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IFOR reports on Conscientious Objection to UN OHCHR

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is working on its four-year analytical report on conscientious objection to military service. The report will be introduced and opened to discussion during the June 2017 session of the Human Rights Council.

IFOR responded to the invitation of OHCHR to submit information on the topic last February. In our submission, we concentrate only on developments after 2013, because early details were comprehensively summarized in the first Quadrennial Report (A/HRC/23/22, 3rd June 2013).
Regarding to the international legal and normative framework, the submission reports developments at the UN and regional level. In the second part, it provides analyses, speaks of encouraging developments, best practices and remaining challenges at the national level.
 

The read the full text of IFOR's submission click here.

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FOR India's Work in Defense of Children

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FOR India's Work in Defense of Children

FOR India, has a long history of work supporting young people. Amidst rapid changes in society there has been an increase in problems effecting young people in particular. FOR India offers a brief report of its experience in hopes to encourage other IFOR members in their work to support youth: 

We are sharing this based on training programs and interaction with 600 school counselors over a period of past 3 months.. This training for 600 government appointed counselors at government schools. All the counselors  in 14 districts  all over Kerala in batches of 50 each are given intensive  training  for a period of 4 days in practical hands on skills and also given inputs on the application of enacted laws. 

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FOR India Commemorates the Legacy of Acharya K. K. Chandy

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FOR India Commemorates the Legacy of Acharya K. K. Chandy

Internationally distinguished Community Mental Health Professional and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Western Australia, Dr Mohan Issac delivered the 16th Acharya KK Chandy Commemorative oration on Saturday, 28th January 2017 at the Gurukul Ecumenical and Peace Centre Hall. Thetopic dealt with was the need to help individuals develop a mind set that enables building of a violence free world.  The Visitor President of Christavashram , Rt Rev Thomas Samuel , retired Bishop, presided over the function organized by the Acharya KK Chandy Endowment Trust who said in his Presidential Address that Acharya Chandy was indeed a Christian innovator who revolutionized the concept and practice of community living.

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International Coordinator visits South Sudan

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International Coordinator visits South Sudan

January 15-20, IFOR’s International Coordinator visited South Sudan, at the invitation of the Organization for Nonviolence and Development (ONAD). ONAD has been a part of IFOR since 2006. The visit was primarily to express solidarity with ONAD and the South Sudanese people in this period of intense violence in the country. The IFOR International Committee (ICOM) has long sought to prioritize support for nonviolent movements in Africa. The most recent months of violence in South Sudan have caused global concerned that the country was teetering towards genocide. ICOM and the International Secretariat felt it critical to express support for ONAD and find ways to amplify their efforts in the country. 

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Away From Arms! Demobilizing Child Soldiers

February 12, is international day against the use of child soldiers. The UN campaign #childrennotsoldiers (#enfantspassoldats) is being supported by several countries around the world. Through the work of it's Swiss Branch, IFOR began to work more closely with Junior Nzita, the goodwill ambassador for the UN campaign. Now Teenergy, a small company in Montreux, Switzerland specialized in documentary films, is finishing a 26-minute film on child soldiers and the real possibility of demobilization. Parallel to the production of the film is the development of a smartphone app by the University of Geneva. This app shall help child soldiers in process of demobilization. It is about to be used in a pilot project in Colombia. The films will be featured initially by TV5 monde in French and then in English and Spanish by other TV channels. It will be distributed free world wide through UN and various NGO channels including IFOR. 

This project is called Away from Arms and IFOR is proud to be partnering with Junior Nzita and Teenergy to support the project and child soldiers around the world. IFOR is represented in the project by Hans Ulrich Gerber.

On February 12, 2017 there will be the launch of the project in Montreux Switzerland.  The links below introduce the film and the event. Those near and far interested in this matter and willing to support the project are cordially invited to the event on February 12. We hope many will come and/or spread the word so it finds the necessary support to run over an initial period of 36 months.

- See here the invitation for February 12:  https://vimeo.com/teenergy/invitation

- An introduction to the documentary film:   https://vimeo.com/teenergy/soldat  password: teenergy

 

 

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Join an International Delegation to Colombia!

Fellowship of Reconciliation Peace Presence, an effort supported by several branches of IFOR,  is organizing the Longing for Peace International Delegation April 18 – 27, 2017. 

 

FOR Peace Presence provides physical safety, political visibility and solidarity by accompanying communities and organizations that embrace active nonviolence to defend life, land and dignity.

Colombia is going through an historic but uncertain period. The results of four years of peace negotiations between the government and the FARC-a comprehensive agreement on five areas related to the conflict-was rejected by voters in October 2016 by the narrowest of margins. The Colombian Congress later approved the agreement on November 30th. Amid the hope of what the agreement means concerns about the future of implementation remain. 

The delegation will meet with local human rights defenders; human rights and environmental NGOs' women peace leaders; young Conscientious Objectors; Afro-Colombian, indigenous and small scale farmer leaders; and displaced communities. The delegates will learn about the impacts of corporations, and how global demand for energy is devastating communities and destroying vital ecosystems. 

For more information about FORPP or the delegation please visit their website here.

 

 

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IFOR Submits Report on Eritrea to Human Rights Committee

IFOR's Main Representative to the UN in Geneva, Derek Brett, submitted a report on Eritrea to the 119th Session of the Human Rights Committee. The report specifically focused on matters of military service, conscientious objection and related human rights concerns in Eritrea. 

From the Report: 

Of all the world's states, Eritrea is the only one in which military service issues are widely considered to be one of the major human rights concerns.   Both men and women are subject to conscription; since 2002, under a situation of general mobilization, the period of service has been prolonged indefinitely.   Forced recruitment and abusive treatment within the military are widespread.  The right of conscientious objection is not recognized; the only way to escape enlistment is to leave the country.  Travel restrictions however mean that few citizens are able to do this legally, and it is believed that a “shoot to kill” policy is in place to prevent persons crossing the border clandestinely.  Nevertheless, almost throughout its independent existence Eritrea has, proportionate to population, suffered one of the largest refugee outflows in the world. 

To read the full report click here.

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Conscientious Objector Alert

2016 EBCO Annual Report

Addressing urgent need for reform

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On November 19th The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection, EBCO, presented its Annual Report 2016 on Conscientious Objection in Europe on Saturday 19/11/2016 in Athens, Greece. Each year, the report is carried out under the auspices of IFOR. EBCO decided to organize this Annual Report presentation in Greece because in less than a year three different international human rights instruments (the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Human Rights Committee, and the European Court of Human Rights) have pointed out serious violations of human rights of Greek conscientious objectors. This highlights Greece’s urgent need for legislative reform on conscientious objection, in order to comply with international human rights law and standards.

In his foreword Friedhelm Schneider, EBCO President, points  to some gleams of light amid the darkness: 

  • In January 2016 an amnesty was pronounced for all Greek objectors who had declared their objection before 1998 when the current law on conscientious objection entered into force. No compensation, however, was granted for all fines and prison sentences imposed to this group of early objectors.
  • Supported by an international network of solidarity and lobby work the Ukrainian journalist and conscientious objector Ruslan Kotsaba was acquitted in July 2016. He had been arrested in February 2015 because of his appeal to refuse a mobilization that would lead to fratricide.
  • In Rojava, Kurdish region where a many years long struggle is being waged against ISIS, the right of conscientious objection has been recognized by the government of the Cizre canton in April 2016.

After its General Assemblies held in London (14 May 2016) and in Athens (19 November 2016) the European Bureau of Conscientious Objection expresses once more its concern that the credibility of international Human rights institutions on the European and United Nations level will strongly be damaged if the implementation of their resolutions and judgements cannot be achieved. It will consequently stay an important task for human rights NGOs to remind national governments of their responsibility to publicize and to execute the binding requests of international Human rights institutions.

Click here to read the full EBCO 2016 report in detail.

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Introducing the Geneva Fellowship & Martina Lanza

Earlier this year, IFOR was pleased to receive a grant from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust to help expand it's work at the United Nations in support of conscientious objectors around the world. IFOR saw a need to grow the capacity of human rights advocates to defend C.O.s and has created a Fellowship that will allow human rights professionals to learn more about the right to conscientious objection while gaining experience working to support those whose rights are being threatened or violated.  The fellows will work along side IFOR's main representative to the UN in Geneva, Derek Brett for a period of 6 to 12 months. 

We are pleased to introduce our first IFOR Fellow for this project, Martina Lanza.  Martina has an M.A. in Human rights and International Relations and her principal interests are Children’s rights, conscientious objection to military service and nonviolent conflict resolution. 

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