Right to Refuse to Kill

Every year on 15th May, International Conscientious Objection Day (CO Day), we organise solidarity with conscientious objectors (COs) and draw attention to their resistance to war. This year, together with our partners, we are launching the #RefuseWar action, as part of which you can submit your statements of solidarity with COs on our interactive map. 

In late March a Lviv Region court sentenced Protestant conscientious objector Serhy Stadnitsky to a 3-year jail term for refusing mobilisation on grounds of conscience. "I don't want to kill people," he told Forum 18, adding that "of course" he would be willing to perform alternative civilian service. Two days later, a Sumy Region court handed a Jehovah's Witness a similar sentence. Both are due to go to prison if their appeals fail. The one known prisoner, Dmytro Zelinsky, awaits a Supreme Court appeal on 13 June.

On the occasion of International Conscientious Objection Day, on 15th May 2024, we are launching the international action #RefuseWar! Join us with your statements against the militarisation of our societies and in solidarity with conscientious objectors worldwide.

EBCO, WRI, IFOR, and Connection e.V. welcome the landmark judgement of 12th March by the European Court of Human Rights in the case Kanatlı v Türkiye (application no. 18382/15). Murat Kanatlı is an EBCO Board Member and Co-coordinator of the Initiative for Conscientious Objection in Cyprus. 

On 5th April, Thai conscientious objector and human rights activist Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal declared his conscientious objection in front of a military conscription centre in Samut Prakarn province, openly stating his beliefs instead of complying with a call-up. Connection e.V., War Resisters’ International, the Movement for Conscientious Objectors, Conscientious Objection Watch, New Profile and World Without War are calling for conscientious objection to be fully recognised in Thailand.

In February 2024, the military regime ruling Myanmar announced that it was mobilizing a “People’s Military Service Law”. The law allows for the conscription of male citizens aged 18 to 35 and female citizens aged 18 to 27. The announcement has caused fear and loathing among the country’s 14 million young people and their families.

Two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) continues to reject Russian refusers and obliges them to return to Russia. Connection e.V. and PRO ASYL are alarmed by the BAMF’s reasoning, which ignores the risk for Russian refusers of being recruited in a war that violates international law.

On 7 February, Yerevan's Criminal Court of Appeal rejected 20-year-old Baptist conscientious objector Davit Nazaretyan's appeal against a two-year jail term imposed in October 2023 for refusing military service. The judges ignored European Court of Human Rights judgments, including against Armenia. Nazaretyan's applications for alternative civilian service were repeatedly denied. He is considering a further appeal and will not be required to go to jail until any further appeal is heard. The last known jailed conscientious objector was freed in 2021.

Yesterday, the Ukrainian parliament passed a draft amendment to the law on military service in its first reading that will change recruitment practices in the country. Connection e.V. and DFG-VK oppose this tightening and call on the Ukrainian government and the European Union to ensure the protection of conscientious objectors.

On Thursday (1st February), conscientious objector Halil Karapaşoğlu from North Cyprus (self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) was on trial at the Security Forces Court in the northern part of Nicosia for his refusal to respond to the reserve call. Halil's case has been postponed to 14th March, 2024.

EBCO, WRI, IFOR, and Connection e.V. denounce the continuing prosecutions and imprisonments of conscientious objectors in the northern, Turkish-occupied, part of Cyprus (the self-styled “Turkish Republic of North Cyprus”). The right to conscientious objection to military service should be urgently recognised in line with the European and international law and human rights standards.

Conscientious objector Mustafa Hürben from North Cyprus was imprisoned on Tuesday (23rd January) for his refusal to participate in the reserve service.