographically part of Africa. The Diego Garcia military base, operated by the US and the UK, can support nuclear-capable B-52 and B-2 Spirit bombers and nuclear submarines, violating the Pelindaba Treaty , which mandates the denuclearization of Africa . Between 1967 and 1973, the UK forcibly deported approximately 2,000 Chagossians to build the base. In 2019, the International Court of Justice declared the separation of the Chagos Islands from Mauritius illegal. In October 2024, the UK and Mauritius signed an agreement ceding sovereignty to Mauritius but maintaining the base's lease for 99 years. Chagossians can only return to the other 60 islands, not Diego Garcia. Pope Leo XIV declared in August 2025: “No people can be forced into exile.” On March 30, 2026, in Fiji, hundreds of people commemorated the 80th anniversary of the beginning of Western nuclear testing in the Pacific (1946). The United States, the United Kingdom, and France have conducted over 300 tests, including Castle Bravo in 1954 (1,000 times more powerful than Hiroshima). Pacific survivors, along with Japanese Hibakusha, will travel to New York to meet with the United Nations and demand justice, reparations, and an end to nuclear weapons.

9. UN Conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the New START Crisis. The Eleventh NPT Review Conference opens in New York on April 27, 2026, with 191 States Parties. The context is dramatic: the New START treaty between the US and Russia expired on February 5, 2026, without being renewed, leaving the arsenals of the two major nuclear powers (over 12,500 warheads worldwide, 90% of which are in the hands of the US and Russia) without limits. The Trump administration has declared "the Cold War arms control paradigm is dead" and has cut dedicated staff. The Conference has been chaired by Vietnam, on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (120 countries). Ambassador Do Hung Viet has promised a transparent and inclusive process. The countries of the Global South demand: real disarmament, transparency, negative security guarantees ( no first use of nuclear weapons ), access to peaceful nuclear technology, and condemnation of the attack on Iran. Civil society will be represented by ICAN (2017 Nobel Prize Winner), Nihon Hidankyo (2024 Nobel Prize Winner) with a delegation of hibakusha, survivors of the Pacific test, Reaching Critical Will, WILPF, the International Peace Bureau, Pax Christi, World BEYOND War, and many others. The goal is to prevent this Conference from becoming yet another failure, following those of 2015 and 2022.

10. What if we did like Costa Rica? Costa Rica officially abolished its army on December 1, 1948, enshrining this decision in the 1949 Constitution. This strategic choice allowed economic resources to be redirected towards education, healthcare, and social stability, making the country one of the most democratic and stable in Latin America.