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Conscientious Objection Association Turkey (VR- DER) has released the first issue of its Conscientious Objection Bulletin including updates on conscientious objection to military service in Turkey.

On this page, you are able to find a number of useful resources on conscientious objection in Turkey. We will continue to update this page during April and May with new content and resources.

First time in South Korea, conscientious objection to military service on non-religious grounds is recognised by the country’s Supreme Court and Military Manpower Administration.

A conscientious objector from South Korea currently performing his alternative service as prison staff has filed a constitutional appeal against the punitive alternative military service law.

The Syrian government has threatened to seize the property and assets of ‘military evaders’, namely Syrian refugees outside the country and internally displaced people, who fail to pay exorbitant fees to be exempt from military service.

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.

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.

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.

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.