Inter­na­tio­nal Support of Conscien­tious Objec­tors and Deserters

Protection and asylum for human rights defender Olga Karach

Urgent Action

(25.08.2023) Following the denial of political asylum by the Lithuanian authorities for the Belarusian peacebuilder and human rights defender Olga Karach (Volha Karach), the international campaign #protection4olga has just been launched to demand protection and asylum for the director of the organisation ‘Our House‘. She has been fighting for human rights in Belarus for years, including the right to conscientious objection to military service, and is therefore persecuted and faces capital punishment in her country of origin, where she has been labelled a ‘terrorist’ by the regime.

As Urgent Action we have prepared a protest eMail to the Lithuanian government, which you can send via https://en.Connection-eV.org/olgakarach-form.

Ukraine: Release peace activist Yurii Sheliazhenko and drop all charges against him

(17.08.2023) The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO), War Resisters’ International (WRI), the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) and Connection e.V. (Germany) strongly condemn the fact that Yurii Sheliazhenko, a well-known conscientious objector, pacifist, human rights defender and lawyer, Executive Secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, has been placed under partial house arrest by the Solomyanskyi District Court of Kyiv on 15 August 2023.

Ukraine: Drop the charge against Yurii Sheliazhenko

Pacifism is not a crime

(05.08.2023) The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO), War Resisters’ International (WRI), the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) and Connection e.V. (Germany) strongly condemn the fact that Yurii Sheliazhenko, Executive Secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, has been formally charged by the Ukrainian government with the crime of “justification of Russian aggression” with sole “evidence” the Statement of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, adopted at the meeting on International Day of Peace 21 September 2022, entitled “Peace Agenda for Ukraine and the World”. What is more, the statement explicitly condemns Russian aggression (https://worldbeyondwar.org/peace-agenda-for-ukraine-and-the-world/).

Day of action of the #ObjectWarCampaign on the International Day of Conscientious Objection to War

Interview with Rudi Friedrich, Connection e.V.

(14.06.2023) On this year’s International Day of Conscientious Objection, 30 organizations from Europe have called for protection for all conscientious objectors from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. Together with the organizers of the #ObjectWarCampaign, Connection e.V. traveled to Berlin to participate in a central action in front of the European Commission Bureau at the Brandenburg Gate on 15 May 2023. The action was coordinated with events in other cities. During an interview, Rudi Friedrich, executive director of Connection e.V., reports on this year’s day of action and general news about the #ObjectWarCampaign (ed.).