Conscientious objection is a human right! Everywhere!
ACTION DEDICATED TO THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF HUMAN RIGHTS
DECEMBER 14, SATURDAY, FROM 13:00
90402 NUREMBERG, KORNMARKT
Connection e.V. — on November 1, 2024
More than two and a half years after the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees ↷ (BAMF) is still generally not granting asylum to Russian refuseniks. It is not “considerably likely” that they will be called up for the war. These are people who have decided not to take part in the war of aggression, which is against international law. They are now threatened with deportation to Russia, a scandal. There they often face conscription, prison and torture.
The same applies to people from Belarus who have fled from dictatorship and the threat of war in Belarus. And refugees from Ukraine are not (or no longer) safe either: there are voices in German politics calling for male refugees to be sent back – as Norway intends to do in future — because, after all, the country needs soldiers. We are deeply disappointed that the human right to conscientious objection is being trampled on in this way.
The way they are treated is just one example of how refugees and their concerns are treated in Germany. We therefore want to raise our voices in front of the BAMF to mark International Human Rights Day.
Let’s demonstrate loudly and visibly against war and the rejection of refugees!
WAR MEANS DEATH AND DESTRUCTION
Wars are currently being waged in various countries, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, countless often seriously injured people, widespread destruction and the associated transnational exodus. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine began more than two and a half years ago. Following the brutal attack by Hamas and the military escalation by the Israeli government, the entire region has become a battlefield. Turkey repeatedly deploys military forces in neighboring states in the Kurdish regions. In Sudan, Yemen and Myanmar, wars are raging that are in no way inferior to the aforementioned wars in terms of the number of victims and cruelty, but which receive less public attention. All these wars are driving countless people to flee their homes, some of them to Europe and Germany.
THE GOVERNMENTS’ RESPONSE
The response of German and European governments: They are outdoing each other with proposals to fend off refugees. And they are pushing ahead with militarization.
Fortress Europe is being militarized. Asylum seekers are being sent to camps outside the European Union, effectively stopping their access to asylum procedures. At many of the EU’s external borders, illegal refugees are being turned back via pushbacks. Border controls are also being reintroduced within the EU.
In June 2024, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called for greater “war capability” and presented a concept for a“new compulsory military service”. Global arms exports, including to armed conflicts, are on the rise. Arms production is being boosted.
SUPPORT WAR OBJECTORS
In all the countries at war, there are also people who refuse to go to war, who actively campaign for peace, who resist militarization and war. Soldiers on the front line want to lay down their weapons in the face of horror. They do not want to kill other people and do not want to die in a war. They all face repression and prison sentences for doing so.
We support them! We see conscientious objection as an important building block in overcoming war, death and destruction. We demand that the right to conscientious objection be fully respected, especially in times of war. We demand protection and asylum for all war refugees, persecuted conscientious objectors and opponents of war.
STOP MILITARIZATION AND CONSCRIPTION
As a first step, the Ministry of Defense‘s plans to increase the recruitment of new soldiers aim to systematically collect more information on all young men and as many women as possible through a questionnaire by the military authorities. Even if, according to the ministry, this does not yet entail any obligation to serve, Boris Pistorius made it clear that compulsory service should be possible in the future if the desired numbers are not reached. Others are even calling for general compulsory service for men and women.
We are firmly opposed to any form of compulsory military service and the introduction of general compulsory service. It would encourage militarization. Instead, we need to strengthen existing social commitment and provide greater support for approaches and measures that combat division and exclusion in society.
Conscientious objection is a human right, open borders for war refugees, reception and the right to stay for persecuted opponents of war!
WHY IN NUREMBERG?
Nuremberg was appropriated as the city of the Nazi Party Rallies and the “racial laws”. Today, the city wants to set an example against racism, discrimination and intolerance -— among other things with the Way of Human Rights and the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award, which has been awarded annually since 1995. And yet, even today, Nuremberg is still responsible for the death and rejection of war refugees.
The BAMF, with its headquarters in Nuremberg, generally denies asylum to conscientious objectors.
Nuremberg is also the headquarters of Diehl, one of the largest arms manufacturers in Germany. To this day, the motto “who pays, gets weapons” still applies there. Accordingly, deliveries to both sides of a conflict are part of everyday business, for example in the Middle East. Diehl’s detonators cause millions of deaths worldwide.
THE APPEAL IS SUPPORTED BY:
as of November 1, 2024
• Action Community Service for Peace ↷ (Germany)
• Bavarian Refugee Council ↷ (Germany)
• Federation of Social Defense ↷ (Germany)
• Connection e.V. ↷ (Germany)
• German Peace Society — United Conscientious Objectors ↷
• German Peace Society — United Conscientious Objectors — Bavaria ↷
• German Peace Society — United Conscientious Objectors — Nuremberg ↷
• Protestant Working Group for Conscientious Objection and Peace ↷ (Germany)
• Women’s Network for Peace ↷ (Germany)
• Nuremberg Peace Museum ↷ (Germany)
• graswurzelrevolution ↷ (Germany)
• Solidarity Initiative for Pacifists from Eastern Europe (Germany)
• International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War — Physicians in Social Responsibility ↷ (Germany)
• International of Conscientious Objectors ↷ (Germany)
• Committee for Basic Rights and Democracy ↷ (Germany)
• KURVE Wustrow ↷ (Germany)
• House of Life “Swabian Jura” — Community for Social Justice, Peace, and Ecology ↷ (Germany)
• Nuremberg Evangelical Forum for Peace ↷ (Germany)
• Friends of Nature ↷ (Germany)
• pax christi — Rottenburg-Stuttgart ↷ (Germany)
• German Peace Society — United Conscientious Objectors — Regional Group Northern Swabia ↷
NOTE! There is no place at our actions for people and groups from the nationalist and anti-democratic spectrum. We also reject people and groups who violently attack journalists, promote conspiracy myths or spread group-related misanthropy such as racism, anti-Semitism and sexism. National flags are expressly not welcome at our demonstration, regardless of the country.
On picture:
> Conscientious objection to military service is the right of any person! Always and everywhere!
> Demonstration in front of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees on Human Rights Day
> Saturday, December 14, 2024 | 13:00 | Kornmarkt | Nuremberg
> More information: objectwarcampaign.org