Right to Refuse to Kill

In October 2012, Hülya Üçpinar addressed the United Nationas Human Rights Committee on behalf of War Resisters' International.

CCPR/C/TUR/CO/1
1 November 2012

(...)

10. The Committee is concerned about the discrimination and alleged acts of violence against people on the basis of their gender identity and sexual orientation, and about the social stigmatization and social exclusion of LGBT persons in terms of their access to health services, education, or to their treatment in the context of the regulations concerning compulsory military service and while serving in the military. (arts. 2 and 26)

Joint press release from War Resisters' International, IHD, International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Istanbul LGBTT, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and the Centre for Civil and Political Rights

Geneva 17-18 October 2012.

On 20 January 2013, the citizens of Austria will be able to decide on the future of conscription in the country in a referendum. At present, it seems impossible to predict the outcome of the referendum - opinion polls differ, and are generally close, with 51:49 results not uncommon - in favour or against conscription.

Andreas Speck,
War Resisters' International

1.
Introduction

I
want to thank Nikos Chrysogelos MEP and EBCO for giving me the chance to comment on EBCO's annual report to the Committee on Civil
Liberties of the European Parliament.

Queer and antimilitarism is the theme of this Broken Rifle, and we hope this will create some debate within WRI and beyond. Most articles have been written especially for this issue, with the exception of Tamara K Nopper's article on Don't Ask Don't Tell, which we republish from Against Equality: Don’t Ask to Fight Their Wars. Don't Ask Don't Tell was finally repealed in December 2010, but this does not make her arguments less important.

As you may already know, Andreas Speck, who has been the Right to Refuse to Kill programme worker at the WRI office since 2001, has decided to move on, and will be leaving the post at the end of this year. In his time in the WRI office, Andreas has shaped the programme, and to a great extent - WRI as a whole, and has done an outstanding job. But we'll have the opportunity to thank Andreas for all that he's done properly at a later occasion. For now we would like to introduce to you the new Right to Refuse to Kill programme worker, who will join the WRI office staff in September.

After we advertised the vacancy earlier in the year, we received an unprecedented number of applications - over 80 - many of them from excellent candidates. However, one candidate impressed us more than all the others, with her intelligence, personality and deep understanding of the many complex issues that are at stake in WRI's work. Her name is Hannah Brock, and let her now briefly present herself to you.

Talk by Andreas Speck, staff at War Resisters' International, at the launch of Cynthia Cockburn's book ‘Antimilitarism: Political and Gender Dynamics of Peace Movements’ at Housmans Bookshop, 21 April 2012

First of all I want to thank Cynthia for giving me the opportunity to say something today, although I haven't read the whole book yet.

On 12 April 2012, Emad El Dafrawi declared his conscientious objection to military service, and thus became the second publicly known conscientious objector in the country, after Maikel Nabil Sanad. In his conscientious objection declaration, Emad El Dafrawi writes: "I’m pacifist and anti-militarist, which means that the military activities including holding weapons and using violence contradict my beliefs. I’m a conscientious objector to the military service. I refuse to obey military orders and I consider all wars to be crimes."

Yesterday, on 12 April 2012, Emad El Dafrawi declared his conscientious objection to military service, and thus became the second publicly known conscientious objector in the country, after Maikel Nabil Sanad.

Andreas Speck, War Resisters' International

Presentation in Seoul, 21 March 2012

In 2004, both, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court denied that conscientious objection is a human right, protected under the Korean constitution. Although the National Human Rights Commission later recommended the recognition of the right to conscientious objection, this did not lead to a legal change. The election of President Lee Myung-bak put an end to all hopes for legislative change.

The Venice Commission, the Council of Europe's "European Commission for Democracy through Law" was asked by the Armenian government to comment on its draft law to amend the Alternative Service Law of the country.

The European Commission for Democracy through Law, better known as the Venice Commission, is the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional matters.