Emergency, collection of signatures for popular initiative law 'I object to war'

Demand that all citizens recognize the right to conscientious objection to war and therefore be able to exercise their refusal to make their bodies, their work and their consent available to war, without incurring sanctions or punishments.

This is the meaning of the initiative promoted by Emergency, for which the collection of signatures began to bring the popular initiative law "I object to war" to Parliament. Last weekend, 9,000 of the 50,000 signatures needed to present the proposal to Parliament were collected.

The bill arises from the desire to make effective a right that Emergency considers fundamental: the possibility for every person to choose not to participate in war.

The objection would, in fact, concern not only possible military service, but also work activities linked to the design, production, trade and movement of weapons and instruments intended for war. The proposal provides for the establishment of a register of objection to war in each municipality: each citizen could declare himself or herself as a "conscientious objector to war" at his or her municipality of residence, rejecting the use of weapons, violence and involvement in activities functional to or connected to war.

For men between 17 and 45, the declaration would also count as a conscientious objection to military service. The statement would be protected by privacy and could be revoked at any time.

The bill consists of an introductory report and eight articles and was drafted with the collaboration of Domenico Gallo, magistrate and former president of the section of the Court of Cassation, Alessandra Algostino, constitutionalist, and Veronica Dini, lawyer.