Women's Views on News |
| Posted: 20 Jul 2016 02:56 PM PDT
Ruth Cadbury, MP for Brentford and Isleworth, and a Quaker, introduced the Income Tax (Non-Military Expenditure) Bill under a Ten Minute Rule motion. The Bill would allow people to stop paying for war and weapons. It is not an exemption from paying taxes – it aims to get the appropriate percentage of income taxes redirected away from military spending and towards conflict prevention programmes sponsored by the government. Taxpayers would be able to express on their tax return their conscientious objection to the expenditure of their taxes on war or the preparations for war. The Bill's second reading is scheduled for 2 December. Conscience, who campaign to create a world where taxes are used to nurture peace, not pay for war, see military taxation as the new form of conscription. And the right of conscientious objection has been acknowledged in the United Kingdom for centuries. In the late 17th century, the government sought to pressure Quakers to engage in military activities. They resisted the state's capacity to compel them into military service, and in the Militia Ballot Act of 1757, Quakers as a body were excluded from conscription. The general right to refuse on the grounds of conscience to participate as a combatant in military service was included in the Military Service Act 1916, which introduced conscription during the First World War. The right to conscientious objection has also been recognised in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the European Union Convention on Human Rights. The legal right to act in accordance with one’s conscience was placed firmly on the statute book by the UK government by the Human Rights Act 1998. The United Kingdom does not currently fight using a conscripted army in which a conscientious objector can refuse to serve. So today we are not conscripted to fight; instead, our taxes are conscripted to pay for the cost of sustaining a modern professional army and the technology it wields. We are, as taxpayers, conscripted to pay for some of the most lethal military equipment in the world. We are also compelled to pay for people to be trained in the operation of this deadly equipment which enables them to kill. We are therefore complicit in a system of killing by proxy which interferes with established principles protecting individuals of thought, conscience and religion from unjust force from the state. For those who object to war, there is little moral difference between actually firing lethal weapons and paying for someone else to do so. This Bill simply extends the already legally recognised right of freedom of conscience in the modern world where military taxation is the new form of conscription. If the right of conscientious objection is to have any real meaning today, it must be the right not to support state violence with our taxes. We must allow those who object to war the right to have their taxes used for the non-violent conflict resolution The UK is a world leader in sponsoring conflict prevention initiatives by means other than armed force and, through mechanisms such as the Conflict Security and Stability Fund (CSSF), greatly contributes to global peace and security through non-military means. By enabling citizens to redirect the proportion of their income tax that goes to the military towards a non-military security fund such as the CSSF and its successors, this Bill will allow all citizens to be able to contribute to the tax system with a clear conscience. War is a very specific type of government spending with a very specific remit: deliberate killing to achieve foreign policy objectives. It has long been legally recognised that, given the very specific nature of military activity, individual involvement needs a very specific set of laws to govern it. This is why we can have a legal conscientious objector status to military conscription, but not, say, a conscientious objection to education, welfare or health spending. Her Majesty's Government budgeted for more than £34 billion of military expenditure in 2014. That represents close to 5 per cent of the Government’s total expenditure and an annual contribution of around £1,200 per taxpayer for military activity. 1916 was a pioneering moment in the conscientious objection movement as it provided the first legally recognised inclusive right to conscientious objection. It is 100 years since the legal recognition of conscience within the 1916 Military Service Act. So the centenary of the Military Service Act, and the heightened awareness of conscientious objection that accompanies it, provides a unique opportunity for modern conscientious objectors to have their voices heard. An update in the law is required so that conscientious objectors to military taxation can have their rights fully recognised too. “Believing all life is sacred. Quakers abhor war and conscientiously object to paying someone to kill on our behalf,” Helen Drewery, of Quakers in Britain, explained. "To prepare for war is failure; instead we want to invest in nonviolent solutions to conflict.” Please ask your MP to support this bill at its second reading.  |
| Posted: 20 Jul 2016 02:36 PM PDT
The 13 July 2016, was a momentous day for women in the UK as 40 MPs and peers from different parties took part in a parliamentary lobby event set up by ICChange to show support for calls for the urgent ratification of the Istanbul Convention – so that women and girls in the UK can live free from violence. The Istanbul Convention (IC) is a strategic way to work towards a safe society in which women and girls can live free from violence and free from the fear of violence. The UK government committed to the principle of the Convention in June 2012. ICChange has been campaigning to secure the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in the UK and bring UK laws into line with this ground-breaking piece of legislation since 2014. ICChange believes the UK government can and should step up to fulfil its commitment by bringing the Istanbul Convention fully into UK law, and campaigners have built strong networks with groups in the women's sector and beyond and engaged with parliamentarians. ICChange even sent a motivational mix tape and a giant birthday card to Theresa May when she was Home Secretary – and are now of course hoping she will remember this. As ICChange networks and support grows, the group will continue to do everything within its power to ensure that the UK government takes this vital step to protect women and girls and establish a society in which women and girls can live free from fear and violence. With all it has to offer it is not surprising that support is growing for this Convention, which will prevent violence, protect victims, prosecute perpetrators, and facilitate co-ordinated working and monitoring. The lobbying session on 13 July brought leaders and experts together with MPs and peers, all united by a desire to ensure that ratification of the Istanbul Convention is made a priority by the government. While the timing was a coincidence, these calls were made all the more important with the arrival of a new Prime Minister – Theresa May – and a new Home Secretary – Amber Rudd. To date we have seen parliamentarians call for ratification by asking Parliamentary questions, writing to Ministers, hosting Roundtable events, and taking part in Early Day Motions in March and in June, which have received significant support from both sides of the House of Commons. This cross-party working has been commendable and the ICChange campaign has thanked Tom Brake MP, Maria Miller MP, Gavin Newlands MP, and Jess Phillips MP for co-hosting the day's event. It was a day when campaigners were able to thank parliamentarians for their work in ensuring that the government take an important step towards helping to end violence against women. But as Marsha Scott, CEO of Women's Aid Scotland, said: "It is time to end the arguing, the party politics, the official obsessing about elements that will be difficult. Just ratify." The support of parliament is all the more important following a recent, exciting development to the ICChange campaign after Dr Eilidh Whiteford MP tabled a Private Member's Bill on the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. To get anywhere this will require the support of 100 MPs on the 16 December 2016. No small feat. But we must grasp this opportunity to help end violence against women. Please contact your MP and ask them to supprt Whiteford’s Private Members Bill. Every single one of us needs to get behind the ICChange campaign to raise the voices of individuals and organisations across the UK calling for ratification to the point at which they are heard and action taken. We all have a role to play in reaching out to MPs and Peers, as Hilary Fisher, director of Policy, Research and Campaigns at Women's Aid England, highlighted, when she said: "We really need to ratify the convention to protect our domestic abuse services, so tell your MP and tell our new Prime Minister." To keep up to date with the campaign and hear about the next steps, follow ICChange on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook. And please sign the petition.  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Women's Views on News. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |