Conscientious Objection index page

WRI homepage > Programme Areas > The Right to Refuse to Kill > Project brochure

War Resisters' International's Right to Refuse to Kill programme is described in detail in the project leaflet (also available in pdf). The page you are now reading is meant mainly as an index to online resources rather than as a comprehensive description of the project.

CO alerts

The CO-alert email list is specifically for alerts in cases of conscientious objection or antimilitarist action. Only the WRI office can post messages to this list. It is extremely important that many people subscribe to this list, so please help us promoting this list.

Subscribe to CO-alert through our mailing list info page.
The list contents are also posted to a news/archive page on this website.

co-discuss

The co-discuss mailing list is for general discussion of CO organising activities and strategies. It is open for postings from all list members. You can join the list or visit the archive through the mailing list info page.

co-update

CO-update is a low-traffic, read-only list with a single monthly posting in HTML and plain text. Use this link to subscribe or visit the archive index at the top of this page.

CO Update e-newsletter

CO-Update now comes in multiple language versions -- see the archive page for more information.

Web editions of the CO-Update newsletter use print-media stylesheets to save paper when printing to A4; this does not affect the screen display.

15 May: International Conscientious Objectors' Day

History of International CO Day English | French | German | Spanish
International CO Day index page (contains links to resources for current and past ICOD campaigns)
ICOD 2007 information page: English | español

1 December: Prisoners for Peace Day

Every year since 1956, War Resisters' International has compiled a list of those imprisoned for refusing military service or for nonviolently opposing war preparations, and has encouraged its supporters to write to prisoners or otherwise support their witness for nonviolence.

The 2007 Prisoners for Peace Honour Roll focuses on Turkey: the list and feature articles can be read here in English, Spanish, German, and French.
A separate Prisoners for Peace Day homepage can be consulted for information and links for the themes used in the current and past years' campaign packs.
Read a history of the Prisoners for Peace list here or visit the Broken Rifle/ Prisoners for Peace index page for the Prisoners for Peace list and campaign pack for the current or previous years.

Other CO campaigns

Support Colombian Conscientious Objectors (2006-)

Despite 50 years of armed conflict, a new movement for conscientious objection is emerging in Colombia. These pages contains links to CO testimony and to recent WRI alerts and reports on the situation of conscientious objectors in Colombia.

Support Turkish Conscientious Objectors (2005-)

The situation of conscientious objectors in Turkey seems to become more difficult since the arrest of Mehmet Tarhan on 8 April 2005 in Izmir. This means that international support for Turkish COs is more important. These pages contains links to CO testimony and to recent WRI alerts and reports on the situation of conscientious objectors in Turkey.

Support Israeli Conscientious Objectors (2004-)

Conscientious objection to military service -- by Israeli women and men, in the reserves or the regular forces -- is only accepted in exceptional cases.
(in cooperation with New Profile and Connection e.v.)

Conscientious objection in war: Iraq crisis resources (2003-)

Information for members of the UK armed forces
Information for members of the US armed forces
Background paper on Iraqi deserters and objectors | English | deutsch | español | français | italiano

Press releases, documents, and reports

2008

Call for Greece, Cyprus and Turkey to recognise international standards on the right to conscientious objection (11/04/2008)

2007

Movimiento de rechazo al SMO y resistencia al militarismo en Chile (1990-2007) (17/10/2007)
Table showing all 62 declared conscientious objectors in Turkey from 1989-2007, with links to statements from 23 of them (26/09/2007)
CO and the British armed forces: report to UN Human Rights Committee (21/09/2007)
Freedom of Information request: index of documents on the right to CO in the United Kingdom armed forces (19/09/2007)
Experiences of conscientious objection movements in the world Andreas Speck / Rudi Friedrich, for CO conference in Istanbul on 26/27 January, 2007(27/03/2007)
Situación de la militarización y la objeción de conciencia en Colombia by Acción Colectiva por la Objeción de Conciencia en Colombia (12/03/2007)

2006

General panorama of Conscientious Objection in the World, presented at the "International Meeting of Solidarity for Conscientious Objection in Colombia", Bogota, 18-20 July 2006 (21/07/2006)
Solidarity with war resistance in Turkey, presented at "Unarmed Resistance: the transnational factor", Coventry, 15 July 2006 (21/07/2006)
Hearing on Iraq war resisters, 14 March 2006 at the European Parliament in Strasbourg English | Deutsch: also contains index to other articles (added 15/03/2006)
Military Service in the United States of America: Issues of Conscience and Human Rights English | español (added 13/03/2006)

2005

WRI Council Statement on Conscientious Objection in Finland English (added 02/07/2005)
WRI Council Statement on Turkish Conscientious Objector Mehmet Tarhan English (added 02/07/2005)
Statement on the trial of conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan English | español (added 11/06/2005)
Joint statement by EBCO, Amnesty International, and WRI: Greece has broken European consensus on conscientious objection (added 31/05/2005)
Support Finnish Conscientious Objectors: Lobby the Finnish Minister of Labour on the right to conscientious objection English (added 19/05/2005)
Refusal in the international war resistance movement English (added 02/05/2005)
Documentation on conscientious objection in Turkey English (added 28/04/2005)
Eritrea: Conscientious Objection and Desertion English (173k; added 25/03/2005)
Report for the Human Rights Committee in relation to Greece and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: English | español (added 09/02/2005; 06/05/2005)

2004

Info page on Greek CO Lazaros Petromelidis English | French | Spanish (added 14/12/2004)
WRI receives Friedrich-Siegmund Schultze award for CO work multilingual index (added 29/09/2004)
Balkan regional conference on conscientious objection and civilian service Index in English and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (added 27/09/2004)
Imprisonment of Conscientious Objectors in Finland: Report for the Human Rights Committee in relation to Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights English (added 27/09/2004)
Statement on 15 July 2004 Korean Supreme Court decision on CO English | Korean (added 15/07/2004)
Support Israeli Conscientious Objectors (WRI/New Profile/Connection e.v. campaign) English | Deutsch
The Broken Rifle No.61: Chile and Latin America English | Deutsch | español (added 27/04/2004)
Briefing Paper on Conscientious Objection and Human Rights issues in the Republic of Korea English (50k with 269k appendices; added 02/04/2004)
An important step for conscientious objectors in Greece [Lazaros Petromelidis decision] English | Deutsch | elleniko (added 19/02/2004)
Conscience on Trial: Court martials against conscientious objectors in Israel English (added 15/02/2004)
Conscientious objection in Greece English | Deutsch | español | elleniko (added 12/02/2004)
International Conscientious Objectors' Day 2004 English (added 12/02/2004)
Israel: 5 COs jailed to deter a generation of conscripts English | español (added 12/01/2004)

2003

The Russian Federation: Human Rights and the Armed Forces; report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee EN English [115k] (05/09/2003)
The Right to Conscientious Objection to Military Service in selected member states of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe English [50k] (10/07/2003)
Presentation at the International Conference on "Conscientious Objection to Military Service", Seoul English (March 2003)
Conscientious objection to military service in Israel: an unrecognised human right English | Deutsch | español [70k]

2002

New Profile and War Resisters' International submit repeated imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Israel to United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention English (21/09/2002)
Conscientious Objection in Yugoslavia - the cases of Igor Seke and Goran Miladinovic English | Deutsch (external) (updated 13/09/2002)

Conscription and Conscientious Objection Documentation (CONCODOC)

CONCODOC is a project of War Resisters' International and its member organisations, which has produced two reference documents -- Refusing to bear arms: A worldwide survey of conscription and conscientious objection to military service, and A Conscientious Objector's Guide to the UN Human Rights System.

Refusing to Bear Arms online

The Refusing to Bear Arms report is now freely available here.

Additionally, you can read Spanish translations of the entries for 32 Latin American and Caribbean countries on this site through the Spanish-language index page.

The Conscientious Objector's Guide to the UN Human Rights System (WRI/CONCODOC, 2000)

HTML version [143k plus 93k appendix]. This version is extensively cross-referenced, allowing for easy navigation between keywords.
PDF version [873k]

Print editions of the above titles

Visit the pages listed below for more information and for order forms.