CO UPDATE

Editorial

Welcome to No 28 of co-update -- not a joke for 1 April, but full of serious information.

Following the impressive conference on conscientious objection in Istanbul in January 2007 (see co-update No 27, Feb/Mar 2007), we have little good news from Turkey in this issue. The case of imprisoned conscientious objector Halil Savda, spokesperson for the Istanbul CO platform, demands urgent attention, and War Resisters' International calls for an international day of action on the day of his next trial and likely sentencing - 12 April 2007.

Meanwhile, War Resisters' International is working closely with the Colombian National Assembly on Conscientious Objection in the preparation of activities for International Conscientious Objectors' Day - more information below and soon also on WRI's website. These activities will be followed by a speaking tour of Colombian COs to Europe in the first half of June - please contact the WRI office urgently if you want to host an event.

Andreas Speck

Upcoming events

15 May - International Conscientious Objectors' Day

International Conscientious Objectors' Day 2007 will focus on the situation of conscientious objection in Colombia.

The programme includes the following:

• An integration activity on the 11th of may between all international and national delegates
• An antimilitarist concert on the 12th of May
• A meeting of the National Assembly of CO and the international delegates the 13th and 14th of May to evaluate and programm the strategies of the international solidarity network and to prepare the nonviolent actions for the 15th of May.
• Nonviolent actions in various places of Medellín on the 15th of May
• Evaluation on the 16th of May and the possibility for the international delegates to travel to other regions.

Please contact WRI's Right to Refuse to Kill programme for more information.

WRI Seminar and Council 2007 in Israel

The annual WRI seminar and Council meeting will take place in Israel in 2007, probably in August. The theme of the seminar will be on militarism and gender. Please contact the WRI Office if you are interested in participating, and want to be kept informed.

More information will soon be available on the WRI website.

CO-Update

Monthly email newsletter of WRI's Right to Refuse to Kill Programme

War Resisters' International, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX, Britain; tel +44-20-7278 4040; fax +44-20-7278 0444; email co-update-editor@wri-irg.org

Subscribe/ Unsubscribe

To subscribe, you can go to the website of this list, or send an email.

To unsubscribe, send an email to co-update-unsubscribe

@lists.wri-irg.org.

Donate to WRI!

War Resisters' International depends on your donations to be able to carry out its work. Donate to WRI online now at wri-irg.org/en/donate-en.htm.

Turkey: Another objector on the path to 'civil death'

Halil Savda faces second sentence for insistence on disobedience

With a second trial for "insistance on disobedience" (Article 88) presently going on, Turkish conscientious objector Halil Savda is well on the path to what the European Court of Human Rights had called 'civil death' in its judgement on the case of Turkish fellow objector Osman Murat Ülke.

The background to Halil Savda's case is appalling:

1. Halil Savda was called up for military service in 1996. At first he followed this call-up order, and finished his basic training. However, he then did not follow an order to report to a different military unit. He was arrested in 1997, and the State Security Court in Adana sentenced Halil Savda to 15 years imprisonment for "membership in an illegal organisation". The court found him guilty of being a member of PKK, which Halil Savda denied. Halil Savda had been arrested for the same reason in 1993, but had been released after 1 month. During this time of imprisonment he was repeatedly tortured.
2. On 18 November 2004, Halil Savda was released from prison, and transferred to the gendarmerie in Antep, because of desertion from military service in 1996. He was kept in an isolation cell for six days. On 25 November, he was transferred to the military unit in Corlu-Tekirdag, where he declared his conscientious objection to military service.
3. On 16 December 2004, the Corlu Military Court ordered the detention of Halil Savda for "insistence on disobedience".
4. On 28 December 2004, Halil Savda was released from prison after a trial session, but ordered to report to the military unit in Corlu-Tekirdag. Halil Savda did not follow this order, in went home instead.
5. On 4 January 2005, the Corlu Military Court sentenced Halil Savda in absentia to 3 months and 15 days of imprisonment. Halil Savda appealed against this sentence.
6. On 13 August 2006, the Military Appeal Court cancelled the decision of the Corlu Military Court from 4 January 2005 because of errors in the conduct of the trial.
7. On 7 December 2006, Halil Savda reported to the retrial for his conscientious objection, after the decision of the Military Appeal Court from 13 August 2006. The court ordered his detention during the trial, and Halil Savda was arrested in court.
8. On 25 January 2007, the Corlu Military Court ordered the release of Halil Savda from prison, but at the same time gave order to transfer him to the 8th tank brigade in Tekirdag. There, he was given the order to put on a uniform, which he refused. He was again arrested and charged with "insistence on disobedience". During his detention, he suffered from heavy abuse by four guards, and had to spent three days in an isolation cell, dressed only in his underwear and without any facilities to sit or sleep.
9. On 15 March 2007, the Corlu Military Court sentenced Halil Savda to 15 ½ month imprisonment on charges of desertion and disobedience, based on his desertion in 1996 and his refusal to obey orders in 2004.

In an open letter to the judge of the Corlu Military Court, dated 26 March 2007, War Resisters' International wrote:

Already the sentence from 15 March constitutes a violation of Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion), both of which Turkey has signed and ratified.

The new trial is not only a violation of Article 9 ECHR and Article 18 ICCPR, it also constitutes a violation of Article 14 para 7 of the ICCPR, which states that "no one shall be liable to be tried or punished again for an offence for which he has already been finally convicted or acquitted in accordance with the law and penal procedure of each country". The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention made this clear in its opinion 36/1999, on the very similar case of conscientious objector Osman Murat Ülke: "The Working Group is of the opinion that there is, since, after the initial conviction, the person exhibits, for reasons of conscience, a constant resolve not to obey the subsequent summons, so that there is "one and the same action entailing the same consequences and, therefore, the offence is the same and not a new one" (see Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic, 18 September 1999, No. 2, No. 130/95). Systematically to interpret such a refusal as being perhaps provisional (selective) would, in a country where the rule of law prevails, be tantamount to compelling someone to change his mind for fear of being deprived of his liberty if not for life, at least until the date at which citizens cease to be liable to military service."

War Resisters' International calls for an international day of action on 12 April in solidarity with Halil Savda on the day of his trial, and likely sentencing. More information on this day of action is available at http://wri-irg.org/co/cases/savda-070412-en.htm.

South Korea: more CO cases for UN Human Rights Committee

Oh Tae-yang and ten others South Korean conscientious objectors will file a petition with the United Nations arguing that their convictions by the Korean government violated their freedom of conscience.

O Taeyang is a pacifist and buddhist. He declared his conscientious objection publicly on 17 December 2001. On 7 February 2002, a court decided that he would be not imprisoned while awaiting trial - this was the first time in any conscientious objection case in South Korea. On 19 June 2002 his trial was adjourned until after a decision of the Constitutional Court, but the case was reopened on 17 May 2004. On 30 August 2004 he was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months imprisonment, and arrested in court. He was released from prison on 30 November 2005.

The new individual complaints to the UN Human Rights Committee follow the decision of the Committee from November 2006 in the cases of objectors Yoon Yeo-Bum and Choi Myung-Jin. The Committee decided "that the facts as found by the Committee reveal, in respect of each author violations by the Republic of Korea of article 18, paragraph 1, of the Covenant.

In accordance with article 2, paragraph 3 (a), of the Covenant, the State party is under an obligation to provide the authors with an effective remedy, including compensation. The State party is under an obligation to avoid similar violations of the Covenant in the future."

Choi Jung-min, the head of the activist group Korea Solidarity for Conscientious Objection (KSCO), said Sunday, "The conviction of 11 objectors who refused mandatory military service because of conscience beliefs is against the basic principle of freedom of religion and conscience in the UN Charter, and we decided to file a petition with the UN." Choi said that the objectors did not refuse military service because of religious issues.

According to the same report in Chosun, an official from the Ministry of Justice said that discussion is under way about granting last year's objectors a pardon but a conclusion has not yet been reached.

However, a pardon of Yoon Yeo-Bum and Choi Myung-Jin will not solve the problem, as the 11 new cases show. It also does not address a very important part of the decision of the Human Rights Committee - that "the State party is under an obligation to avoid similar violations of the Covenant in the future". This can only be addressed with a legal recognition of the right to conscientious objection.

Sources: Conscientious Objectors to Complain to UN, Chosun.com, 19 March 2007, co-update No 4, December 2004, CCPR/C/88/D/1321-1322/2004, 23 January 2007

War Resisters' International visit to Russia

Late in February, two War Resisters' International activists visited several groups in Russia - from Moscow to Yekaterinburg. During the course of the visit, WRI met with a range of anti-war and human rights groups, to discuss the situation in Russia, especially regarding the right to conscientious objection, and activism against war and militarism.

Although a law on conscientious objection came into force on 1 January 2004, the implementation of the law leads to a range of problems, which confirm the concerns raised by War Resisters' International in its report from September 2003, and by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in its concluding observations from 6 November 2003. The Human Rights Committee then noted that "the law does not appear to guarantee that the tasks to be performed by conscientious objectors are compatible with their convictions".

War Resisters' International talked to a number of conscientious objectors serving in substitute service in the Kazan gunpowder factory, which underlines these concerns. Not only have several objectors initially been required to serve in the gunpowder production itself - under the disguise that the gunpowder is being used for civilian fireworks - it can also be questioned if any service in this factory can be classified as "genuinely civilian", as required by international standards.

The conditions under which most groups in Russia have to work are more than worrying. For those groups who wish to work as registered NGOs, the regulations of the new NGO law impose bureaucratic requirements, which only larger organisations are able to comply with. All groups face harassment by police, secret service, and authorities in the carrying out of their activities. In addition, some groups face violent attacks from fascist youth groups, which in recent years saw several people dead or seriously injured. Most recently, on 31 March Stanislav Korepanov died of his injuries following a violent confrontation with fascists in Izhevsk on 27 March 2007.

However, on a more positive note, it was encouraging to meet groups of young and not-so-young activists in Moscow, St Petersburg, Nizhni Novgorod, Kazan, and Yekaterinburg. Although many of the groups complained about a lack of information on issues such as nonviolence and antimilitarism, they make up for this with enthusiasm and creativity. Still, many of these groups only represents a tiny minority on the margins of Russian society, which is becoming increasingly nationalist and racist.

Unrelated to this, the spring draft in Russia began on 2 April, with the first call-up to a reduced military service of 18 months, instead of two years. In 2008, the service will be shorted even further to 12 months. However, this comes at the price of a reduction in exemptions from military service for health and other reasons - meaning that the military authorities aim to recruit a higher proportion of young men at conscription age than in the past. In addition, the Russian military aims to recruit more contract soldiers in an effort to modernise and professionalise the military. However, many of these contract soldiers are conscripts are forced into extending their term of service by signing contracts, often under duress. The Soldiers' Mothers' Committees also report random arrests and harassment of men at conscription age, often in order to extract bribes for their release, and not necessarily with the aim to recruit.

Jordan to reintroduce conscription

DefenseNews.com reported on 8 March 2007 that Jordan, which suspended military conscription in 1999, decided on 6 March to resume compulsory service at a more limited scale and with the objective of improving the capabilities of the country’s labor force.

The bill, which has been endorsed by the government and will be sent to parliament for approval, would restore conscription this year for 18-year-old men, who will serve for three months instead of the previous term of two years. According to other sources, the law will also include provisions for women. Boys will receive their training in military camps, while girls will do their service in universities, according to remarks made by Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit.

“This law was more or less a response to public demand,” said retired Maj. Gen. Suleiman Al-Manaseer, a Jordanian defence expert. “In addition to receiving basic boot-camp training, the conscripts will receive essential vocational training that would help them find jobs afterwards.”

In February, Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit announced plans to restore conscription “to bolster discipline and the spirit of nationalism in the minds of youths.”

The return to conscription is not expected to affect procurement spending. Conscripts are paid very little.

“Feedback from public with regard to the new law has been positive,” said Raed Qaqish, a member of the Jordanian Parliament. “It is for a short period only, and will not affect young men going to school or college and will not strip the market of needed workforce.”

Qaqish said the conscription would reduce unemployment and boost national unity among Jordanian youth as regional tensions and divisions rise.

Jordan scrapped conscription five years after signing a peace treaty with Israel, converting its army to a professional force of around 100,000 troops.

“This new law will strengthen Jordan and the monarchy,” said Al-Manaseer, former commander of Jordan’s Special Operations.

It is not known if the new regulations for conscription will include a right to conscientious objection.

Sources: DefenseNews, 8 March 2007, Jordan Information Center, 15 March 2007 and 21 March 2007

Recent co-alerts

In the previous month, the WRI office issued the following co-alerts:

(a full archive of co-alerts is available at wri-irg.org/news/alerts)

• TURKEY: 12 April 2007: Day of action in support of imprisoned conscientious objector Halil Savda 30 March 2007
• CHILE: Six conscientious objectors in hiding 26 March 2007
• TURKEY: Conscientious objector Halil Savda sentenced to 15 months imprisonment 20 March 2007
• TURKEY: Conscientious objector Halil Savda awaiting trial on 15 March 2007 07 March 2007
• USA: Conscientious objector Agustin Aguayo sentenced to 8 months imprisonment 07 March 2007