European Bureau for Conscientious Objection

Journalist Ruslan Kotsaba was arrested on 8 February 2015 in the courtroom of his home town Iwano-Frankiwsk (Western Ukraine). Shortly before he had declared in a video message to President Petro Poroschenko his refusal to be drafted and that he would rather endure 5 years in prison than shoot at his „fellow citizens living in the East“. He called upon his compatriots to refuse military service, too. The German newspaper „tageszeitung“ (taz) reported on 9 February 2015: „Kotsaba supported Maidan in 2014 as an activist. In the Presidential l elections he voted for President Poroschenko.

Foreword by Friedhelm Schneider, EBCO President (download report)

In September 2014 Heiner Bielefeldt, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, speaking at a side event to the Human Rights Council, observed: “Conscientious objection to military service is a specific issue, but not a side issue!”.

Brussels, 10 December 2015

On International Human Rights Day the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO) publishes its new  Annual Report “Conscientious objection to military service in Europe 2015”.    

Brussels, 2 November 2015

The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO) condemns once again the unacceptable practice of the Greek authorities to target and prosecute conscientious objectors. EBCO demands the repeal of the conviction of conscientious objector Anastasios Batas, member of the Association of Greek Conscientious Objectors, who is on trial tomorrow before the Appeal Military Court of Athens.

Βρυξέλλες, 20 Οκτωβρίου 2015

Το Ευρωπαϊκό Γραφείο για την Αντίρρηση Συνείδησης (EBCO) καταδικάζει για άλλη μια φορά την απαράδεκτη πρακτική των ελληνικών αρχών να στοχοποιούν και να διώκουν αντιρρησίες συνείδησης. Το EBCO ζητά την αναίρεση της καταδίκης του Προέδρου του Συνδέσμου Αντιρρησιών Συνείδησης Γιάννη Γκλαρνέτατζη, ο οποίος δικάζεται αύριο από το Αναθεωρητικό Στρατοδικείο Θεσσαλονίκης.

Joint Submission by the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO) and the Association of Greek Conscientious Objection (AGCO) to the UN Universal Periodic Review 25^th session of the UPR Working Group, April/May 2016

La ricorrenza dei 100 anni dall’inizio della prima guerra mondiale verrà ricordata dal Centro Sereno Regis per mettere in evidenza l’opposizione integrale a tutte le guerre.

In 20th of July, many young people from different cities took the road for the re-construction of Kobanê which is the city that has been resisting against the attacks of ISIS for several months.

CONSCIENTIOUS objector Murat Kanatli, who was jailed in the north for refusing to report for reservist duty, saw his petition against Turkey for breach of human rights accepted by the European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday.

The municipality of Watermaal-Bosvoorde (in Dutch) or Watermael-Boitsfort (in French), one the districts of the Brussels region, organized on Sunday 12 July 2015 a ceremony in the city hall to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Belgian Conscientious Objection law. The first Belgian Conscientious Objectors were recognised in 1965.