Inter­na­tio­nal Support of Conscien­tious Objec­tors and Deserters

Munich Administrative Court rejects suit by U.S. AWOL soldier André Shepherd

Observers have impression of bias in asylum proceedings

(18.11.2016) The suit brought against the negative ruling in U.S. AWOL soldier André Shepherd's application for political asylum was rejected in the decision by the Administrative Court published yesterday. Two days ago the Administrative Court had reviewed the case in a five-hour hearing, taking into account a fundamental decision by the European Court of Justice.

Turkey: We are against any kind of coup d’état, attempt to stage coup d’état, and anti-democratic practices

We defend real civil democratic life and respect for human rights

(16.07.2016) On 15 July 2016, there was an attempt to stage coup d’état in Turkey. There is still danger of coup d’état. Many civilians, soldiers and police officers either lost their lives or were injured resulted from violence, clashes during this attempt. Since military vehicles, fighter jets were active in city centres particularly in civilian settlements, neighbourhoods, and clashes took place in these areas lead to serious concerns and fear among citizens. On the other hand, we also observed that there are some cases that some citizens showed reactions beyond democratic principles, and some lynches attempts. In short, Turkey is heading towards a fast and deep chaos of which extent is unknown.

South Korea: The Power of International Solidarity

(29.08.2014) It was the result of solidarity efforts between activists at home and abroad that the conscientious objection movement in this ultra-militaristic South Korean society began. In 2000 Karin Lee and John Feffer, who were staff members at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) office in Tokyo and who had been working with many South Korean civic groups, recognised that movements against the Korean military, militarism, conscription system, and other related institutions in Korea were not very active. In July of the same year, Taiwan introduced an alternative military service system. When Karin and John heard this news, they thought that it might be time for South Korea to begin discussing these topics more openly and widely as the circumstances in both Taiwan and South Korea were quite similar with respect to military confrontation, economic growth, and geographical location.