Inter­na­tio­nal Support of Conscien­tious Objec­tors and Deserters

Israel: IDF on ‘hunt’ for draft dodgers, deserters

(22.05.2012) According to Israeli military records, there are a 2,700 deserters and 1,780 draft dodgers in Israel. In the last week alone, the IDF has arrested 474 of them as part of its largest-ever operation to apprehend them. Who are these “deserters”and in whose interest is it to invest so much of the military’s resources to hunt them down?

Israel: Military Police mounts operation to catch deserters, draft dodgers as their rate significantly increases

(10.05.2012) The Military Police launched a large scale operation to apprehend deserters and draft dodgers, whose number has significantly increased in the past year. The operation will last for 10 days and expected to see hundreds arrested and indicted.

Berkeley (US): City council recommends amnesty for war resisters

(30.03.2010) On Tuesday, March 9, 2010, the Berkeley (California) City Council passed Resolution No. 64,803 N.S. recommending “Universal and Unconditional Amnesty for Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan War Military Resisters and Veterans Who Acted In Opposition to the War for Matters of Conscience.”

Deserters and persons avoiding military service

From UNHCR Handbook

(1979) A person is clearly not a refugee if his only reason for desertion or draft-evasion is his dislike of military service or fear of combat. He may, however, be a refugee if his desertion or evasion of military service is concomitant with other relevant motives for leaving or remaining outside his country, or if he otherwise has reasons, within the meaning of the definition, to fear persecution.