Recap of IFOR participation in the 49th UN Human Rights Council

The International Secretariat is pleased to present a summary of IFOR's recent involvement at the UN, in particular at the Human Rights Council. 

The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them. The Council is made up of 47 United Nations Member States which are elected by the UN General Assembly and meets three times a year at the UN Office in Geneva. 

The  49th  session of the UN Human Rights Council has just concluded its working meetings. The session started on  February 28th and ended on  April 1st and the participation of the member States and civil society representatives has been hybrid mode. 

The session was characterized by an urgent debate on the situation in Ukraine; the issue of the war moved by Russia on Ukraine has been part of the following working session debates.

What follows is a list of the oral statements delivered or co-sponsored by IFOR during the session. At this session IFOR addressed issues such as the resistance to war, the right to conscientious objection, nuclear disarmament, peace negotiations, nonviolent action and presented cases referring to the specific issues in Ukraine, Eritrea, Colombia, Greece, Turkey, Western Sahara… IFOR has also taken the floor to speak about the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó on its 25th anniversary, highlighting specific struggles and violations of human rights it is currently facing.

*On April 7th 2022 the UN General Assembly has voted to suspend Russian UN HRC membership as a response to Russia invasion of and alleged rights abuses in Ukraine

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IFOR joins "Appeal for Peace in Ukraine" at the UN

Click on the image for more information and to read the underived statement

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IFOR takes the floor at the UN Human Rights Council on war resisters and nuclear threat

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IFOR joins statement at the UN on Western Sahara

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IFOR addresses the UN Human Rights Council on the right to refuse to kill

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IFOR speaks at the UN about the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó on its 25th anniversary

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IFOR raises concern at the UN over forced conscription in Eritrea

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IFOR speaks at the UN calling on Greece to comply with conscientious objection international standards

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"WAR SHOULD BE ABOLISHED!" IFOR speaks up at the UN on the right to conscientious objection in wartime

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IFOR speaks at the UN on the fundamental rights of the people of Western Sahara

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IFOR has also submitted a written statement to the 49th UN Human Rights Council concerning the Peace Community of San Joseé de Apartado and human rights violations.

You can read here this report "Colombia: New Threats Against The Peace Community Of San Jose De Apartado On Its 25th Anniversary", which has been received by the Secretary-General and has been circulated in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31, and registered officially on the UN website as A/HRC/49/NGO/239 .

You can read more about the 25th anniversary of the Peace Community here.

For information on IFOR's work at the UN you can contact its coordinator at zaira.zafarana@ifor.org

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IFOR takes the floor at the UN Human Rights Council on war resisters and nuclear threat

IFOR is participating in the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council which started on February 28th and will conclude on April 1st.

On March 8th the High Commissioner addressed the plenary on current human rights situations and IFOR took the floor during the General Debate, after the members states, and delivered an oral statement with direct references to the current situation in Ukraine and highlighting other concerning situation such as the illegal practice of "batidas" to illegally recruit young people in Colombia.

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Human Rights Council, 49th Session 

Geneva, 8th March 2022 

Item 2: General Debate with the High Commissioner on Human Rights 

Madame High Commissioner,  

International Fellowship of Reconciliation - IFOR is extremely concerned about the deterioration of  human rights as a result of warfare including in Ukraine.  

We express our solidarity to all those who are suffering because of war. 

We plead to promote peace without increasing ongoing violence.  

The answer cannot be reduced to the alternative of suffering or waging war. 

The way forward is through international law, cooperation, disarmament and the establishment of civilian  peace corps, for instance.  

We support the right to refuse to kill and non-violent resistance to war, in Ukraine, in Russia and in all  countries, including the «No Means No» campaign in Belarus to support war resisters.  Violations of the right to conscientious objection to military service continue, including in Colombia,  where irregular recruitment practices -“batidas”- persist, [ignoring rulings from the Constitutional Court1,  recruitment regulations and compliance with the peace agreement].2 

We are concerned about violations of the right to Freedom of Expression and Assembly also for those  protesting against war. Over 13,000 protesters3have been detained in 147 Russian cities since February  24th.4 

Freedom of thought, conscience and religion is a non-derogable right and, as is freedom of expression, it  continues to apply in situations of armed conflict. 

We would also like to draw the attention of this Council to the nuclear threat. 

Nuclear deterrence does not maintain peace and security, it only brings terror and threat to humanity. The Right to Life is “the supreme right from which no derogation is permitted”5; [the UN Human Rights  Committee6stated that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is incompatible with the Right to Life and  may amount to a crime under international law].  

IFOR urgently calls on all Member States to ratify and implement the UN nuclear ban treaty [Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons]7. 

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1 Sentence C-879/11 - Measures to compel those who have not complied with the obligation to register in order to define their military situation - They  cannot consist of arbitrary detentions that violate personal liberty or judicial confidentiality. 

2 Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General,  37th session, 26 February-23 March 2018. National, regional and international human rights law stipulates that military forces are not responsible for citizen  security, the fight against organised crime, coexistence and development. In exceptional situations, the National Police may require military assistance,  which must be provided in accordance with the principle of police primacy and with strict civilian control. The tasks of coexistence and development are the  exclusive responsibility of the civilian authorities". 

3 As of March 6th. 

4 According to OVD-Info data. https://ovd.news/news/2022/03/02/russian-protests-against-war-ukraine-chronicle-events  5 Parag. 2 of General Comment n. 36 of the Human Rights Committee. 

6 General Comment No. 36 (2018) on art. 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) on the right to life. 7 entered into force last January 22nd 2021.

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Click here to watch IFOR Main representative at the UN, Ms. Zaira Zafarana, delivering the statement at the Human Rights Council.

Click here to download the official statement.

To watch live or recorded the Human Rights Council you can click here.

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Click here to read the public statement released by IFOR and its branches on the current situation in Ukraine.

IFOR addresses the UN Human Rights Council on the right to refuse to kill

On March 10th, on the occasion of the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council, IFOR participated in the Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the freedom of religion or belief, Mr. Ahmed Shaheed, and addressed the issue of the right to conscientious objection to military service in the plenary.

The statement has been co-sponsored by War Resisters' International and referred as well to the concerning situation of armed conflicts.

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Human Rights Council, 49th Session 

Geneva, 10th March 2022 

Item 2: Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the freedom of religion or belief Joint oral statement delivered by the International Fellowship of Reconciliation. 

Mr. President, 

We thank the Special Rapporteur for His report1 and share the same concern for the violation of the right to  conscientious objection to military service of objectors from religious or belief minorities. We are aware of two Jehovah’s Witnesses currently imprisoned as conscientious objectors in South Korea.2 There  are twenty others imprisoned in Eritrea3 where there is a system of indefinite National Service. Last year we had the case of Ukrainian protestant conscientious objectors in the Rivne region whose right has  been violated.4 

Violations of the right to conscientious objection to military service continue in many countries. In Colombia, young people are recruited by the official army through arbitrary detentions [batidas], although the  Constitutional Court has forbidden it in 2011.5 

Conscientious objectors continue to be imprisoned in various countries, such as Turkmenistan6, Singapore7,  Eritrea8, Tajikistan9, Israel10. 

In Turkey, Eritrea and Singapore the right is not recognized. Turkish objectors are facing a situation of “civil  death”.11 

As highlighted by the SR in His report, we are deeply alarmed by the violation of this right in situations of armed  conflicts. 

Ukraine compels all males of age 18-60 to take arms and fight in the current war; on the other side we witness  the arresting of thousands of anti-war Russian citizens, and we hear that not only contract soldiers, but also  ordinary conscripts are employed in the war.12 

Freedom of thought, conscience and religion is a non-derogable right, like freedom of expression, and it continues  to apply regardless of a situation of armed conflict. 

We urge all member States to release all imprisoned conscientious objectors and respect international standards  [for the exercise of the right to conscientious objection]. 

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1 A/HRC/49/44https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session49/Documents/A_HRC_49_44_AdvanceUneditedVersion.docx

2 https://www.jw.org/en/news/legal/by-region/south-korea/jehovahs-witnesses-in-prison/ 

3 As of March 2022. https://www.jw.org/en/news/legal/by-region/eritrea/jehovahs-witnesses-in-prison/ 

4 Parag. 79 of the thirty-first report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the human rights situation in  Ukraine (1 August 2020 to 31 January 2021), based on the work of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU). https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/UA/31stReportUkraine-en.pdf 

5 Sentence C-879/11 - Measures to compel those who have not complied with the obligation to register in order to define their military situation - They  cannot consist of arbitrary detentions that violate personal liberty or judicial confidentiality. 

6 https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/2025552.html. 

7 https://www.jw.org/en/news/legal/by-region/singapore/jehovahs-witnesses-in-prison/. 

8 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=26439&LangID=E. 

9 https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2629. 

10 https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-conscientious-objector-released-from-military-prison/ 

https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2fCCPR%2fCSS%2fISR%2f47719&Lang=en 11 The situation of conscientious objectors is defined as “civil death” by European Court of Human Rights. (Ulke v. Turkey, application no. 39437/98). 12 https://takiedela.ru/news/2022/02/24/komitet-soldatskikh-materey/ 

https://mobile.twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1501567647741358082 

https://www.interfax.ru/world/827191

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Click here to download the official statement.

To watch live or recorded the Human Rights Council you can click here.

Click here to watch IFOR Main representative at the UN, Ms. Zaira Zafarana, delivering the statement at the Human Rights Council.

IFOR joins "Appeal for Peace in Ukraine" at the UN

On February 28th the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council started its working session and on March 3rd and 4th an Urgent debate on the situation of human rights in Ukraine, stemming from the Russian aggression.

You can watch here the plenary meeting of the mentioned urgent debate with the interventions of member states and NGOs.

On March 8th, during the General Debate with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Madam Bachelet, IFOR joined 20 other NGOs in an "Appeal for Peace in Ukraine", delivered by the Associazione Papa Giovanni XXIII.

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49th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council, 28 February – 1 April 2022 Item 2: General Debate with the High Commissioner on Human Rights  Joint Oral statement delivered by: Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII (APG23) Co-signing NGOs1:  

Associazione Comunita Papa Giovanni XXIII (APG23); Association Points-Cœur; AVSI  Foundation; Baptist World Alliance (BWA); Center for Global Nonkilling; Confédération  Internationale Société de Saint Vincent de Paul; Conscience and Peace Tax International  (CPTI); Dominicans for Justice and Peace (Order of Preachers); Dominican Leadership  Conference; Edmund Rice International; Foundation for the Social Promotion of Culture;  ICMICA-MIIC Pax Romana; International Catholic Child Bureau (BICE); International  fellowship of Reconciliation – IFOR; International Organization for the Right to Education  and freedom of Education (OIDEL); International Volunteerism Organization for Women  Education and Development (VIDES International); Istituto Internazionale Maria Ausiliatrice  (IIMA); MIAMSI; Mouvement contre le Racism et pour l’Amitiéentre les Peuples (MRAP);  New Humanity. 

“Appeal for Peace in Ukraine” 

Madam High Commissioner,  

I speak on behalf of 20 NGOs to express our extreme dismay at the military action that is currently  unfolding in Ukraine. We would like to echo your appeal2 of February 24 that urges an immediate halt to  hostilities that puts countless civilian lives at risk.  

We bring into this room the voice of the defenceless victims of conflicts, whose human rights are being  violated. 

We would like to recall the 2016 Declaration on the Right to Peace3 that affirms “Everyone has the right  to enjoy peace such that all human rights are promoted and protected and development is fully realized.” 

We believe that a process of disarmament is needed in order to guarantee peace. All countries involved in  the security architecture of Europe must commit to the reduction of strategic and non-strategic nuclear  weapons stored in the continent. Moreover, the Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons should be  signed and implemented by all States.  

We appeal to the UN, the international community, all parties to strive for an end to the fighting in Ukraine  by enforcing international law and finding a solution to the conflict based on the principle of peaceful  settlement of disputes. 

“War is a “scourge”… It is an adventure without return that compromises humanity's present and threatens  its future… War is always a defeat for humanity”4 

No one has the right to make a war, yet we all have the duty to build peace. 

Thank You! 

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1 NGOs not accredited to ECOSOC supporting this statement: 1. Japan Committee for the Right to Peace 2 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=28153&LangID=E 

3 A/RES/71/189 

4 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, paragraph 497

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Click here to download the official statement.

To watch live or recorded the Human Rights Council you can click here.