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This year marks the tenth anniversary of the end of compulsory military service in the Spanish state, where it was known as the 'mili'. To mark the occasion, on Saturday 15 May, the International 10 Years since Military Service Conference took place in Barcelona, organised by Moviment per la Pau (Movement for Peace) and the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection.

Military service is a system whereby individuals help enlarge military institutions. Since 2001, Spain's armed forces have been made up of professional soldiers, who serve in the army in exchange for pay. However, until then, military service was compulsory and young people had to spend a year (nine months in the years before it was abolished) in the army, often far away from the town and autonomous community where they lived.

The end of compulsory military service was the fruit of many years of struggle, particularly by conscientious objectors (people who oppose military service on account of their beliefs) and by 'insubmisos' (literally, 'unsubmissive'), who reject not only military service but also community service-based alternatives.

Throughout the world, military service is non-compulsory in two-thirds of the countries that have their own army.