Right to Refuse to Kill

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has opened a call for inputs to inform its upcoming report on conscientious objection to military service, which will be presented to the Human Rights Council at its 62nd session in June 2026. The deadline for submissions is 15 January 2026.

The trial of Turkish Cypriot conscientious objector Hasan Rahvancıoğlu, who is being prosecuted for refusing to comply with a mobilisation call, was held on November 27 at the military court in Nicosia.

Connection e.V., EBCO, IFOR and WRI strongly condemn the prosecution of conscientious objector Hasan Rahvancıoğlu, whose trial is scheduled for 27 November 2025 before the Security Forces Court in the self-declared state of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. This is a clear violation of the fundamental human right to conscientious objection to military service, and we call on the authorities in the "TRNC" to immediately dismiss all charges.

A group of former South African conscientious objectors — who publicly refused to serve in the apartheid army — have issued a letter of solidarity with Israeli activists refusing military service. Their message draws on their own history of resistance to institutional violence and extends it to today’s struggles in Israel and Palestine.

The Movement for a Non-Violent Alternative (MAN) in Lyon, together with the Raja Tikva Association, is hosting two young Israeli conscientious objectors, Itamar and Soul, on a tour of France from 13 to 28 November 2025.

Daniel Schultz, a 19-year-old from Israel, has been sentenced to 20 days in military prison for refusing mandatory military service. In a public statement released before her sentencing, Schultz wrote, “I’m refusing because it is the most human thing to do. In the face of babies starved to death, entire villages violently uprooted, and civilians sent to torture camps — there is no other choice.”

On 10–11 September, hearings took place in the case of Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, the Thai activist and conscientious objector who is on trial for refusing military service. Netiwit’s case is the first legal challenge in Thailand addressing conscientious objection.

Two recent reports within the UN system have reaffirmed that the right to conscientious objection to military service is an essential part of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

War Resisters’ International, in collaboration with Connection e.V., is organising a side event during the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council. The event will focus on the right to conscientious objection in times of war with contributions of conscientious objectors from Russia, Ukraine and Israel, alongside experts from international organisations.

We, the undersigned organisations, express our strong support for Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, Thailand’s first public conscientious objector, who faces trial at the Provincial Court of Samut Prakan on 10–11 September 2025. Netiwit’s refusal to serve, first declared as a teenager after the Thai military seized power in 2014, is a matter of conscience. His refusal is not only a deeply personal act of conscience, but also a stance that international law recognises and protects.

For the first time in nearly three years, a court is known to have convicted and imprisoned a young man for conscientious objection to compulsory military service on religious grounds. On 30 July, Yevlakh District Court in central Azerbaijan jailed 19-year-old Jehovah's Witness Elgiz Ibrahimov for one year in a general regime prison. He had told conscription officials of his readiness to perform alternative civilian service, but they handed his case to prosecutors for criminal prosecution.

A recent report, "I’ll Never Feel Secure: Undocumented and Exploited Myanmar Nationals in Thailand", by Human Rights Watch, highlights the struggles of Myanmar nationals in Thailand, many of whom fled forced military conscription under the 2024 National Service Law and continue to face severe human rights violations.