In the name of humanity,

for the civilians threatened from war crimes,

especially for the children, and for nature that suffers from the preparation and conduct of wars,

we, the signers, advocate the abolition of the universal conscription obligation, as a major and decisive step towards perfect disarmament.

We remind the message of the humanists of the 20th century:

“We believe that the armies that support themselves on compulsory conscription and are led by a large staff of professional officers, pose a serious threat to peace. Compulsory conscription means the humiliation of the free human character. The life of the barracks, the hard practice, the blind obedience to the most unjust and irrational orders and the whole training system in murdering, undermines the respect to human personality, democracy and culture.

It is an insult to human dignity to force people to sacrifice their life or to murder, against their will, their beliefs and the feeling of justice that possesses them. The state that considers it its right to force its citizens to participate in a war is not in a position to indicate even the most elementary interest for their well being during periods of peace. What's more: compulsory conscription instils in the entire male population a militaristic spirit of aggression, and this at an especially vulnerable age. War education easily gives the impression that war itself is inevitable, and in fact makes it welcome.”

“Compulsory conscription delivers the individual to militarism. It is a form of slavery. Proof of its paralytic effect is the fact that peoples are accustomed to accepting it without reaction. Military training is the practice of body and mind in the art of killing. Military training is war education. It is the perpetuation of the war spirit. It prevents the development of the will for peace”.

We want to encourage every person to distance themselves from the military system, using methods of nonviolent resistance on the road drawn by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., such as: conscious disobedience, non-payment of taxes for military purposes, non-cooperation with military research and technology, the war industry and the arms trade.

In today's age of electronic warfare and mass media manipulation, we cannot ignore our responsibility to act in a timely manner and in accordance with the dictates of our conscience. It is high time we demilitarized our perceptions and our societies, and publicly expressed our opposition to war and its preparation.

Now is the time to act, now is the time to create and develop a way of life that will save the lives of others.