Right to Refuse to Kill

A new publication, Voices of Peace: Stories of Conscientious Objectors from Europe and Beyond, brings together testimonies of people who have refused participation in war and military service across different countries and contexts.

The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO) has released its Annual Report on Conscientious Objection to Military Service in Europe 2025, warning of growing militarisation across Europe and renewed threats to the right to refuse military service.

On May 15th, International Conscientious Objection Day, we join together to send a clear and powerful message: we reject militarisation and affirm the right to refuse to kill, in response to growing efforts to promote military service as a solution to today’s crises.

US activists are mobilising against plans for automatic registration of potential draftees, warning of expanding militarisation and surveillance. In the latest Broken Rifle blog, Edward Hasbrouck examines how the proposal could strengthen draft preparedness, enable data misuse, and sustain future wars.

This article is the second in a two-part series. In Part I, Marah Frech traced the emergence of student-led protests across Germany against the possible return of conscription. Part II turns to the challenges this growing movement now faces, from marginalisation and co-optation to questions of intergenerational organising and its future direction.

The undersigned organisations express their serious concern regarding the immediate risk of deportation of Maksim Kuzmin back to Russia, as he is approaching a yet another - and probably the ultimate - hearing on April 2nd 2026 at the Regional Administrative Court in Kaunas, Lithuania.

Under the slogan “No to conscription and war preparations! The rich want war – the youth want a future!”, students across Germany have been protesting against the reintroduction of conscription. Marah Frech explores how students and young people across Germany are coming together in a nationwide wave of protests against proposals that could bring back compulsory military service, signalling a renewed resistance to conscription.

We strongly condemn the human rights violations against Yurii Sheliazhenko, who was forcibly detained by Ukrainian police in Kyiv on March 19. While we are relieved he has been released, he endured a traumatic experience and remains under threat of forced conscription, in violation of Ukrainian law and international human rights standards.

The undersigned organisations are shocked by the detention and deprivation of liberty of human rights defender Yurii Sheliazhenko, today March 19th, by the Ukrainian authorities in Kyiv. This is just weeks after a joint call to the authorities to withdraw from such persecutions of conscientious objectors and withdraw their ongoing persecution of Mr. Sheliazhenko.

A coalition of civil society organisations across the United States has launched a campaign opposing a recently passed federal law designed to intensify preparations for a potential military draft. The law allows the Selective Service System to begin automatically registering individuals without their consent, expanding the government’s database of potential conscripts.

The undersigned organisations express their indignation for the actions of military authorities in Greece in the case of conscientious objector Zacharias Piazas, in defiance of international law and the orders of the Council of State, Greece’s Supreme Administrative Court. 

In January, organisations from across different regions working on conscientious objection to military service submitted reports to the OHCHR. The reports document key developments over the past four years, including changes in legislation, new restrictions, cases of prosecution, and ongoing challenges faced by conscientious objectors worldwide.