| PT7 COMPLAIN TO THE UN |
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TWO FROM PT7 PUT THEIR CLAIM TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE IN GENEVA
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We are SEVEN UK CITIZENS who are going to the EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS to claim the right for CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS to have the MILITARY part of their TAXES diverted to a PEACE FUND |
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Governments should respect the consciences of their citizens, particularly in the matter of deliberately taking human lives.
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Society develops morally when governments take heed of public conscience, ie. abolition of capital punishment, release from military service on conscientious grounds, abolition of slavery.
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A Peace Fund would instal a measuring scale of the public’s conscience which government ought to find useful.
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Such a fund would put a moral pressure on government to try harder to find other ways of resolving conflict than using violence.
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Now more than ever, it is important to bring this moral argument into wider debate.
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Read more about our campaign - click here
< Explore our resources on peace tax and our case |
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| Our heart felt thanks to all those who have sent donations, but requested no acknowledgement. You are a great support to our campaign. |
News Roundup
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PT7 AT THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS HEARING
Simon Heywood and Robin Brookes went to the 93rd Session of the Human Rights Committee in Geneva at the beginning of this month. They were invited by Conscience and Peace Tax International (CPTI) to voice their complaint that Britain does not accommodate conscientious objection to military taxation.
UN representative for CPTI, Derek Brett was pleased to get a chance for British war tax resister/peace tax campaigners to state their case to the Human Rights Committee. He has been the lone voice for conscientious objectors at the UN for many years and this was the first time ever that COs have been before the Committee. He managed to get a two minute slot for Robin Brookes to deliver the essence of what conscientious objection to military taxation is about to a packed session at the Palais Wilson. Text as follows:
I am a member of the board of Conscience and Peace Tax International and of Conscience the UK peace tax campaign. The latter has 2,500 members who, along with many others, have a conscientious objection to paying taxes for military preparations and war. I am also one of a group of British citizens - the Peace Tax Seven - who are bringing a test case to the European Court of Human Rights regarding the breach of our freedom of thought, conscience and religion. I must emphasise - we do not ask to be excused from paying part of our taxes. Rather, we wish for it to be put to peaceful uses.
If I were called up to military service, I would refuse on moral and religious grounds. I am not being conscripted into the armed forces, but I am being conscripted into my country’s military exploits, through the taxes I pay.
To pay for somebody else to kill is as bad as committing the act oneself. This is recognised in law and morality. Paying for war has been deeply distressing for me for many years. I am personally implicated when my taxes are used to deliberately kill other human beings and I do nothing to resist or prevent that.
The final straw for me was Britain’s collusion in the Iraq war. I felt no longer able to pay my taxes until my conscientious status is recognised by my government and they provide a ring-fenced ‘peace fund’ into which an appropriate proportion of my taxes are deposited.
My current status is that I am awaiting bailiffs for a third time and they will seize my possessions. I cannot collude with the stupidity and barbarism of war. I cannot consent to my money being spent on weapons when there are intelligent, proven methods of resolving conflict non-violently which our government should be investing in.
The right of conscientious objection to military service has long been upheld in Britain. Conscientious objectors have been given alternative service to contribute to society in other ways. This is what we are calling for - to have our taxes put to alternative service to the benefit of our fellow citizens and for world peace.
CPTI were one among a number of NGOs briefing the Committee on the UK, France and Spain. In a lunchtime seminar, NGOs were able to expand on their morning presentations and to answer questions from Human Rights Committee members. Simon Heywood led this with the following:
A significant and increasing number of UK citizens object in conscience to compulsory military taxation. The essence of the objection is that compulsory military taxation is a form of military conscription, in just the same way as I become legally and morally guilty of murder if I pay for the services of a professional assassin. As such, financial conscription has effectively replaced physical conscription in the UK. The right to conscientious objection applies equally to physical and financial conscription, for the same reasons. This is not a political issue; it is an issue of personal morality and conscience which engages individuals across the political spectrum.
However, the UK tax system is highly centralised and offers no recourse to military tax objectors. Most taxpayers pay income tax through their employers into a central fund managed and distributed by the state. Employers are naturally reluctant to challenge military taxation directly on their employees' behalf. Some dozens of taxpayers have nevertheless challenged the tax system directly by withholding tax payments, facing prosecution and distraint as a result. However, even this course of action is open only to a few. There has been no systematic study of the total numbers of actual objectors in the UK, but judging by the levels of active support for UK peace tax campaigns such as Conscience and the Peace Tax Seven, they are to be reckoned in the thousands rather than hundreds.
In our recent related action in the UK High Court, the government argued that British taxpayers do not pay tax to the military at all. We reject this argument. Around 10% of UK government expenditure goes to the military, and obviously this money comes from taxpayers or it comes from nowhere. The case was referred on appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, to whom we are now applying.
Conscientious objectors to military taxation are not, I emphasise, seeking to abdicate any of their responsibilities as citizens or as taxpayers. We want to pay all the tax we owe. Alternative, non-combatant service is offered to, and expected from, objectors to physical conscription. In the same way, we are, so to speak, not seeking outright exemption from tax, so much as a transparent guarantee of alternative non-combatant disbursement of it. The continued, unnecessary and disproportionate refusal of the UK to enable its taxpaying citizens to fulfil their public duties in good conscience constitutes a violation of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion as guaranteed under Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Three members of the committee asked sensible questions and were genuinely interested. One said later "It is a long road ahead for you, but we will get there in the end."
Over the afternoon and next day, the Human Rights Committee questioned Britain over its human rights record. This is done every four or so years with every member country. The committee aimed some fierce questioning at around 20 UK government representatives on 31 matters including why it had not incorporated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights into domestic law; lethality of rubber bullets (AEPs); what measures to stop another killing like that of Jean Charles de Menezes; removal of persons to countries where they may face torture; HR of persons taken into custody in British run detention facilities abroad (like Abu Musa in Iraq); detention without charge; Right to a fair trial - 48 hour detention without access to a lawyer, 28 day (not just the 42 days currently proposed) detention without charge, ASBOs and their use; laws to combat terrorism and their effect on freedom of expression.
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STILL TIME TO BOOK!
conscience THE PEACE TAX CAMPAIGN and PEACE TAX SEVEN, the hosts of this year’s biennial conference, warmly invite you to the:
12th International Conference on War Tax Resistance and Peace Tax Campaigns
Friday 5th to Sunday 7th September, 2008
University of Manchester, Fallowfield Campus
We are delighted to welcome Professor Paul Rogers, University of Bradford Peace Studies Department, as our keynote speaker. He will no doubt inspire us all on Saturday morning with his talk:
`Towards Sustainable Security: looking ahead to how we can construct a sustainable system of security in the 21st century’.
This conference comes at a time when our international movement is gaining momentum. High profile legal cases, increasing world wide resistance to war, a growing international community of conscientious objectors to war tax and a gathering energy lead to a more coherent international approach.
The proposed theme for the conference is how to co-ordinate our campaigns towards a shared international platform, which will include initiating a complaint to the UN. With our focus on how to present a united front, we suggest looking at ways to increase public awareness and prepare people for the changes we wish to see, not just for each individual’s right, but also in terms of peace and security on the wider scale.
More details and application forms can be found at: www.peacetax2008.org.uk
INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN LEGAL COMMITTEE
Conscience and Peace Tax International, an UN recognised NGO, is forming a Legal Committee to build a repository, for the benefit of future plaintiffs, of all the legal cases in the world which have been brought that challenge national tax policy. They are also looking towards bringing a case to the UN Committee on Human Rights. PT7 member and CPTI committee member Robin Brookes and one of our barristers - Nick Grief are taking part in this process. The inaugural meeting is in Brussels in May.
THE MASTERPEACE QUILT PROJECT
We are making a patchwork peace quilt, which, when finished, is to be auctioned and all the proceeds given to The Peace Tax Seven. We are hoping that other people will join in the project.
The quilt is being made from 7” (180mm) square patches (to represent The Peace Tax Seven). The colour and design of a square is of personal choice – an individual interpretation of the concept of peace. The square may be embroidered, appliquéd or patchworked. It should be approx 7 ½” (190mm) square, so that when the pieces are joined together, they form 7” squares. (Please baste your square to 2 oz wadding).
We hope that many people will join with us in this project.
If you would like any further information, please contact:- Vicki Creek, tel 01286 881479
Love and peace to you all, Vicki.
Generous author and educationalist Chistopher Gilmore and PT7 film maker Joe Jenkins are offering some other schemes to raise much needed funds for PT7 - Click here to see.
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2006 AND 2007?
CATCH UP ON OUR ADDITIONAL NEWS PAGES
Click here to read more news items and to get more background to where PT7 are now
PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION
We have drawn up a petition which can be signed online or printed off and circulated. We will continue to collect signatures until we get a hearing, whether it is in the UK or EEC.
Contempt of Conscience - a full length documentary film about our case and about war tax resistance in general, is now finished and being offered to TV companies. We will advertise the date, time and venue of any showings on this front page. You can read more details here. You can see an extract if you click here
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PEACE TAX SEVEN - WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?
Your taxes pay for killing people
Many of us don’t even think about it! We may in principle object to war and protest when other people are sent to fight them. For instance two million protested in London against the Iraq war and were ignored by the government. But war can only happen because the weapons and the training is paid for by us out of our taxes.
If you paid someone to go and kill an enemy, you would be as guilty of murder as the perpetrator. This is recognised in law and morally. Paying for the government’s killing machine is no different.
We all bear a responsibility in our society and we should not be made to do something we believe is morally wrong. This is recognised in the Geneva Convention, the Nuremberg Principles and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Don't let this continue to happen
When one and a half millions people took to the streets of London in February 2003 to protest at the war against Iraq, hundreds of thousands more signed petitions, attended meetings, held vigils, prayed, wrote letters, emails, dressed up, made banners, role played, lobbied their MP's and made their presence known in every city and town in Britain. The government paid no heed to our concerns and went ahead and executed their war in our name and with our taxes. Help us ensure that a British government never ignores people of conscience again.
What the PEACE TAX SEVEN are doing
We, seven British citizens, are making a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that our rights are violated by a tax system which makes us pay for the deliberate killing of other human beings. We regard this as a form of conscription, the same as military service and believe all tax paying citizens should have the right to conscientious objection to paying tax for the military.
We are asking to pay all of our taxes, but to have the military part placed in a ring-fenced fund solely for peaceful purposes such as health care, education and non-violent conflict resolution. We have each tried to direct our income taxes to be used for peaceful and non-military purposes. In each case we were denied the right, and each of us has faced a dilemma: either to pay our taxes and so become complicit in killing; or to follow our conscience and break the law by withholding payment of a portion of our taxes. Following our consciences has lead us to court or the threat of prosecution.
We object to this financial conscription, and believe that its legal basis is questionable. We are seeking a change of current UK tax policy to allow any citizen who conscientiously objects to paying for preparations for war to divert that part of their taxes to a Peace Fund.
Follow the links below if you wish to support us or enter the forum
 
Copyright notice: We have taken every reasonable step to find who owns the pictures we use and to seek their permission to use them. If you have a complaint, please contact us directly at:
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