Laudatory speech by Alexia Tsouni - Séan MacBride Prize 2022 and 2023

To Movement of Conscientious Objection Russia, Nash Dom, Asya Maruket and Ukrainian Pacifist Movement

(22.03.2024) Today the Seán MacBride Peace Prize of the International Peace Bureau was awarded to Saša Belik for the Movement of Conscientious Objection Russia, Olga Karach for Nash Dom, Asya Maruket and Yurii Sheliazhenko and his organisation Ukrainian Pacifist Movement. “I am so happy to honour such distinguished personalities, such powerful activists committed to peace and the human right to conscientious objection to military service, especially in wartime!”, said Alexia Tsouni in hier laudatory speech. Another laudatory speech was given by Rudi Friedrich from Connection e.V.

I am deeply honoured to be invited to speak at this important event today, both personally and on behalf of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO). Thank you IPB for the invitation and this wonderful ceremony!

And I am so happy to honour such distinguished personalities, such powerful activists committed to peace and the human right to conscientious objection to military service, especially in wartime!

Congratulations for the Séan MacBride Prize 2022 to the Ukrainian conscientious objector and human rights defender Yurii Sheliazhenko and the Russian feminist peace activist Asya Maruket/Gagieva for speaking out for peace in Ukraine and bringing together Russian and Ukrainian voices for peaceful resolution immediately following the Russian invasion.

Congratulations for the Séan MacBride Prize 2023 to the three Conscientious Objector Organisations: the Russian Movement of Conscientious Objectors to Military Service, the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, and the Belarusian Our House for their extremely challenging and crucial work to promote conscientious objection and support conscientious objectors and peace activists in their respective contexts.

All of you, not only you do deserve this award, but also you are really an inspiration for us! 

You inspire us because you firmly and consistently support peace, even though you are targeted, discriminated, attacked and prosecuted! You clearly and publicly support peace from the first day of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, and every single day, until today.

We recall, for example, some of your brave statements, already on 24 February 2022:

Statement by the Russian Movement of Conscientious Objectors to Military Service: (I quote)

What is happening in Ukraine is a war unleashed by Russia. The Conscientious Objectors Movement condemns the Russian military aggression. And calls on Russia to stop the war. The Conscientious Objectors Movement calls on the Russian soldiers not to participate in hostilities. Do not become war criminals. The Conscientious Objectors Movement calls on all recruits to refuse military service: apply for alternative civilian service, be exempted on medical grounds.

Statement by the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement: (I quote)

The Ukrainian Pacifist Movement condemns all military actions by the sides of Russia and Ukraine in the context of the current conflict. We call the leadership of both states and military forces to step back and sit at the negotiation table. Peace in Ukraine and around the world can be achieved only in a non-violent way. War is a crime against humanity. Therefore, we are determined not to support any kind of war and to strive for the removal of all causes of war.

We were so proud of you, so proud of your statements, that we republished them as such in our own press release on 24 February 2022. We stated that EBCO stands in solidarity with the pacifist movements in Russia and Ukraine, and shares their statements for peace, non-violence, and conscientious objection.

We strongly condemned the Russian invasion in Ukraine and called all parties to strictly adhere to international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including the right to conscientious objection to military service, and to protect civilians, including internally displaced persons and refugees. We urged to end the war with an immediate ceasefire leaving space for negotiation and diplomacy.

We underlined that peace is the only solution. And it cannot be safeguarded without equally safeguarding the right to conscientious objection to military service, which is as well a basic human right as a concrete act of rejecting war and violence. It is a tangible contribution to peace and universal human values.

This is what we said on 24 February 2022, and this is what we keep saying until today. Peace is the only solution! Protect conscientious objectors and all civilians! Stop the war! Mobilise for peace instead of war! And we urge the European Union and the international community to invest in diplomacy and negotiations instead of weapons and militarism.

We joined forced with Connection e.V., War Resisters’ International (WRI) and the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR), and called Russia, Ukraine and Belarus to safeguard the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as the right to freedom of expression, fully complying with the European and international standards, amongst others the standards set by the European Court of Human Rights. The right to conscientious objection to military service is inherent in the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, guaranteed under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which is non-derogable even in a time of public emergency, as stated in Article 4(2) of ICCPR.

We support the #ObjectWarCampaign: Protection and asylum for all deserters and conscientious objectors to military service from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine.

We support the appeal to the European Commission and the European Parliament about necessary measures for the international protection of Russian conscientious objectors, deserters and those who surrendered or were captured.

We support the campaign to drop all charges against Yurii Sheliazhenko, Executive Secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement.

We support the #protection4olga campaign: Protection and asylum for Olga Karatch, director of the Belarusian organisation "Our House" in Lithuania.

We also supported the IPB nomination of these three remarkable organizations with a focus on the right to conscientious objection for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize; the Russian Movement of Conscientious Objectors, the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, and the Belarusian Our House, in recognition of their great work, their tangible contribution to peace and their considerable stigmatisation as defenders of peace, conscientious objection and human rights, especially after the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

Myself I am a witness of the great work of all the awardees and their invaluable contribution to peace. I have been to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

In Russia I have participated to great actions for peace, conscientious objection and human rights in St. Petersburg. I have met brave feminist peace activists like Asya. I have seen the continuous support provided by the Russian Movement of Conscientious Objectors. I have seen Saša working hard even after fleeing Russia, even during holidays.

In Belarus I have met courageous human rights activists in Minsk who were attacked by the police just for speaking the truth. I have seen the important activities of Our House in Lithuania, and I have seen Olga working non-stop, even when she is targeted, just for being a peacebuilder.

In Ukraine I have experienced the increasing oppression during the war, I have met brave conscientious objectors prosecuted and even imprisoned (I have actually visited one of them inside the prison), and I have seen the great peace work done by the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, and in particularly by Yurii, who is working day and night, literally, and he is even prosecuted for this.

Last but not least, I want to underline the touching international solidarity with the awardees by conscientious objectors and peace activists worldwide. Some of them are also prosecuted and even imprisoned in countries not so far from here. Like Israeli conscientious objectors Tal Mitnick and Sofia Orr, who have been already imprisoned three times and one time, respectively, during the ongoing war in Palestine. Like Turkish-Cypriot, Turkish, Greek, and even Finnish conscientious objectors. We are also expressing our full solidarity with all of them.

So, we are grateful to all of the awardees for your amazing work and deep inspiration!

You are the light shining in the darkness!

Peace is the only solution and you are peacebuilders!

So, keep building peace, take care, be safe and strong, and always remember you are not alone!

Thank you!