PET(4) SAR 04

Petitions Committee

Consultation on petition P-04-432 Stop the Army Recruiting in Schools

Response from Dr Kelvin Mason

Responding to this petition, which I wholeheartedly support:

I am deeply concerned about the exposure of schoolchildren who are too young to join the armed forces being prematurely recruited/groomed via so-called 'careers advice'. Any Armed Forces recruitment should be limited to adults old enough to decide whether to enlist or not. I am also concerned that there is no constitutional check that ensures those targeted for recruitment hear the other-side of the arguments on the use of coercive violence, for example pacifist and humanitarian arguments. There is a very particular ethical argument that must be presented and understood in the case of recruitment to a career that exposes the person recruited to the ultimate questions of human morality, the  potential sacrifice and/or taking of human life. 



Dr Kelvin Mason
Cardiff School of Planning and Geography
Cardiff University