PRESS RELEASE from the
European
Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO)
May 15, World Conscientious Objection Day in Barcelona
On
World Conscientious Objection Day, the EBCO board held its
annual meeting in Barcelona and supported a series of
activities organised by EBCO’s Catalan member
organisation,
Moviment per la Pau (Movement for Peace), to
commemorate the anniversary of
10 YEARS WITHOUT
MILITARY SERVICE IN SPAIN AND 25 YEARS OF THE MOVIMENT
FOR PEACE, a key actor in this process. The
representatives of conscientious objectors in Europe
were received by the
President of the Catalan Parliament,
Mr. Ernest Benach
and held a one day conference in the Open University in
Barcelona.
“The
abolition of military service was a popular and
democratic conquest, as a result of social and civic
participation, and it’s important to extract good
practices from the results obtained with the abolition
of military service for other dynamics, analyze the role
Catalonia played in its abolition and serve as a
platform to set out the peace agenda in the European
Union”, stated
Mr. Jordi Tolrà,
Representative of the Movement for Peace.
“We are deeply
disappointed that the E.U. gives no solution to the
grave human rights violations persisting in Member
States and Candidate Member States regarding
conscientious objectors, although the right to
conscientious objection is recognised under Article 10
of the E.U. Charter of Fundamental Rights. Conscientious
objectors in the E.U. should be able to exercise their
right to refuse to kill without facing any
discrimination or prosecution. Conscientious objectors
from third countries should be granted refugee status
when they are seeking asylum in E.U.”, said
Mr. Gerd Greune,
EBCO President.
"It is not the time to split the Union because of
self-made financial crisis as politicians and media in
various countries are trying, but to end the waste of
resources for military spending and to reduce the number
of soldiers within the E.U.. Tax payers in the E.U. are
spending more than 400 billion Euros for the military.
1.2 million soldiers in Europe are more than
unacceptable",
Mr. Greune added.
EBCO criticises
Britain where a former professional soldier,
Joe Glenton, had refused to serve in Afghanistan "for
reasons of principle", is still imprisoned, having lost
his appeal against a nine-month sentence. EBCO urges
Britain to fully recognise the human right to
conscientious objection and stop the prosecutions of
conscientious objectors.
EBCO criticises
Greece where already in 2010 two
conscientious objectors were convicted to prison
sentences by military courts: Giorgos Monastiriotis,
former professional soldier who refused to participate
in the war in Iraq on ideological grounds in 2003, was
convicted to five-month suspended prison sentence; and
Evangelos Mihalopoulos, ideological conscientious
objector who refused to serve the punitive civilian
service in 2007, was convicted to eight-month suspended
prison sentence. EBCO urges Greece to stop the
prosecutions of conscientious objectors and fully comply
with the European standards on conscientious objection.
EBCO welcomes the decision of the Greek Minister of
Defence to review the Greek law on civilian service and
calls for a purely civilian service of equal duration to
the military service, with no restrictions and
exclusions.
EBCO criticises
Turkey, where Enver Aydemir, is still in
prison sentenced to ten-month imprisonment because of
his conscientious objection based on his religious
beliefs as a Muslim. EBCO urges Turkey to fully
recognise the human right to conscientious objection,
stop the prosecutions of conscientious objectors and
implement the judgement of the European Court of Human
Rights in the Ülke case.
EBCO criticises the last 7 out of the 27 E.U. member
states which are still imposing conscription this year (Austria,
Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Germany),
and especially Austria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece
where civilian service remains punitive (in the northern
part of Cyprus the right to conscientious objection is
not even recognised).
EBCO welcomes the recent Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)4 of
the Council of Europe
Committee of Ministers to member states on the human
rights of members of the armed forces (24 February
2010). The Recommendation stipulates amongst others that
“professional
members of the armed forces should be able to leave the
armed forces for reasons of conscience” and
that they “should
not be subject to discrimination or to any criminal
prosecution”.
http://www.ebco-beoc.eu/ |