Inter­na­tio­nal Support of Conscien­tious Objec­tors and Deserters

Colombia: Brayan Gonzales Blanco recruited irregularly by the army

(19.02.2020) On September 2, 2019 Brayan Gonzales Blanco was irregularly recruited by the Army to perform military service in Battalion No. 13 located in the municipality of Ubalá-Cundinamarca (Colombia). He has been incorporated for five months. In the first week of February, 2020 he began the process to define his military status as a conscientious objector and requested to be released. This has led to the military authorities within the battalion exerting psychological violence on him, putting his emotional well-being at risk.

Please send support letters to the Colombian authorities: https://wri-irg.org/es/programmes/rrtk/co-support-email/2020/desacuartelamiento-para-brayan-gonzales-blanco-reclutado

Arab residents rally against Kurdish rule in Syria’s Deir Az Zor

(08.05.2019) Protests against Kurdish rule widen in Deir Az Zor as Arabs complain of discrimination and forced conscription.

Ukraine: New drafts in autumn

(28.09.2018) September 27, the deputy chief of the department of conscription and manning at the General Staff of the Ukrainian army, Colonel Valeriy Dendebera announced, that about 18,000 people are to be drafted into the Ukrainian army as part of the autumn conscription campaign October to Dezember 2018.

UN Special Rapporteur emphasises the gravity of human rights violations in Eritrea

A packed international conference took place in Brussels

(23.10.2017) There are “reasonable grounds to believe crimes against humanity are taking place”, stated Sheila Keetharuth, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea, at a major high-ranking international staffed conference held in Brussels this week. The dire human rights situation in the Horn of Africa nation— including arbitrary detention and extrajudicial executions—has “not improved in essentials”, she emphasised, despite consistent attention in recent years from the UN and human rights agencies.