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?

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Facilitators Gertie Brammer & Robin Brookes
11th International Conference
September 2006, Germany
Conscientious objection activists at UN Human Rights Committee
Members of Acción Colectiva de Objetores y Objetoras de Conciencia attending a UN Human Rights Committee session on Colombia
Panel at Side Event in Geneva 2007
Presentation hosted by CPTI at UN Geneva 2007

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

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

New Bill in the USA

On 19th July 2021, one year after the death of Rep John Lewis, Representative Jim McGovern of Massachussetts became the new sponsor for the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Bill.  For more details go to https://peacetaxfund.org/about-the-bill/

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

took place in Edinburgh, Scotland from 30th November to 2nd December 2019, with twenty participants from six countries.  The weekend also included a visit of support to the "peace camp" at the gates of the Faslane nuclear submarine base. Potted history of CPTI up to and beyond Edinburgh.

July 2020: Death of Congressman John Lewis

For many years, Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, a distinguished veteran of the Civil Rights movement, had been peace tax's biggest friend in Washington.  In Congress after Congress he brought forward bills, most recently in 2011 (see below)

UK Bill - postscript

The 2016 Bill https://conscienceonline.org.uk/our-previous-work/new-taxes-for-peace-draft-bill/ ran out of time; Conscience, the UK campaign, now plans to introduce a new Bi

2016: Peace Tax Bill in the UK

A hundred years after conscientious objection to military service was legalised in the UK, a Bill to extend the right into the tax system is being introduced in Parliament by Ruth Cadbury MP, whose Cadbury and Rowntree grandfathers were both conscientious obbjectors in the 1914-18 War.  For more details go to  

In memoriam 5: Roy Prockter

Roy took over from Dirk as Secretary.  A freelance accountant, who with Robin Brookes had been a member of the Peacetay Seven, he handled the move of CPTI's registered address to England.  In June 2016 he called on a client, by cycle as usual, and collapsed and died on announcing himself at reception,  He was only 64.

In memoriam 4; Dirk Panhuis

Dirk was the first Secretary of CPTI, and itsregistered address until 2014 was at his home in Leuven, Belgium.  He retired after the 2014 Bogota Conference, but it was to everyone's surprise that he sadly died later that year.

In memoriam3: Marian Franz

Marian Franz (1930 - 2013), Pedro's predecessor as CPTI President, was for many years a tireless campaigner with the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund in the United States, see "A Persistent Voice", Cascadia, Telford PA, 2009, a collection of her writings edited by David Bassett, Stever Ratzlaff and Tim Godshall.  Earlier,she and her husband Delton, a baptist minister, had

See all CPTI news

CPTI Documents Submitted to the UN Since 2001

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

Recent submissions: Oral Statement by CPTI to the 12th Session of the Human Rights Council, 18 September 2009

UPR Submissions for Armenia, Belarus, & Turkey, May 2010.

CPTI Submission to the 96th Session of the Human Rights Committee: July 2009: Conscientious Objection to Military Service: Azerbaijan, Chad, Netherlands, United Republic of Tanzania

CPTI Submissions to the 6th Session of the UPR Working Group, December 2009: Cyprus and Eritrea

CPTI Submission to the 5th Session of the UPR Working Group, April 2009: Chile

Oral Statements by CPTI: Adoption of UPR Reports on Colombia, Israel, Turkmenistan—Human Rights Council, 19 & 20 March 2009

Joint Statement by Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers) and Conscience and Peace Tax International, Human Rights Council, 16 March 2009

CPTI Submission to the 95th Session of the Human Rights Committee: March 2009—Conscientious Objection to Military Service: Australia, Chad, Rwanda, Sweden

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