Just got in the post today a leaflet for the Conscientious Objectors Day ceremony taking place in Manchester (Peace Gardens, St Peter's Sq, 1.00-2.00, with Bruce Kent at the keynote speaker. Actually, CO day is 15th May and the Manchester event is the following Sunday, 18th May. Just hope they can cope with the challenges of the Great Manchester Run happening all around them at the same time!
Whilst some sort of progress has been made recently in relations between Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, it is in that part of the world when Conscientious Objection is still a big issue. A group of human rights and CO groups was in Athens last week and issued a .... Call for Greece, Cyprus and Turkey to recognise international standards on the right to conscientious objection
Greek Section of Amnesty International
Association of Greek Conscientious Objectors
Initiative for Conscientious Objection in Cyprus (north)
European Bureau for Conscientious Objection
War Resisters' International
To the
Embassy of Turkish Republic, Athens
Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus, Athens
Prime Minister of Greece, Athens
Athens, 11 April 2008
Greece, Cyprus and Turkey to recognise international standards on the right to conscientious objection
Representatives of conscientious objection and human rights organisations from several European countries, meeting in Athens over the weekend, call for Greece, Cyprus and Turkey to recognise the right to conscientious objection according to European and international standards.
The representatives remind the governments of Greece, Cyprus and Turkey that the right to conscientious objection has been recognised by several international institutions, among others the United Nations[1] and the Council of Europe[2]. More specifically, in a decision on two individual complaints from South Korea, the United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled in 2007 that not to provide for the right to conscientious objection is a violation of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
(More information about the situation in these countries on the page link here)
