Right to Refuse to Kill

18-year-old Emil Mehdiyev repeatedly expressed willingness to perform a civilian alternative to compulsory military service. Instead, he was given a criminal conviction, a one-year suspended prison term, and will be under probation for one year. Seven similar criminal cases against other young men are with Prosecutor's Offices.

On 3rd July, the Israeli army discharged Ayelet Brachfeld who refused to be drafted due to her opposition to the occupation. Brachfeld spent 100 days in total -in four prison terms- behind the bars before she got her exemption by the army's conscientious objection committee.

The organisers of the conference, Eritrea and the Ongoing Refugee Crisis, has published a new booklet: Eritrea: A Country Under the Sway of a Dictatorship. The publication provides a comprehensive overview of the situation in the country, the situation of Eritrean refugees in Europe and elsewhere, as well as introducing their initiatives and activities.

On 28th June, in a landmark decision, South Korea’s Constitutional Court ordered the government to introduce alternative service of a civilian nature for conscientious objectors.

During the 38th session of the Human Rights Council held in Geneva, International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) organized a side event, co-sponsored by War Resisters International, focusing on the causes of migration from Eritrea and the struggles of Eritrean refugees.

Last Thursday, in a landmark decision, South Korea’s Constitutional Court ordered the government to introduce alternative service of a civilian nature for conscientious objectors. The court ruled that Article 5 of the Military Service Act (MSA), which fails to provide alternative forms of national service, is unconstitutional and obligated lawmakers to change the law by the end of 2019.

Last Thursday, in a landmark decision, South Korea’s Constitutional Court ordered the government to introduce alternative service of a civilian nature for conscientious objectors.

Human Rights Council, 38th Session, 29th June 2018

Agenda Item 6 – General Debate

Speaker: Derek BRETT

Contact: derek.brett@ifor.org

Last September my organization joined a joint statement under this item drawing attention to the extent to which freedom of religion or belief was under-represented in UPR recommendations.

Connection e.V., Förderverein PRO ASYL, Eritrean Law Society (ELS), Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Human Rights (EMDHR), Europe External Policy Advisors (EEPA), and War Resisters’ International have published a new booklet, Eritrea: A Country Under the Sway of a Dictatorship. The booklet provides a comprehensive overview of the situation in Eritrea, the situation of Eritrean refugees in Europe and elsewhere, as well as introducing their initiatives and activities.

We are looking to hire a new worker for our Right to Refuse to Kill programme, which supports conscientious objectors (COs) and CO solidarity organisations around the world. The new worker will be based in Colombia, and run the Right to Refuse to Kill (RRtK) Programme alongside the other staff in London. This will include planning WRI’s International Assembly in Colombia in 2019.

Bearing in mind the scandalous fact that despite numerous appeals, Greek authorities have, for several decades, violated the human right of conscientious objection to military service, the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection and War Resisters’ International support the renewed call for a boycott of the Conscience Examination Committee (the special advisory committee which examines applications for conscientious objector status), which has been issued by the Association of Greek Conscientious Objectors.

Download this report as a pdf.

Military service, conscientious objection and related issues

Updated June 2018

Basic Information

HISTORY: Lithuania seceded from the Soviet Union in 1991, and was granted UN membership the same year.

POPULATION (November 2017, estimated1): 2,824,000