Inter­na­tio­nal Support of Conscien­tious Objec­tors and Deserters

Show your solidarity with conscientious objectors and deserters!

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Ask the European Union with us:

- Grant protection and asylum to deserters and conscientious objectors from Belarus and the Russian Federation!

- Urge the Ukrainian government to stop persecuting conscientious objectors to military service and to guarantee them a full right to conscientious objection!

- Open the borders to those who oppose war at great personal risk in their country!

Link to petition

Why is this important? For more than half a year, the Russian Federation has been waging a war of aggression in Ukraine, with devastating consequences. There seems to be no end in sight. Yet we know that men and women on all sides are evading the crimes of war. Tens of thousands are fleeing the Russian Federation and Belarus to avoid being recruited for the war. Thousands are leaving Ukraine because they see their human right to conscientious objection in danger. They are all our hope for overcoming violence.

This petition is run by Connection e.V., International Fellowship of Reconciliation, European Bureau for Conscientious Objection and War Resisters’ International

IFOR briefs the UN Human Rights Committee on the right to conscientious objection in Russia

On October 17th the International Fellowship of Reconciliation participated in the formal briefing at the 136th session of the UN Human Rights Committee.

During the ongoing session, after two postponements, the members of the Committee will review the Russian Federation and formulate Concluding Observations.

Members of the Civil Society have been invited to submit reports in advance and to participate in briefing meetings with the Committee to provide useful information.

IFOR took advantage of the 4 minutes speaking opportunity to report on illegal recruitment, cruel treatment of refusers to combat operations in Ukraine, human rights violations of those protesting against the war and other related issues.

Desertion in order to not participate in war

Numbers for Russia, Belarus and Ukraine

(02.10.2022) We know that thousands of military conscripts have fled Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.But it is not possible to obtain accurate numbers on desertion, conscientious objection to military service and military draft evasion in these countries. No statistics record how many there really are. Therefore, at this point we can only try to estimate those numbers.

Refuseniks from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine say no to war

(29.09.2022) On the occasion of Refugee Day on 30 September, PRO ASYL and Connection e.V. present voices of conscientious objectors from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. All of them are threatened with criminal proceedings in their countries of origin and need protection from persecution. The German government is to make generous use of their options to grant humanitarian visas.