The undersigned organizations express grave concern about the ongoing persecution of Ukrainian human rights defender Yurii Sheliazhenko, a conscientious objector to military service. He is currently at serious risk of being arrested and forcibly conscripted under Ukraine’s universal military registration system, which is enforced through coercive measures such as arbitrary detention and forced transfers to military recruitment offices. Such practices effectively compel conscientious objectors to act against their convictions and directly violate Article 18(2) of the ICCPR, which prohibits coercion that compromises freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
In response to his appeals against the summons he recently received at Christmas, Yurii Sheliazhenko received a communication from several authorities, all of whom stated in writing that conscientious objection to military service in wartime is not recognized in Ukraine. The office of Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets responded to a complaint on this matter by stating that “mobilization by the Ukrainian state is the only necessary and urgent measure to prevent aggression by another state, during which the possibility of alternative service is excluded (since mobilization itself is not simply for the purpose of performing military service, but to protect the homeland from military invasion by another state). At the same time, current legislation provides for the punishment of persons guilty of violating legislation on military duty and military service.”
This violates international standards and constitutes a serious violation of the rights of those who refuse to perform military service on grounds of conscience. The history of other countries offers examples of good practices relating to provisions on alternative service during armed conflicts. [2]
Conscientious objection to military service is a human right enshrined in Article 18 of the ICCPR on freedom of thought, conscience, and religion[3] and Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
According to international human rights law and standards, the right to conscientious objection applies in both wartime and peacetime, as recognized by the Human Rights Committee. [4] Article 4, paragraph 2, of the ICCPR does not allow for any derogation from a signatory state’s obligations under Article 18 on freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, even in times of public emergency threatening the life of the nation. [5]
According to reports by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, several conscientious objectors in Ukraine have already been tortured and imprisoned. [6]
Violating the right to conscientious objection to military service can also undermine the democratic principles that guarantee the survival of an inclusive society, rather than oppressing a section of citizens who seek and support, for example, alternatives to war in order to restore peace and ensure the well-being of their community.
Ø We urge the Ukrainian authorities to cease the persecution of conscientious objectors in the country, and in particular of Mr. Sheliazhenko, who has publicly declared himself a conscientious objector since 1998, and we call on the government to stop criminalizing those who exercise the human right to conscientious objection to military service.
Ø We urge the Ukrainian authorities to withdraw the charge of alleged “justification of Russian aggression” against Mr. Sheliazhenko[7] for his pacifist statements, in which he called for nonviolent resistance to Russian aggression and condemned [this aggression] along with all other wars, and to ensure that his freedom of expression and rights are protected under Ukrainian law, in line with international standards.
The case of Mr. Sheliazhenko was previously included in a communication from the Special Rapporteurs on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, on minority issues, and on freedom of religion or belief. [8] Sheliazhenko’s case, the communication from the Special Rapporteurs, and the response from the Ukrainian authorities were also highlighted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in its report on conscientious objection to military service, particularly in the chapter entitled “Refrain from unduly restricting the human rights of those who represent or defend the rights of conscientious objectors.” [9] His case was also highlighted in Amnesty International’s 2023/2024 annual report.[10]
Ø We call on the international community to take all necessary actions to ensure that human rights defenders and peace activists are not criminalized for their actions in favor of peace and nonviolence; Furthermore, we call for the right to conscientious objection to be fully implemented in line with international standards and for conscientious objectors to be provided with the necessary protection against persecution in their country of origin, including asylum.
Mr. Sheliazhenko is an academic, executive secretary of the Ukrainian Peace Movement (a member organization of War Resisters International, founded in 1921), and a member of the board of directors of the European Office for Conscientious Objection[11] and World Beyond War.
Signatory organizations (in alphabetical order)
- Agir pour la Paix – Belgio
- Aktive Arbeitslose Österreich – Austria
- Anglican Pacifist Fellowship
- Another Development Foundation
- Artist for Peace – Svezia
- Aseistakieltäytyjäliitto (AKL) – Finlandia
- Association of Conscientious Objectors – Grecia
- Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII (APG23) – Italia
- Associazione Nazionale Giuristi Democratici – Italia
- Board of Green Alternative e.V.
- BOCS Civilization Planning Foundation – Ungheria
- Bottna för Fred (Bottna for Peace) – Svezia
- Bund für Soziale Verteidigung (Federation for Social Defence)
- Bundesvereinigung Opfer der NS-Militärjustiz e.V. – Germania
- Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament – Regno Unito
- Center for Global Nonkilling
- Center for Nonviolent Action, Lausanne – Svizzera
- Center on Conscience & War – USA
- Centre d’Estudis per la pau JM Delàs – Spagna
- Church and Peace e.V. (European Ecumenical Peace Network)
- Community of Christ British Isles Mission Centre
- Connection e.V.
- Conscientious Objection Initiative – Cipro
- Conscientious Objection Watch – Turchia
- Coordinamento Fiorentino contro il Riarmo – Italia
- Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience
- De Nieuwe Vredesbeweging – Olanda
- Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft – Vereinigte KriegsdienstgegnerInnen Frankfurt – Germania
- DFG-VK – Germania
- Dhesarme – Brazilian Action for Humanitarian Disarmament – Brasile
- DiEM25
- EAK – Germania
- European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO)
- Falu United Nations Association – Svezia
- FemArtAct social cooperative – Grecia
- Folk mot DCA – Svezia
- Forum Friedensethik in the Protestant Church of Baden – Germania
- Forum Nord-Sud – Belgio
- Friedensinitiative Hersfeld-Rotenburg
- Friedenszentrum Braunschweig e.V.
- gewaltfrei grün e.V. (non-violent green association)
- Global Strategy of Nonviolence – USA
- Global Veterans Peace Network
- Halte aux guerres, halte à la guerre sociale – Belgio
- Independent and Peaceful Australia network – Australia
- Institute of Peace and Law – Ucraina
- International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR)
- International Peace Bureau
- Internationale der Kriegsdienstgegner*innen (IDK)
- Internationaler Versöhnungsbund – österreichischer Zweig (IFOR branch) – Austria
- Internationaler Versöhnungsbund e.V. (IFOR branch) – Germania
- Iona Community
- ISP VIENNA – AbFaNG – Austria
- Kerk en Vrede – Olanda
- La Acción Colectiva de Objetores y Objetoras de Conciencia (ACOOC) – Colombia
- Lay Down Your Arms – Norvegia & Svezia
- Le Cercle de libre Pensée – Kring voor het Vrije Denken (CLP-KVD)
- Le Mouvement de la Paix – Francia
- Leuven Peace Movement – Belgio
- Lex Innocentium 21st Century – Irlanda
- Meeting of Friends of Ukraine – Ucraina
- MERA25 – Italia
- Mesarvot – Israele
- MIR France (IFOR branch) – Francia
- Montreal for a World Beyond War – Canada
- Movimento Internazionale della Riconciliazione – MIR Italy (IFOR branch) – Italia
- Movimento Nonviolento – Italia
- Netzwerk Friedenssteuer e.V. – Germania
- No to war – no to NATO
- Nouveaux Droits de l’Homme – Cameroon
- Observatorio de Militarismo – Colombia
- Ökopax e.V. Würzburg – Germania
- Our House – Bielorussia & Lituania
- Pax Christi Inghilterra & Galles
- Pax Christi Fiandre
- Pax Christi Germania
- Pax Christi Rhein-Main – Germania
- PDF-Africa – Uganda
- Peace and Social Concerns committee of Ottawa Quakers – Canada
- Peace SOS – Olanda
- Post-Soviet Left
- Presbyterian Peace Fellowship – USA
- Public Council of the South Coast of the Gulf of Finland
- Quaker Council for European Affairs
- Quäker-Hilfe e.V. – Germania
- Quakers in Fiandre
- Re-Imagining New Communities
- Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) – Olanda
- School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) – Cile
- September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows – USA
- SERAPAZ – Messico
- Service Civil International (SCI)
- Stop Fuelling War Cessez d’alimenter la guerre
- Stop the War Coalition
- Stop the War Coalition Filippine
- Stop Wapenhandel – Olanda
- Stoparmy Movement – Russia
- Sustainable Peace and Development Organization (SPADO)
- Svenska fredskommitten Göteborg – Svezia
- Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society – Svezia
- Swedish Peace Committee – Svezia
- The Association of Conscientious Objectors – Grecia
- The Center on Conscience & War – USA
- The Fellowship of Reconciliation England and Scotland (IFOR branch) – Regno Unito
- The Peace Committee of The Swedish Society of Friends – Svezia
- The Peace Institute, Ljubljana – Slovenia
- The Peace Movement of Orust – Svezia
- transform! Italia – Italia
- Transnational Institute
- Ukrainian Pacifist Movement – Ucraina
- Un ponte per – Italia
- Victoria Peace Coalition – Canada
- Vrede vzw (Belgian Peace organisation) – Belgio
- Vredesactie – Belgio
- Vredesbeweging Pais (Dutch section of War Resisters International) – Olanda
- War Resisters’ International (WRI)
- WILPF Bergen – Norvegia
- Women Against Nuclear Power – Finlandia
- Women for Peace – Finlandia
- World BEYOND War
- World BEYOND War Irlanda
- World Without War – Corea del Sud
[1] Authorities including Stanislav Kulish, Director of the Department for Monitoring Compliance with Rights in the Defense Sector and the Rights of Veterans and Military Personnel, Prisoners of War, and Their Families at the Secretariat of the Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Colonel Serhii Kalugin, commander of the Pechersk District Territorial Recruitment Center in the city of Kyiv, and Taras Kovalchuk, deputy head of the third investigative division of the Territorial Directorate of the State Investigation Office based in the city of Kyiv.
[2] “Conscientious objection in times of war and other national emergencies,” EBCO Annual Report 2024, pages 199-204. https://ebco-beoc.org/sites/ebco-beoc.org/files/2025-06-05-EBCO_Annual_Report_2024.pdf
[3] United Nations Human Rights Committee, Communication No. 1642-1741/2007, Jeong et al. v. Republic of Korea (CCPR/C/101/D/1642-1741/2007), April 27, 2011, paragraph 7.3. https://juris.ohchr.org/casedetails/1637/en-US
[4] For example, CCPR/CO/82/FIN, December 2, 2004, paragraph 14. http://undocs.org/CCPR/CO/82/FIN
[5] See also: Amy Maguire, “Why banning men from leaving Ukraine violates their human rights,” The Conversation, March 8, 2022.
https://theconversation.com/why-banning-men-from-leaving-ukraine-violates-their-human-rights-178411
And “Right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief, Fact sheet for the public sector.”
[6] https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/42nd-periodic-report-human-rights-situation-ukraine-1-december-2024-31 (paragraphs 85, 86)
https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/41st-periodic-report-human-rights-situation-ukraine-1-september-30 (paragraphs 90, 91)
https://rm.coe.int/memorandum-on-human-rights-elements-for-peace-in-ukraine-by-michael-o-/1680b678ec (paragraphs 49, 50)
[7] Mr. Sheliazhenko is charged under Article 436-2 (2) of the Ukrainian Criminal Code, which provides for penalties of up to 5 years’ imprisonment and confiscation of property, for sending Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a pacifist statement entitled “Peace Agenda for Ukraine and the World” (https://www.civilni.media/235/). In addition to supporting the UN General Assembly’s condemnation of Russian aggression, the statement calls on all parties involved in the armed conflict to respect the rights of conscientious objectors, allow them to oppose the war in a nonviolent manner, and not demonize the enemy to the point of ruling out any negotiations, which, according to the prosecution, “would justify Russian aggression.” Yurii’s home was searched, his smartphone and computer were seized in 2023, he was under house arrest until February 2024, and the trial, which has been postponed numerous times, continues today.
[8] AL UKR 1/2023, November 8, 2023, pp. 5-6. https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=28562
[9] A/HRC/56/30, April 23, 2024, paragraph 45. https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/56/30
[10] https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol10/7200/2024/en/ p. 385.
