Inter­na­tio­nal Support of Conscien­tious Objec­tors and Deserters

Join the Webinar: Conscientious objection in Turkey

Sa., November 7, 2020, 2pm UTC (3pm CET, 5pm Turkish Time)

This autumn the Conscientious Objection Association (Vicdani Ret Derneği) in Istanbul has launched a new project. The association would like to start a campaign and lobby work to gather international support for pushing the human right to conscientious objection in Turkey. The project also includes research and documentation of the particularly difficult situation of draft evaders and conscientious objectors (COs).

We invite you to participate in a webinar where we will discuss:

• The general situation of conscientious objectors in Turkey today,
• The project of the Conscientious Objection Association,
• How to develop and strengthen the campaign for COs.

South Korea’s Conscientious Objectors Are Getting an Alternative to Military Service

(09.07.2020) For the first time, there is a official path for those who have religious or moral objections to South Korea’s mandatory military service for men. On June 30, South Korea officially began taking applications from conscientious objectors for alternative service to the country’s mandatory military service for all men. Instead of serving around two years in the military, men can now apply for the new alternative service — working for three years in prisons or detention centers.

Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe urges Turkey to recognize the right of conscientious objection

(04.06.2020) The Deputies 1. recalled that these cases concern the applicants’ repetitive prosecutions and convictions for refusing to carry out compulsory military service as pacifists and conscientious objectors, as a result of which they are compelled to lead clandestine lives amounting to “civil death”, and the absence of a procedure to establish their status as conscientious objectors;

Amnesty International Greece: One idea, different messages from Eastern Mediterranean

Video on YouTube channel Refuse to Kill

(17.05.2020) Gina, Costas, Dimitrakakis, Murat, Hüseyin, Merve, Hillel and Yuval are speaking about their conscientious objection in both part of Cyprus, Turkey, Israel, Palestine and Greece.