30 organisations call for a week of action on 10 December

Protection and asylum for conscientious objectors from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine

(22.09.2023) Concerning 10 December 2023, International Human Rights Day, more than 30 organisations from Europe are calling for weeks of action for protection for all those who refuse military service in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The call states:

War is a crime against humanity. We condemn Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine, which is contrary to international law and has already led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries and millions of refugees.

Many people from Russia and Belarus, but also from Ukraine, who are threatened with military service, try to evade  that war: They do not want to kill other people and they do not want to die in this war. Soldiers at the front want to lay down their weapons in the face of the horror. They all face repression and imprisonment, in Belarus even the death penalty. But: Conscientious objection is an internationally recognized human right!

  • We demand from the governments of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine: Stop the persecution of conscientious objectors and deserters immediately!
  • We demand from the EU: Open the borders! Give opponents of war the option to enter the European Union! Protect conscientious objectors and deserters from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine and give them asylum!

For this purpose, we are going to organize rallies and demonstrations in front of Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian embassies as well as EU representations, vigils in front of deserter monuments and other creative actions at different locations in the week before the “International Human Rights Day” – from December 4 to 10, 2023. In doing so, we emphasize: conscientious objection is a human right!

#ObjectWarCampaign #StandWithObjectors

Who we are

We are an alliance of civil society organizations and are in solidarity with all people who stand up against war. We invite all people who want to stand up against war and against rearmament! There is no place for people and groups from the nationalistic and anti-democratic spectrum at our actions.

Groups and organisations wishing to participate in the action weeks please contact office@Connection-eV.org. Further information is available at https://objectwarcampaign.org.

Initiated by: act for transformation; Aktionsgemeinschaft Dienst für den Frieden (AGDF); Arbeitskreis Asyl Tribsees; Aseistakieltäytyjäliitto; Association of the Greek Conscientious Objectors; Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit; Bund für Soziale Verteidigung; Bundesvereinigung Opfer der NS-Militärjustiz e.V.; Center on Conscience and War; Church and Peace; Connection e.V.; Conscience and Peace Tax International; Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft – Vereinigte KriegsdienstgegnerInnen (DFG-VK); European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO); Ev. Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Kriegsdienstverweigerung und Frieden (EAK); FemArtAct Social Cooperative; Flüchtlingsrat Baden-Württemberg e.V.; Flüchtlingsrat Niedersachsen e.V.; Flüchtlingsrat Schleswig Holstein e.V.; Frauennetzwerk für Frieden e.V.; Friedensbüro Salzburg; Graswurzelrevolution – Monthly Newspaper for a Nonviolent, Non-Dominant Society; Internationale der KriegsdienstgegnerInnen (IDK); IPPNW – Ärzt*innen für die Verhütung des Atomkrieges / Ärzt*innen in sozialer Verantwortung e.V.; Internationaler Versöhnungsbund – Deutscher Zweig e.V.; Komitee für Grundrechte und Demokratie; Kooperation für den Frieden; Lebenshaus Schwäbische Alb – Gemeinschaft für soziale Gerechtigkeit, Frieden und Ökologie e.V.; NaturFreunde Deutschlands e.V.; Netzwerk Friedenskooperative; pax christi – Deutsche Sektion e.V.; Schweizerischer Zivildienstverband CIVIVA; Stop Wapenhandel; Vicdani Ret İzleme / Conscientious Objection Watch; War Resisters‘ International;