European Bureau for Conscientious Objection

On April the 1^st the United Nations Human Rights Committee adopted its concluding observations on Finland's seventh periodic report on the implementation of the Convention on Civil and Political Rights. Committees' criticism towards the situation of conscientious objectors has further increased compared to previous conclusions issued in 2013.

(07.04.2021) An die Generalstaatsanwaltschaft der Ukraine

Sehr geehrte Staatsanwaltschaft,

(UPDATE on Ruslan Kotsaba case:The trial took place online on 8 April 2021. Since two judges didn’t show up it was postponed to May 17th.)

OPEN LETTER To:     Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, zvern@gp.gov.ua 13/15 Riznytska St., Kyiv, 01011, Ukraine, fax (+38) 044 280 26 03

Started on March 8, International Women’s Day, Pressenza is publishing a series of video interviews entitled “Women who build the future, Towards a nonviolent culture ”.

The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection and the Association of Greek Conscientious Objection submitted yesterday (25/03/2021) a joint contribution to the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) documentation on Greece in the 3^r

In this joint submission, the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection and the Association of Greek Conscientious Objection provide information under section (a) Contributions to UPR documentation by “Other Stakeholders”, including civil society and national human rights institutions of the 3rd UPR cycle: contributions and participation of "other stakeholders" in the UPR.

Brussels, 25 March 2021

“The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection publishes today its Annual Report on Conscientious Objection to Military Service in Europe 2020, in honour of Jean Van Lierde (1926-2006) who was born on 15^th February, the most famous Belgian conscientious objector and first EBCO President”, EBCO’s Vice-President Sam Biesemans stated today.

“After decades of lobbying and campaigning, it’s now a reality! Nuclear weapons have now become illegal under international law. This is a ground breaking step towards a world free of nuclear weapons!”, Alexia Tsouni, EBCO president stated today.

The retrial of Ukrainian journalist, pacifist and conscientious objector Ruslan Kotsaba started yesterday, and what is more, he was attacked by a far-right mob and sprayed with a fire extinguisher with the mob chanting “Death to the enemies! Ukraine above all!”

Ukrainian journalist, conscientious objector and a member of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement Ruslan Kotsaba will be on trial again on Friday (22nd January) for a video he posted in 2015 in which he was calling to boycott military mobil

On 5 January 2021 sixty Israeli teenagers published an open letter addressed to top Israeli officials, in which they declared their refusal to serve in the army in protest of its policies of occupation and apartheid.

Four panel sessions of an informed debate on conscientious objection from legal, philosophical, theological and religious perspectives, and finally

a discussion on how legislators and governments in liberal democracies should react to claims of conscience.

Online event

You can now watch online the original french version of the documentary "Maurice Montet: conscientious objector and integral pacifist" here

It was published by FemArtAct today, on 1/1/2021, to honor the 100 years of War Resisters' International!

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Vous pouvez désormais visionner en ligne la version originale française du documentaire "Maurice Montet: objecteur de conscience et pacifiste intégral" ici