Right to Refuse to Kill

The International Peace Bureau (IPB) has announced our intention to nominate three exceptional organizations for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize: the Russian Movement of Conscientious Objectors, the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, and the Belarusian organization “Our House”. The decision to nominate these three organizations is a testament to their unwavering dedication in advocating for the right to conscientious objection to military service and promoting human rights and peace in their respective countries.

On 8 June, Azerbaijan's Supreme Court rejected Jehovah's Witness Seymur Mammadov's final appeal against his conviction for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. Initially jailed, he is now halfway through a one-year suspended sentence. He is considering an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, which found in favour of seven conscientious objectors jailed or given suspended sentences earlier. The ECtHR judgments "called for legislative action on civilian service as an alternative to military service".

The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO), War Resisters’ International (WRI), the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) and Connection e.V. (Germany) strongly condemn the listing of the Russian Movement of Conscientious Objectors as “Foreign Agent”.

Almost 90 anti-war initiatives, including War Resisters' International, have appealed to the European Parliament and the member states of the European Union to protect Russian conscientious objectors, deserters and those who surrendered or were captured. Read the appeal below.

CONSCIENCE AND PEACE TAX INTERNATIONAL

ORAL STATEMENT

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL,  53nd SESSION

ITEM 4:  INTERACTIVE DIALOGUE WITH THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON  BELARUS

5th July, 2023

Delivered by Derek BRETT                                     Contact:

                                                                                    Derek BRETT

                                                                                    Main Representative to the UN, Geneva

On 4th July, European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO) and War Resisters' International (WRI) have made an urgent appeal to the Lithuanian immigration authorities regarding the case of  Ivan Strashkevich, a conscientious objector from Belarus who is currently seeking asylum in Lithuania.

17 years after the first ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in favour of a Turkish conscientious objector, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe now took a surprisingly straightforward stance.

"As of last Friday, June 23rd, the Movement of Conscientious Objectors has been officially labeled as a "foreign agent" in the Russian Federation. This action, while a demonstration of the effectiveness of our work, is fundamentally a discriminatory application of law that contradicts universally accepted human rights and freedoms."

Conscientious Objection Watch (Vicdani Ret Izleme) has published a new report about the still missing right of conscientious objection in Turkey, not only describing the prosecution and punishment but also the consequences for conscientious objectors to live in a state of civil death.

Yesterday, 25 May 2023, at the Supreme Court of Ukraine in Kyiv, the court of cassation overturned the conviction of prisoner of conscience Vitaly Alekseenko, and ordered his immediate release from prison and his retrial in the court of first instance.

Protection and asylum for all those from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine who refuse military service Action week around the International Conscientious Objection Day

War is a crime against humanity. We condemn Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine, which is contrary to international law and has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries and millions of refugees. Those who are sent to the front by their governments are particularly affected.

EBCO, Connection e.V., IFOR, and WRI strongly denounce the reported detention by the Russian authorities of large numbers of soldiers and mobilised civilians in a number of centres in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine, because they refuse to participate in the war. Russian authorities are reportedly using threats, psychological abuse and torture to force those detained to return to the front.