How do you feel about paying for war through your taxes?

Do you deeply object to being made to participate in killing other people?

Would you rather see your money spent on peace building initiatives?

Who We Are

CPTI is an international peace movement focussed on "Taxes for peace not war," seeking to direct taxes away from preparation for war and towards peace building.

Our mission arises from the deep affront to our con­sciences that people are made to partici­pate in war as combatants, civilian victims and through taxation. We are also moved by the common sense proposition that our taxes should be used to abolish war, not promote it.

The ethical principle of freedom of conscience, a moral imperative governing the behaviour of an individual, is central to the objectives and work of CPTI.

CPTI aims to win recognition of the right to con­scientious objection to paying for armaments, war preparation and war conduct through taxes.

CPTI also upholds the right of conscientious objection to military service and supports all war resisters.

CPTI supports and links the work of the many national and regional war tax resistance and peace tax campaigns. Visit our Global War Tax Resistance page for more information about the many other organisations around the world.

CPTI is constituted as a company (new window) under English law and is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) (new window) of the United Nations.

What We Are Doing

Image
United Nations Building, New York City
United Nations, New York City

We focus much of our activity on the UN, sub­mitting doc­uments to the United Nations Commit­tee on Human Rights (UNCHR) often relat­ing to specific countries and report­ing on their treat­ment of con­sci­entious objec­tors. Visit our CPTI State­ments to the United Nations page to find out more and read our submissions.

We are a central point of reference for WTR and PTC around the world and one of the means by which national campaigns communicate with one another and coordinate international action. Visit our National War Tax Resistance and Peace Tax Campaigns page to find an organisation near you.

CPTI was founded in 1994 at the biennial Inter­national Conference on War Tax Resistance and Peace Tax Cam­paigns and has become the over­seeing body for the conference. The Inter­national Conference is hosted and organised by a different national organisation each time. The last Inter­national Conference was held in Man­chester, England, in 2008.

How You Can Help

CPTI needs supporters, because the more of us there are, the more we can impress officials in the UN and national governments with our constitu­ency.

  • Join CPTI.
    If you are prepared to put some time into the organi­sation you can become a mem­ber. You would be expected to attend the meetings of the General Assembly, usually every two years, or send your proxy. You would share actively in our work and become involved in the General Assembly's decision-making process. Learn more.
  • Join Your National Organisation.
    Find your national organisation on our National War Tax Resistance and Peace Tax Campaigns page. If you know about a national organisation that is not listed on that page, please tell us about it.
  • Give Practical Support to CPTI.
    If you cannot make a full com­mitment to membership, you may have particular skills which CPTI needs and would value. For instance: interpre­tation, transla­tion, publicity, assisting UN repre­sentatives. More sugges­tions.
  • Fund CPTI's Work.
    CPTI also needs funds to enable its Board to meet face to face twice a year, also for its repre­sentatives in Geneva and New York to participate and make sub­missions to the UNCHR and for the Legal Committee to meet and carry out its research. Please help us by donating on-line or by other means offered.

News and Updates

Legislative initiative in Spain

At the Board meeting in August, we were joined by Emilio Arranz Bertran, who has drafted a proposed Spanish law for peace tax law, and is working on raising support and finding a member of the incoming parliament to propose it.  More details here

Save the date!

The Seventeenth International Conference of War Tax Resisters and Peace Tax Campaigns will be hosted by Netzwerk Friedenssteuer at the Naturfreundehaus Priwall near Lubeck, Germany, FROM 4TH TO 6TH OCTOBER 2024.  More details to follow.

Object War Campaign

At the Conference, CPTI agreed to join the Object War Campaign to be launched on 21st September by WRI, EBCO, IFOR and Connection eV, which calls on European States to grant asylum to all avoiding conscription into the Ukraine war, on either side.

16th International Conference of War Tax Resisters and Peace Tax Campaigns

The conference successfully took place in Geneva from 16th to 18th September 2022, with a dozen participants from five countries attending in person and a further half dozen participating on-line.  Look out for the full conference report which will soon be appearing on the Conferences page of this website.

More on the Conference (4)

To register for online participation, please email Robin and Derek (chair@peacetaxinternational.org;

More on the conference (3)

To meet the demand for on-line access, we are arranging to bring in the expertise to set this up – without interpretation. To cover the cost and so as not to discourage in person attendance there will be a fee of £40/€50 for attendance in this fashion. 

More on the conference (2)

The additional accommodation cost for those staying beyond the basis three nights will be €45/£40 per night, without meals.

CPTI Documents Submitted to the UN Since 2020

Complete listing: Links to the actual documents are on the CPTI Statements to the United Nations page.

Recent additions: 

Submission for Report of Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression in time of Conflict, July 2022

UPR Submissions on Republic of Korea, Switzerland, July 2022

Submissions for 135th Session of Human Rights Committee, July 2022: Georgia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Russian Federation (consideration postponed until 136th Session), Uruguay and for List of Issues  Colombia, State of Palestine, Uganda,

Oral Statements to the 50th Session of the Human Rights Council, June 2022:  Item 2, Annual Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; Item 4, Report of Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Belarus; Item 6 (jointly with Center for Global Non-Killing) UPR Adoption - Lithuania.  Item 10, Support for human Rights in Ukraine (not delivered because of time limit on debate)

Submissions for 90th Session of the Committee on the Rigts of the Child, May 2022: Canada, Cuba.

UPR Submission on Finland, March 2022.

Submissions for 134th Session of the Human Rights Committee, March 2022: Bolivia, Cambodia, Iraq, Israel, Qatar and for List of Issues: Brazil, Egypt, Turkmenistan.

Submission for the Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Conscientious Objection to Military Service, February 2022