UN Human Rights Council, 57th Session
Connection e.V., War Resisters’ International — on September 24, 2024
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Today at the UN in Geneva on the occasion of the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council, it took place the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation. On this occasion, Connection e.V. together with War Resisters’ International (WRI) prepared and delivered in the plenary a statement addressing the situation of conscientious objectors, forced recruitment and the employment of conscripts in the war. Connection e.V. and WRI reinforce the Special Rapporteur’s recommendation to the international community to “consider granting protection and asylum to conscientious objectors”.
You can watch the recording of the Interactive Dialogue here.
Mr. President!
WRI together with its partner Connection e.V., thanks the Special Rapporteur for her report.
We share her concern about “a structural, state-sponsored system of human rights violations” and the criminalization of “public anti-war expression or dissent of any kind”.*
* ibid, “at least 53 anti-war activists are currently being punished by forced psychiatric detention that can be indefinite”
It is a fact that the Russian Movement of Conscientious Objectors (Russian: Движение сознательных отказчиков, ДСО [DSO]) has been labelled as “foreign agent”.
We welcome the Special Rapporteur reporting also on the right to conscientious objection to military service and support her recommendations to the Russian Federation to “ensure full respect for this constitutional right, including in the context of mobilization [ — equally for those called up and for those already serving — and provide for a strictly civilian alternative service and end their criminal prosecution and the practice of arbitrary detention]”.*
* ibid, “recommendation”
Criminal cases are being initiated against those who challenge the denial of alternative civilian service in court hence their right to appeal is treated as evasion of conscription.
After 2 years since the partial mobilization, vulnerable groups are forcibly* recruited for the war, including minorities and migrants.
* How Russia is Recruiting Foreigners to Fight in Ukraine
* Torture with Electric Shocks and Dehydration: How Migrants are Recruited for the War
* India was able to bring back its own citizens due to Russia’s economic dependence — How Russia Recruits Foreigners for Military Service
Conscripts are on the verge of direct involvement in the war, moreover after the invasion of the Kursk region.* [A large number of conscripts in regular service have been transferred there. It has been notified that they are being used in defence lines in the region, and from a legal standpoint, nothing prevents them from being sent directly into combat lines**].
* Putin Has Increased the Army by 180,000 Soldiers
* Why is the Russian Government Sending Conscripted Soldiers to the Kursk Region?
WRI together with Connection e.V. reinforce the Special Rapporteur’s recommendation to the international community to “consider granting protection and asylum to conscientious objectors to military service who have fled the Russian Federation and exercise due diligence to prevent their expulsion or extradition back to the Russian Federation in violation of the principle of non-refoulement, [since there is a well-founded fear of persecution and substantial grounds to believe that, upon their return, they would be prosecuted and face imprisonment and/or torture and ill-treatment in custody]”.
Madame Special Rapporteur, since we already registered several denials of asylum to Russian conscientious objectors, how can we ensure that information on the situation of human rights and particularly on the risks conscientious objectors face in the Russian Federation, are duly considered in the granting asylum procedures?
Thank you!
Oral Statement Delivered by WRI, in Collaboration with Connection e.V. — PDF-file
Movement of Conscientious Objectors
24th Meeting — 57th Regular Session of Human Rights Council — United Nations
How Russia is Recruiting Foreigners to Fight in Ukraine — Hanna Sokolova-Stekh (Deutsche Welle)
Torture with Electric Shocks and Dehydration: How Migrants are Recruited for the War — Север. Реалии
How Russia Recruits Foreigners for Military Service — Hanna Sokolova-Stekh (Deutsche Welle)
Putin Has Increased the Army by 180,000 Soldiers — Katya Zagvozdkina (Forbes)