Reports

2011 |  EBCO report to the Council of Europe

The European Court of Human Rights has recently explicitly recognised the right to conscientious objection to military service under the European Convention on Human Rights, and in particular under Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion). “The exercise of this right is, however, subject to rules and practices that differ greatly from country to country. Experience shows that, unfortunately, the rights of certain objectors are not recognised in law or in practice in their country, although the right to conscientious objection to military service is recognised in many states as a human right.” (Council of Europe Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs).
In this report the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection submits evidence on the state of the human right to conscientious objection both in law and in practice in all the Member States of the Council of Europe. It also includes evidence from other sources on other relevant issues, like the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the compulsory recruitment age, the voluntary recruitment age and the military expenditure.

2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021| 2022 | EBCO report to the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament

“Europe's Farewell to conscription” is the title of one of the tables in this Report to the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs of the European Parliament. It charts how since 1960 - when conscription was inforced on the territory of 32 of the 36 present day Member States, Candidate Countries, and Potential Candidate Countries of the European Union - it will from 1st July 2011, when the German armed forces become entirely composed of volunteers, be retained in only seven: Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece and Turkey.

Of course the end of military service does not mean the end of militarisation. This report also documents the size of military forces maintained by EU member states, and the level of military expenditure. Nevertheless, it might seem strange that our principal recommendation should continue to be that the European Parliament adopt a new resolution on conscientious objection to military service. There are however important reasons for this.

| 2010 (Greece) | | 2016 - pdf - (Greece) | 2020 (Greece) EBCO and AGCO Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review

In this submission, the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection provides information under sections B, C and D as stipulated in the General Guidelines for the Preparation of Information under the Universal Periodic Review.

| 2016 | (Russia) Human Rights Group "Citizen. Army. Law"

Report "On the Implementation of the Right to Conscientious Objection to Military Service in Russia in 2004-2016", prepared by the Human Rights Group "Citizen. Army. Law" (Russian member organisation of EBCO)

| 2015 | Civilian Service in Russia - "Zivildienst in Russland" (in German language)