CO-Update

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Issue number
109
February 2025

Webinar: 3 years after the start of the war in Ukraine

Poster for the webinar on the 3rd year of the war in Ukraine

Three years ago, Russia attacked Ukraine, resulting in devastating consequences. Yet, there are also hundreds of thousands of individuals in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine who have refused to participate in the war. What is the state of their right to conscientious objection? What about their protection? Join us in this discussion with peace activists and campaigners from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. 

"I believed I would find protection in Europe" - Joint Statement

Anonymous deserter. Photo collage by Connection e.V.

On 16 February 2023, in the resolution ‘One year of Russia’s invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine’, the EU Parliament demanded that Member States provide protection for conscientious objectors and deserters fleeing Belarus, Russia, and occupied Ukraine. However, this is not guaranteed in most Member States.

UN warns of rising child recruitment in armed conflicts

Two girls seen from behind, one wearing a t-shirt that says 'Convention of the Rights of the Child

In a statement marking the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN emphasized that 2024 saw a concerning increase in the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts.

Growing militarism: Lithuania considers women's conscription

Soldiers lined up, with a woman in the front. The image is in black and white, except for her uniform and a visible Lithuanian flag on it

Lithuania is discussing expanding its military conscription to include women as part of an "effort to strengthen national defense and make conscription universal in the future." Giedrimas Jeglinskas, the chairman of the Seimas Committee on National Security and Defense, expressed that universal conscription is inevitable.

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