Show last 20 articles - information to antimilitarizm, recruitment, resisting and asylum en-en http://www.connection-ev.org/bilder/logo_connxml.jpg http://www.connection-ev.org/bilder/logo_connxml.jpg Many countries practice forceful recruitment for war. Objectors are discriminated against and persecuted. Connection e.V., an association founded in 1993, advocates a comprehensive right to conscientious objection at an international level. The organisation collaborates with groups opposing war, conscription and the military. Beyond Europe, our network extends to Turkey, the U.S., Israel, Latin America and Africa. The danger of prosecution has forced many conscientious objectors to leave their countries. However, prosecution as a conscientious objector is usually not recognized as a reason for asylum. Connection e.V. demands that conscientious objectors from war regions should get asylum. We offer counseling and information to refugees and support for their self-organization. (Aktualisiert am 04.09.2012) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-592 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-592 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (28.04.2013) Together, we in No to Compulsory Military Service (Egypt) and New Profile (Israel) confirm our support of peace and of conscientious objectors in both countries, re-affirming the human right to freedom of conscience, faith and self-determination. We condemn the way both our governments treat conscientious objectors: Natan Blank, Emad El Dafrawi, and Mohammed Fathy. (Aktualisiert am 28.04.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1826 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1826 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (18.04.2013) Conscientious objector Natan Blanc, 19 years old from Haifa, was sentenced to 20 days of imprisonment for his refusal at the Induction Base in Tal-Hashomer April 18, 2013. This was the ninth sentence. Altogether he was sentenced to 150 days of imprisonment, since he declared his conscientious objection at the Induction Base in Tal-Hashomer November 19, 2012. (Aktualisiert am 13.05.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1747 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1747 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (05.04.2013) Kimberly Rivera, who was a member of the US military before developing a conscientious objection between deployments in Iraq, has an important hearing on 29th April. A plea agreement has been reached between Kimberly's lawyers and the military authorities. A hearing to determine the length of her sentence will take place on 29 April at Fort Carson, Colorado. She has been detained since September last year. You can send an email asking for Kimberly to be released immediately here. (Aktualisiert am 30.04.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1810 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1810 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (11.03.2013) Nikos Karanikas is a very active and well known person. Many people came to attend his trial on 8 March, something that always presses the members of the court. It is maybe the first time that the president of the court allowed all the witnesses (10) to testify in Nikos' defence: normally, the courts do not accept more than 4-5. (Aktualisiert am 18.04.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1818 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1818 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (06.03.2013) Amnesty International, the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection and War Resisters' International condemn the new prosecution of 44-year-old Nikolaos Karanikas, conscientious objector on ideological grounds. Three years after their previous joint public statement, the three international organisations are asking again that the greek authorities comply with the European and international standards and recommendations, and to end immediately all the prosecutions, prison sentences, administrative fines (of 6,000 Euros) and discriminations against conscientious objectors, whatever their motivation. (Aktualisiert am 18.04.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1816 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1816 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (06.03.2013) International agreements duly put into effect bear the force of law. In the case of a conflict between international agreements in the area of fundamental rights and freedoms duly put into effect and the domestic laws due to differences in provisions on the same matter, the provisions of international agreements shall prevail. Conscientious objector Ali Fikri Işık, was detained and arrested on 9th June 2012 in a hotel in Diyarbekir for being a 'draft-dodger'. Işık, who served 4.5 months in the Edirne Military Prison, and who has declared his conscientious objection in Kurdish in the military court, has continued to refuse the draft also after his release, but has appeared in court whenever sessions of his trial have been held. The military hospital, where he was sent, reported that Işık was 'suitable for military service'. (Aktualisiert am 18.03.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1804 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1804 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (22.02.2013) Dovran Matyakubov and Matkarim Aminov are Jehovahs Witness conscientious objectors in Turkmenistan. They have already been imprisoned for 18 months each (being released in June 2012), but in December were sentenced to a further two years imprisonment. (Aktualisiert am 21.05.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1797 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1797 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (22.02.2013) Nikolaos Karanikas is a Greek conscientious objector. Nikos was first arrested for his conscientious objection 18 years ago, in 1995. Today - Friday 22 February 2013 - he once again faces prosecution in front of the military court of Thessaloniki. (Aktualisiert am 28.02.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1789 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1789 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (15.02.2013) Jesse Kamila, a 24 year-old conscientious objector from Joensuu, Finland was sentenced to 180 days of home detention on Tuesday 12 February by Itä-Uudenmaan käräjäoikeus (Eastren Uusimaa district court). He had refused to do military service on 21 May 2012. He was charged with "refusal from civilian service" (siviilipalveluksesta kieltäytyminen). (Aktualisiert am 21.05.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1792 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1792 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (18.01.2013) Yesterday, the Munich Administrative Court informed counsel for the AWOL U.S. soldier André Shepherd, attorney Reinhard Marx, that the hearing on his asylum application scheduled for next Wednesday has been cancelled. The Munich Administrative Court will submit a request for a preliminary ruling to the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg, and will therefore suspend the proceedings, thus agreeing to a motion by attorney Marx. (Aktualisiert am 17.05.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1775 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1775 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (18.01.2013) André Shepherd joined the U.S. army in 2004 and after 6 months' training was stationed in Iraq as a mechanic for Apache helicopters. When he returned to his unit in Katterbach (Bavaria), he began intensively to research, to come to terms with what the U.S. military was doing to the civilian population in Iraq. "In the end, I knew the truth: if I went (to Iraq) again, I would be responsible for the death and misery of innocent people. Then the path for me was clear: I had to get out of the army." André Shepherd applied in November 2008 for asylum in Germany. At the beginning of April 2011, the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has denied AWOL U.S. soldier André Shepherd's application for asylum. April 7 he instructed his attorney to institute legal proceedings against the negative ruling. "We will keep on," André Shepherd said. "Other soldiers should also feel sure that their decision not to participate in wars or crimes in violation of international law will be supported. They must be able to count on receiving protection in case of doubt." January 2013 the Munich Administrative Court decided to submit a request for a preliminary ruling to the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg. (Aktualisiert am 08.02.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-386 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-386 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (15.01.2013) On 23 January 2013, the Munich Administrative Court will be hearing the case of the request for asylum submitted in November 2008 by the U.S. AWOL soldier André Shepherd. Pro Asyl, the conscientious objectors network Connection e.V., the Bavarian Refugee Council, the German Peace Association (DFG-VK), Bavarian section, the Munich American Peace Committee (MAPC), and Military Counseling Network e.V. (MCN) invite you to come to Munich for this. Wednesday, 23 January 2013 in Munich 10:30: Press conference at the Eine-Welt-Haus, Schwanthalerstr. 80 12:00: Support action in front of the Munich Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgericht), Bayerstr. 30 13:00: Hearing in the Administrative Court, Bayerstr. 30 (Aktualisiert am 21.01.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1773 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1773 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (18.12.2012) EBCO deeply regrets the conviction of young Greek conscientious objector Menelaos Exioglou to 4-month-imprisonment sentence suspended for one year, on charges of insubordination by the military court of Larisa, Greece, today, 18 December 2012. What is more, EBCO regrets that the Greek military court rejected the request of the defense to deem itself incompetent to try a civilian. (Aktualisiert am 17.02.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1783 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1783 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (10.12.2012) The Deputies 1. noted that there are no arrest warrants issued against the applicants in the Ülke group of cases for any crimes related to failure to carry out military service; 2. noted, however, with concern that the applicant in the case of Ercep is still under the obligation to pay an administrative fine draft evading and the applicant in the case of Feti Demirtaş was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for disobedience to a military order, although his conviction is not final yet; 3. urged the Turkish authorities to take the necessary measures to ensure that the consequences of the violations found by the Court in these cases are completely erased for the applicants; 4. urged the Turkish authorities to take the necessary legislative measures with a view to preventing the repetitive prosecution and conviction of conscientious objectors and to ensuring that an effective and accessible procedure is made available to them in order to establish whether they are entitled to conscientious objector status; 5. invited the Turkish authorities to provide information to the Committee of Ministers on the measures taken or envisaged in order to ensure that conscientious objectors are not tried before military courts in the light of the findings of the European Court in the cases of Ercep, Savda and Feti Demirtaş. (Aktualisiert am 28.02.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1767 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1767 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (06.12.2012) Two Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors, Anania Grigoryan and Artsrun Khachatryan, have been imprisoned for 24 and 30 months respectively. This brings the number of people currently imprisoned for their conscientious objection in Armenia to 31. (Aktualisiert am 13.05.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1763 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1763 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (29.11.2012) Joonas Norrena, a 20 year-old conscientious objector from Imatra, Finland, has been sentenced to 179 days of home detention for "refusal of conscription" on 26 November 2012 by Kymenlaakso District Court. He had refused to do military service in July 2012 in Vekaranjärvi garrison in Southeastern Finland. (Aktualisiert am 01.02.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1748 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1748 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (28.11.2012) Kerem Koc, Protestant pastor living in Antalya, declared his conscientious objection to military service on 12 November 2012. In his letter to the Turkish military authorities he stated: "I cannot support an institution in which militarist world views and politics are sovereign, and where hatred leads brother to kill brother over race, religion, or language. For this reason, I will not be part of any armed force. Human beings are created in God's image, and are more important than any geopolitical boundaries or notions of ethnic territory. I believe people should live together in peace." (Aktualisiert am 16.02.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1752 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1752 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (14.11.2012) Last week, PFC Bradley Manning offered to accept responsibility for releasing classified documents as an act of conscience - not as charged by the US military. As people who have worked for decades against the increased militarization of societies and for international cooperation to end war, we are deeply dismayed by the treatment of Pfc. Bradley Manning. The military under the Obama administration has displayed a desire to over-prosecute whistle-blowing with life-in-prison charges including espionage and "aiding the enemy", a disturbing decision which is no doubt intended to set an example. (Aktualisiert am 21.11.2012) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1736 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1736 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. (12.11.2012) After having read, researched, discussed, and prayed about compulsory military service for many years, I have come to the conclusion that I cannot participate in military service with a clear conscience and with freedom of will. (Aktualisiert am 16.02.2013) http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1753 http://www.connection-ev.org/article-1753 Connection e.V., Offenbach/M. http://www.connection-ev.org