Inter­na­tio­nal Support of Conscien­tious Objec­tors and Deserters

Standing up at the United Nations for conscientious objectors’s right to refuse to participate in the war in Ukraine

UN Human Rights Council, 57th Session

(28.03.2025) On Friday March 28th 2025 the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights presented his report on the situation of human rights in Ukraine at the United Nations in Geneva. Following several Member states taking the floor in the plenary of the Human Rights Council to comment and address questions to the High Commissioner, Connection e.V., together with War Resisters International, delivered an oral statement which also reported the names of several conscientious objectors to military service who are currently persecuted, sentenced or forcibly recruited.

Federal Court of Justice attacks basic right to conscientious objection

An analysis of the decision of the court

(12.03.2025) Connection e.V. presents an analysis of the decision of the German Federal High Court (BGH) issued January 16, 2025. The BGH defined whether a Ukrainian citizen may be extradited even though he has declared that he is a conscientious objector and Ukraine has suspended the right to conscientious objection at the beginning of war. In Ukraine, the conscientious objector is therefore threatened with conscription into the war and, if he refuses, years in prison.

Oral statement on the violations of human rights of conscientious objectors to military service

Delivered at the UN in Geneva

(05.03.2025) Connection e.V., in collaboration with War Resisters International, participated in the related interactive dialogue of UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and took the floor in the plenary of the Council addressing the concerning violations of human rights of conscientious objectors to military service, for instance, in Eritrea, Türkiye, Israel, Russia and Ukraine.

A Memorial to All Deserters

(26.02.2025) How does The Memorial for Deserters challenge conventional narratives of art and memory politics? What alternatives exist to the militaristic aesthetics of the past? Art historian Alexei Markin speaks with sculptor Volker Lang about his Memorial for Deserters in Hamburg.