CO-Update

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.

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:

Halil Savda was called up for military service in 1996. At first he followed this call-up order, and finished his basic training.

Late in February, two War Resisters' International activists visited several groups in Russia - from Moscow to Yekaterinburg.

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.

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.

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

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 nonv