Conscientious objection

Issues

Cyprus still maintains conscription. The recognition of the right to conscientious
objection does not meet international standards.
The right to conscientious objection is not recognised for professional soldiers, nor for
serving conscripts.

Military recruitment
Conscription

Conscription
is enshrined in Article 129 of the 1960 Constitution, according to
which "(1) The Republic shall have an army of two thousand
men of whom sixty per cent shall be Greeks and forty per cent shall
be Turks.

December 1st is Prisoners for Peace Day. On this day (and every day) we encourage you to show solidarity with the activists and conscientious objectors imprisoned due to their peace work and their refusal to take arms and perform military service.

Here is a list of some of those currently in prison for their work for peace.

Conscientious objector Eran Aviv from Israel got his exemption from military service after spending 114 days behind bars.

Eran, 19, declared his conscientious objection in May 2021, stating his refusal to serve in the Israeli military due to his opposition to the occupation. Since his refusal, Eran has spent a total of 114 days in military prison in six separate terms. 

On 7 October, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued a decision that Azerbaijan had violated the human rights of two Jehovah's Witness young men, Emil Mehdiyev and Vahid Abilov, who had been convicted in 2018 for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience.

Read the stories of Shahar Peretz,18, and Eran Aviv, 19, who are currently serving time in prison for their conscientious objection to military service. Shahar and Eran describe how young people in Israel, from an early age, are habituated through school and the wider society to their joining the IDF, and their refusal to take part in the occupation and the cycle of violence.

Issues Finland maintains conscription. The length of the alternative non-military (civilian) service is punitive. Those refusing the military and the (punitive) alternative service, including total objectors, are punished with prison sentences usually transformed to home detention under monitoring. The right to conscientious objection is not recognised for professional soldiers. There is lack of information about the non-military (civilian) service in the call-ups.

Ukrainian conscientious objector and journalist Ruslan Kotsaba will be on trial again on September 20th. Support Kotsaba with your actions ahead of his trial! War Resisters’ International (WRI), European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO) and Connection e.V. are calling for international actions ahead of Kotsaba’s next hearing, scheduled to take place on September 20th.

Ahead of the hearing before the Council of State, Greece’s Supreme Administrative Court, of the case of Charis Vasileiou, a conscientious objector whose application has been rejected by the Deputy Minister of National Defence, Amnesty International, Connection e.V., the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO-BEOC), the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) and War Resisters’ International (WRI) call on the Greek authorities to annul the decision of rejection

Ukrainian conscientious objector and journalist Ruslan Kotsaba has had another trial today (5th August). His trial will continue on 20th September.

The Conscientious Objection Association (Turkey) has released a new report on the rights violations of conscientious objectors (COs) in Turkey. The report, released this Monday, includes in-depth interviews with COs, explains ongoing cases of COs, and includes recommendations to the Turkish government and to the international mechanisms regarding the issue.

In a new judgement of 20 July 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found a violation of Article 9 (the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the European Convention of Human Rights, in the case of an Armenian conscientious objector from Nagorno-Karabakh who had been sentenced and imprisoned for refusing to perform military service.