Editorial

Dear readers of CO-Update.

Welcome to this last issue of CO-Update for 2009 - a double issue for November and December. And there is a lot to report, mostly on the legal side. We start with the good news: Colombia's Constitutional Court recognised the right to conscientious objection in a recent judgement (see main story). This is an important step forward for conscientious objectors in Colombia, but it also means that there is a lot of work to be done now, to make sure that the implementation of this right is up to international standards.

Unfortunately, we also have bad news to report: the European Court of Human Rights seems to be completely out of step with international standards and rules on 27 October that there is no right to conscientious objection under the European Convention of Human Rights (see second story). This is extremely disappointing, and we can only hope that this judgement will be overturned on appeal.

Besides these two important legal developments, we have news on Venezuela, Germany, and other countries.

These recent judgements, and the developments in other countries, show how important WRI's work on the right to conscientious objection continues to be. On 1 December - Prisoners for Peace Day - we ask you to send greetings cards to those imprisoned for their conscientious objection all over the world - see further below.

To continue to do this work War Resisters' International depends on your donations. We therefore kindly ask you to donate to WRI online at wri-irg.org/en/donate-en.htm.

Andreas Speck