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Militarism and repression
Militarised wars and conflicts are major causes of global poverty. Caused by governments, companies, or individuals, they devastate and displace communities, and lead to grave human rights abuses, the loss of life, livelihoods, and social protections.
Many companies thrive off war and conflict by supplying weapons that kill and maim, by financing war efforts, or by running mercenary armies. The global arms trade supports repressive regimes, fuels wars and armed violence, and reinforces global oppression and inequality.
Multinational mining companies are buying up land across the planet to extract natural resources, contracting state forces, private mercenary companies, and even illegal paramilitary groups to protect their interests and repress local opposition. Their operations have forced communities from their own land, polluted the environment, and led to widespread human rights violations.
We pressure the UK government to stop approving billions of pounds worth of arms exports to human rights abusing regimes. We stand with our partners and all human rights defenders in the Global South in the fight for their land and livelihoods, and we hold UK-based mining companies to account for the violence they inflict on communities.
Take action today
Say NO to the anti-boycott bill
The UK government is trying to restrict our collective right to campaign for justice. Show your opposition to the government's anti-boycott bill.
Defend the right to protest
Demand all UK political parties protect our basic human rights.
Stand with Palestinian political prisoners
Email your MP to demand that the UK government ensures the basic human rights of Palestinian political prisoners are upheld
Send a message of solidarity to Palestinian political prisoners
It's important for Palestinian political prisoners to know that the world sees Israel’s injustices.
Stand with Palestinians against Israel's onslaught
Palestinians are facing an intensified onslaught of militarised violence from the Israeli military. Please contact your MP today and ask them to demand that the UK government stops the sale and purchase of arms to and from Israel.
Stop Barclays Banking on Apartheid
Barclays has a responsibility to end its complicity in Israel’s war crimes and violations of international law.
Siemens Gamesa: Stop the plunder
Siemens Gamesa are profiting from Morocco’s plunder of illegally occupied land & violent repression of the people of Western Sahara.
Defend Palestinian human rights organisations under attack
Israel has banned and raided six leading Palestinian human rights organisations, in an escalation of its targeted suppression of Palestinian civil society.
Stop Israel’s Forcible Transfer of Palestinians!
Israel is trying to ethnically cleanse over 1,000 Palestinians from Masafer Yatta, in the occupied West Bank.
End Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip
Since 2007, Israel has imposed an illegal land, air and sea blockade — effectively turning the Gaza Strip into the world’s largest open-air prison by preventing the free movement of people and goods. End the siege.
Stop JCB bulldozing Palestinian rights
The UK government must end its complicity with Israel’s settlement enterprise and hold businesses – including JCB – to account.
No civilian should be subject to military courts
Email your MP to demand an end to Israel’s unjust system of military courts
The UK must stop arming repression
Pressure the government to end its trade in arms with human rights abusing regimes.
Related news
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Barclays: Don’t bank on apartheid
Barclays provides billions of pounds worth of investment to arms companies supplying weapons to Israel – used to repress Palestinians.
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End Israeli Apartheid
For over 70 years, the state of Israel has subjected the Palestinian people to its brutal regime of control.
War on Want response: Israel moves to outlaw Palestinian human rights groups
We condemn Israel's attack on leading Palestinian civil society groups
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Policing Bill: why we're standing up for the right to protest
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill poses a dangerous threat to all of our rights. The right to assemble, which allows us to peacefully protest, is vital to any democratic society.
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'Judge, Jury, and Occupier' report: questions & answers
Why focus on Israel’s military courts?
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The neocolonial violence of mining: stories of resistance against BHP
Communities from Colombia and Brazil seek justice from BHP
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Stop Arming Israel
The UK government is complicit in Israel's continuing violations of human rights and international law
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“They’d kill me if I went back to Colombia”
Gilberto Torres was kidnapped and tortured by paramilitaries in 2002
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UK charities ask: Is the UK government abandoning the Palestinian people?
We are gravely concerned by the Israeli Government’s threat to annex more Palestinian land
Partners
Action for Ecology and People’s Emancipation (AEER), Indonesia
Action for Ecology and People’s Emancipation (AEER) is an environmental NGO that struggles for improvements in the management of natural resources to help build sustainable relationships between communities and their environment. It undertakes research and defends the rights of communities negatively impacted by extractivist policies and companies.
Association for Social Research and Action (Nomadesc), Colombia
In Colombia, more than five million people have been forced from their homes by violence and extreme poverty, made refugees in their own country. Rural Colombians have lost huge swathes of land. This humanitarian crisis and the needs of displaced people are well known in Colombia. The Social Research and Action Association (Asociacion para la investigacion y la accion social – Nomadesc) works to fix this massive disadvantage. By bringing these vulnerable groups together, Nomadesc unites and raises the voices of these communities. By strengthening the ties between the groups and giving them the tools to defend their human rights, communities are better able to protect themselves from violence and displacement. War on Want has supported Nomadesc in their work investigating violations of human rights and working to strengthen social movements through popular education initiatives.
Networks
Dismantle Corporate Power
London Mining Network
Resources
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Judge, Jury, and Occupier
Israel's military court system in the occupied West BankImage
Deadly Investments
UK banks and financial institutions facilitate and profit from Israel's militarism, making them complicit in Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people.Image
Arming Repression: The new British Imperialism in the Persian Gulf
The UK government is playing a key role in arming repression throughout the Persian Gulf, making a mockery of any commitment to democracy and human rights, according to a new report published by War on Want.Image
