Conscientious objection

In Greece, first time in decades, the duration of the full military service in the Army has been increased from 9 to 12 months.

In March, the Administrative Court of the Republic of Cyprus has ruled in favour of a conscientious objector whose application had been rejected. Despite not touching upon crucial issues, the Court's decision in favour of the applicant CO illustrated the arbitrary way the applications for CO status are handled in Cyprus.

QUNO released the updated edition of their publication “International Standards on Conscientious Objection to Military Service”. The booklet includes information on the ways in which conscientious objection has been recognised and is protected under human rights treaties and mechanisms.

On 16 March the regime jailed another conscientious objector to military service for two years, the eighth such 2021 jailing. Like six of the other 2021 jailings, 21-year-old Jehovah's Witness Rasul Rozbayev is being punished for the second time on the same charges. The jailings ignore a December 2020 appeal by four UN special procedures. A March 2020 regime report to the UN insisted that defending the country "is the sacred duty of every citizen".

The webinar series Campaigning for Conscientious Objection to Military Service continue with a new event on 30th March (4pm BST, 5pm CEST, 6pm Cyprus and Israel). On this webinar, we will be focusing on public awareness with activists from Cyprus, Israel and Finland presenting their campaigns on conscientious objection.

European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO) has released its Annual Report: Conscientious Objection to Military Service in Europe 2020. The report covers updates on conscientious objection to military service across the region of Council of Europe (CoE) during 2020.

The second webinar of our series Campaigning for Conscientious Objection to Military Service is taking place on 24th February (1pm UTC). The event, organised by WRI, QUNO and IFOR, will focus on the United Nations (UN) human rights system with speakers from Geneva and Athens.

The Collective Action of Conscientious Objectors (Spanish: la Acción Colectiva de Objetores y Objetoras de Conciencia, or ACOOC) is a social organization which, based around the concepts of nonviolence and conscientious objection, supports alternatives to Colombian militarism, militarization, and the patriarchy, via legal, public campaigning, and educational strategies. Since 2006, ACOOC has worked alongside young people and their communities with to cultivate a peaceful culture.

Journalist, conscientious objector, and a member of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement Ruslan Kotsaba was on trial again for a video he posted in 2015. In front of the courthouse, Kotsaba, well-known for his pacifist and antimilitarist stance, was attacked by a far-right group. WRI strongly condemns the attacks against Ukrainian Kotsaba and stands in solidarity with him as well as the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement and all conscientious objectors in Ukraine.

Five conscientious objectors from Turkmenistan who had already served sentences were jailed again in trials on 18 and 19 January. Courts gave all five two-year terms, four of them in a strict-regime labour camp, bringing to six the number jailed so far in 2021.

The first webinar of our series, Campaigning for Conscientious Objection to Military Service, co-organised with QUNO and IFOR, is taking place on Wednesday, 3rd Feb. In our first event, we will have campaigners from Geneva (Switzerland), Seoul (S.Korea) and Bogotá (Colombia), explaining the role of litigation in their campaigns supporting conscientious objectors.

Conscientious objector Rustamjon Norov, 22, was jailed despite his offer to perform alternative civilian service for three and a half years, the longest known sentence.