Advocacy at the UN and much more
Reporting on Ukraine, Belarus, Eritrea, Turkey and on the human right to conscientious objection
(11.07.2024) In May 2024, Zaira Zafarana began her work in Connection e.V. as international advocacy coordinator. Her consultancy is aimed to advocate for human rights and in particular for the human right to conscientious objection to military service at the United Nations in Geneva, the Council of Europe, and the European Union.
In the recent weeks, the 56th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council took place in Geneva. Zaira Zafarana has actively participated in the working sessions in Geneva and has engaged in advocacy initiatives. She has been able to make oral statements in the plenary of the Council on several occasions, mainly on the right to conscientious objection to military service, offering information to the Council, support to the local human rights defenders and specific calls to the international community.
Zaira Zafarana added today: “Addressing the members of the UN Human Rights Council is a unique opportunity to bring to their attention specific violations and individual cases. The aim is to support those whose rights are violated and silenced locally and call on the member states to concrete actions to protect them. We amplify the voice of human rights defenders and look for opportunities to collaborate with member states to improve the situation of human rights in line with international standards. As we talk of the human right to conscientious objection, this work becomes even more vital in a worldwide predominant war system. Our responsibility is to keep this topic on the agenda of the Council as it is not really a common topic addressed by other organizations. Our consistent work at the UN on this topic offers an essential support to conscientious objectors and creates regular opportunities to voice their struggles.”
Here is an overview of the statements (in English and German) delivered at the UN in Geneva. The dedicated links lead to a webpage with the full statement and additional details such as the recording of the concerned UN working session.
We have supplemented the list with two further recent reports from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe:
10 July 2024, on Ukraine: Statement delivered at the UN on the occasion of the Interactive Dialogue with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on the situation in Ukraine. It presented the lack of protection for conscientious objectors to military service and violations in the occupied territories. The case of human rights defender Yurii Sheliazhenko and his organisation, the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, was also addressed as well as a request of protection to the Council for war refusers: https://en.connection-ev.org/article-4195
3 July 2024, on Belarus: Statement delivered at the UN on the occasion of the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, Anais Marin. It outlined the ongoing violations of the human right to conscientious objection, the concerning support to the Russian aggression and the reintroduction of the death penalty for desertion: https://en.connection-ev.org/article-4189
26 June 2024, on the human rights of migrants: Statement delivered at the UN during the Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants. It highlight international standards about the protection of conscientious objectors whose life is at risk in their country of origin and denounced the denial of asylum to conscientious objectors; it also called on the members of the Human Rights Council to protect conscientious objectors: https://en.connection-ev.org/article-4182
20 June 2024, on Eritrea: Statement delivered at the UN on the occasion of the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker. It described the de facto indefinite national service in the country and urged the international community to protect Eritreans and to abstain from supporting such a system of slavery https://en.connection-ev.org/article-4174
13 June 2024, on Turkey: Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe calls on Turkey to recognise the right to conscientious objection to military service: https://en.connection-ev.org/article-4176
21 May 2024, on the human right to conscientious objection to military service: Publication of the Report of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) concerning the right to Conscientious objection to military service. The report has been then presented at the UN Human Rights Council on July 3rd and it will be discussed in the plenary of the Council during the next session in September: https://en.connection-ev.org/article-4126
On July 10th, webinar with Daniel Møgster from the UN OHCHR: organized by Connection e.V. together with War Resisters’ International and Quaker UN Office. In this thematic webinar Daniel Møgster from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) presented the report to over 40 participants, connected from several countries around the world, who engaged then in a constructive discussion to explore how to use this report to inform about the official position of the OHCHR on the right to conscientious objection to military service and support for instance legal assistance of conscientious objectors. (The recording of the webinar presentation will soon be available on the website).
We regularly report on the work of Connection e.V. regarding international advocacy on our dedicated project webpage: https://en.connection-ev.org/OHCHR
Connection e.V.: Press release, July 11, 2024
Keywords: ⇒ Belarus ⇒ Conscientious Objection ⇒ Eritrea ⇒ Human Rights ⇒ International ⇒ Turkey ⇒ Ukraine