Conscientious objection

CCPR/CO/71/UZB
26 April 2001

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24. The Committee is very concerned about provisions of the Freedom of Conscience and Religion Organizations Act that require religious organizations and associations to be registered to be entitled to manifest their religion and beliefs. The Committee is also concerned about article 240 of the Penal Code, which penalizes the failure of leaders of religious organizations to register their statutes.

CCPR/CO/71/DOM
26 April 2001

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21. The Committee takes note of the fact that the law makes no provision for the status of conscientious objector to military service, which may legitimately be claimed under article 18 of the Covenant.

The State party should ensure that persons liable for military service may claim the status of conscientious objector and perform alternative service without discrimination.

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“The Committee observes (…) that the duration of civilian service is 18 months longer than that of the corresponding military service, be it 18, 19 or 21 months, or reduced to 12, 6 or 3 months. A conscientious objector may therefore perform alternative civilian service for a period of up to 39 months. The Committee considers that these 18 additional months, during which the persons concerned are denied the right to earn their living in an occupation freely entered upon, do not come within reasonable limits, compared to the duration of military service.

There's a big math test soon. I'm going over to my tutor's by bus. On my way, I hear the news on the radio. There was a suicide attack in Haifa. In Haifa?! Of all places, in Haifa?? But there are never suicide attacks here. And it was near the mall. Everybody in my school go to that mall. And on the beginning of the holiday... quick, phoning all my friends. Everybody's alright. Relief. It's okay to study math. I arrived at my tutor's. After I finished, my father called me and offered to drive me home. Afternoon. I'm home alone with my little brother. And then Efrat calls. "Remember Adi?

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TURKEY

Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
E/CN.4/2001/14

91. The Working Group notes that conscientious objection - which has its theoretical basis in the freedom of conscience and thus of opinion - gives rise, particularly in countries that have not yet recognized conscientious objector status, to repeated criminal prosecutions followed by sentences of deprivation of liberty which are renewed again and again.

When on 14 October 1996, Osman (Ossi) Murat Ülke began to serve his sentence in the military prison of Mamak in Ankara, a flood of protest and solidarity letters soon poured in. His case shows how effective letters to Prisoners for Peace can be. Ossi's imprisonment had been expected and partner organisations in Western Europe (including many sections of the WRI) and in Turkey were prepared.

"Plowshares is a powerful tradition that speaks just as loudly as we can in the discipline of nonviolence. It breaks the invisibility that protects these weapons from public awareness. It acts as a kind of cosmic theatre at the edge of nuclear disaster. By beating our nuclear swords into plowshares, we enact the imagery of Isaiah 2:4 and speak in a breath the whole manifesto of life without annihilation. It speaks in such volume in part because we go where we would never dare to go.

The following is an email message soliciting international support two Spanish insumisos. We reproduce it here as an illustration of the role that technology (and a very small commitment of time) can play in support to military resisters and prisoners. Postscript: on 21 November 2000, José and Alberto began their imprisonment in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid (see PfP list for address).

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Turkey
Practice of religion during performance of military service

CCPR/CO/69/KWT
27 July 2000

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44. In order to implement article 18 of the Covenant, the State party should reflect in its legislation the situation of persons who believe that the use of armed force conflicts with their convictions, and establish for these cases an alternative civilian service.

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Source: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/hrcs68.htm#69th

CCPR/CO/69/KGZ
24 July 2000

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18. The Committee takes note that conscientious objection to military service is allowed only to members of a registered religious organization whose teachings prohibit the use of arms. The Committee regrets that the State party has not sought to justify why the provision on alternative service entails a period of service twice as long as that required of military conscripts, and why persons of higher education serve for a considerably lesser period in the military and in alternative service (arts. 18 and 26).