Ukraine

EBCO, WRI, IFOR and Connection e.V. strongly condemn the fact that Yurii Sheliazhenko, Executive Secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, has been formally charged by the Ukrainian government with the crime of “justification of Russian aggression” with sole “evidence” the Statement of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, adopted at the meeting on International Day of Peace 21 September 2022, entitled “Peace Agenda for Ukraine and the World”.

The International Peace Bureau (IPB) has announced our intention to nominate three exceptional organizations for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize: the Russian Movement of Conscientious Objectors, the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, and the Belarusian organization “Our House”. The decision to nominate these three organizations is a testament to their unwavering dedication in advocating for the right to conscientious objection to military service and promoting human rights and peace in their respective countries.

The German antimilitarist group Antimilitaristische Aktion Berlin (Antimilitarist Action Berlin) have found evidence that Berlin’s domestic intelligence agency (“Verfassungsschutz Berlin”) is monitoring their activities.

Yesterday, 25 May 2023, at the Supreme Court of Ukraine in Kyiv, the court of cassation overturned the conviction of prisoner of conscience Vitaly Alekseenko, and ordered his immediate release from prison and his retrial in the court of first instance.

Protection and asylum for all those from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine who refuse military service Action week around the International Conscientious Objection Day

War is a crime against humanity. We condemn Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine, which is contrary to international law and has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries and millions of refugees. Those who are sent to the front by their governments are particularly affected.

EBCO, Connection e.V., IFOR, and WRI strongly denounce the reported detention by the Russian authorities of large numbers of soldiers and mobilised civilians in a number of centres in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine, because they refuse to participate in the war. Russian authorities are reportedly using threats, psychological abuse and torture to force those detained to return to the front.

Accuracy International (AI) is a British company based in Portsmouth, specialising in the production of high-end, hand built, precision sniper rifles and associated equipment. Weapons manufactured by AI have been used extensively in conflict zones, including states accused of human rights abuses.

EBCO and WRI call on the Ukrainian Government to release conscientious objector Vitaly Alekseenko immediately and unconditionally.

The webinar series “Conscientious objection to military service in times of war” continues with a new session focusing on the war in Ukraine. The webinar on 3rd March (2pm Geneva, 3pm Kyiv, 4pm Moscow) will host campaigners of conscientious objection from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. 

In the framework of the #ObjectWarCampaign (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine: Protection and asylum for deserters and conscientious objectors to military service), the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR), War Resisters’ International (WRI), the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO), and Connection e.V.

Ivano-Frankivsk police told Protestant conscientious objector Vitaly Alekseenko "to be ready to be taken to prison" on 20 February. He lost his appeal against his one-year jail term on 16 January. "The court gave me the decision to take him to prison. It's my job to carry this out," the police officer told Forum 18. His would be the first wartime conscientious objector jailing. "Unfortunately, the right to alternative service does not extend to martial law," said Viktor Yelensky of the State Service for Ethnic Policies and Freedom of Conscience.

On the 20th of February 2023, we - Nash Dom, Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, Connection e.V., Federation for Social Defence, European Bureau for Conscientious Objection, International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Agir pour la paix and War Resisters’ International – call for demonstrations outside Belarusian embassies across Europe. These protests will draw attention to the danger of Belarus joining Russia by sending military personnel to attack Ukraine.