Digest September 2024

Newsletter

by The Movement of Conscientious Objectors

(31.10.0204) Hello everyone!

This exact newsletter is brought to you by an unexpected author – Sasha Rakhmanov, MCO’s media manager. Together with team we discussed and decided that I’ll be responsible for these updates starting from October. Since I oversee our social media and external communications, it seemed like a logical step.

I’d like to share some of the latest news from September and our activities in the final month before the draft season begins. September was marked by anxious anticipation surrounding the e-summons registry, its test launch, and then, as expected, its postponement to 2025, despite the president’s demand to have it ready by fall. Here’s a deeper dive into the main events of September:

The e-Summons Registry Website Began Test Operations

The Unified Military Registry website, Реестрповесток.рф, went live in a test mode in three Russian regions: Sakhalin Oblast, Mari El Republic, and Ryazan Oblast. According to media from Sakhalin and Ryazan, the site would be operational for residents in these regions starting from September 15. However, as noted by Radio Liberty, the registry site was unavailable during its first few days.

By September 18, the site was reported operational by various media outlets. Residents of the test regions who have a verified account on the Gosuslugi portal can check for any summonses. The registry records information on military summonses, which will be considered officially delivered seven days after posting in the registry.

Once a summons is issued, a drafter’s right to leave Russia will be automatically suspended. If the draftee fails to report to the military office within 20 days, additional restrictions may apply, including bans on registering as a private entrepreneur or taking out loans.

New School Subject: Basics of Security and Homeland Defense

Starting September 1, 2024, Russian schools replaced the “Basics of Life Safety” (BLS) subject with a new one – “Basics of Security and Homeland Defense” (BSHD). This isn’t just a rebranding but rather a substantial update to the course content.

In BSHD, students will now study 11 thematic modules, one of which is “Basic Military Training.” Looking at the topics within this module, it feels more like a military academy curriculum than a school subject. Topics will include military regulations, drill and tactical training, combat fundamentals, types of weaponry, drone operation, trench-building, and much more. Mandatory training camps, which were part of the BLS since 2010, will remain.

Previously, students who didn’t want to participate in these training camps could submit a refusal letter and get an individualized study plan that excluded military training. However, it’s likely that this will no longer be an option, as these topics are now embedded not only in the training camp curriculum but also in the federal educational standards. One remaining option might be to request homeschooling specifically for this subject. But there is some good news, too!

A Record Number of People are on Alternative Civilian Service (ACS)!

According to Rosstat’s website, there is now a record number of people serving in ACS in the first half of 2024, totaling 2,022 individuals.

Until the war began, this figure remained stable at around 1,200 people per draft cycle. The first year of the war, as per official data, didn’t significantly change this. But in the second half of 2023, it rose to 1,600, and now it’s reached 2,000. Contrary to what some public speakers claim, ACS isn’t just a viable option; it’s an effective one.

Getting into ACS in Russia remains challenging. We’ve seen that draft boards and courts are increasingly denying applications, and while some rulings still go in favor of draftees, these cases are becoming rarer. Military offices view ACS as a threat and do everything possible to reject applications. According to human rights advocates, there are two common grounds for denial. The first is missing the deadline for submitting an application, as defined by law. The second is the draft board’s opinion that the draftee’s beliefs against military service aren’t adequately demonstrated. Both of these denials can be challenged in court.

Many other events took place this month, but we’ll cover those in the next newsletter. Thank you for staying informed, and see you soon!

The Movement of Conscientious Objectors Russia (MCO): Digest September 2024, 31.10.2024.

ORAL STATEMENT GIVEN AT THE INTERACTIVE DIALOGUE ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

UN Human Rights Council, 57th Session

Connection e.V., War Resisters’ International — on September 24, 2024

Reading time: 4 minutes

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.

Continue reading ORAL STATEMENT GIVEN AT THE INTERACTIVE DIALOGUE ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

International Day of Peace 2024

Refuse the war! Say your yes to peace!

Brussels, 21 September 2024

Today is the International Day of Peace, established since 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly with an invitation to all member states, regional and non-governmental organisations and every individual to commemorate the day appropriately through education and public awareness. Year after year it becomes more and more evident that global peace needs nonviolence and the ceasefire calling on all belligerents around the world to lay down their arms and end war.


Conscientious objection is often perceived as an individual stand but is also a form of action to organize people against war and violence. It’s also a right to be safeguarded, fully complying with the European and international standards, amongst others the standards set by the European Court of Human Rights. The right to conscientious objection to military service is inherent in the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, guaranteed under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which is non-derogable even in a time of public emergency, as stated in Article 4(2) of ICCPR.

For this reason, every year, EBCO produces the Annual Report on conscientious objection to military service in Europe , gathering input from member states’ governments, national human rights institutions, as well as international and national non-governmental organisations and solidarity groups.

Within this perspective, EBCO continues working on the #ObjectWarCampaign, which was jointly launched by Connection e.V., War Resisters’ International (WRI), International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR), and European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO), urging the involved countries in the ongoing Russian war of aggression against Ukraine to mobilise for peace instead of war , and the EU and the international community to invest in diplomacy and negotiations instead of weapons and militarism.

EBCO of course stands in solidarity with Israeli conscientious objectors and all victims of this armed conflict, and EBCO members have held and participated in a number of activities in support of the Israeli conscientious objectors and the nonviolent activists from both sides for a just peace.

We have built all the conditions for war, which was cleared as an instrument of international politics at the end of the last century, to once again become the protagonist of international relations and could lead to a new global conflict. Now is the time to build together all the conditions so that peace, nonviolence and disarmament can nurture a better world for all. Conscientious objection to military service, objection to war and the right not to kill are our contribution on this path.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND INTERVIEWS please contact:

Daniele Taurino, EBCO President, ebco@ebco-beoc.org, www.ebco-beoc.org, mobile +39 3283736667 (Italian, Engish)

Sam Biesemans, EBCO Board, (speaks French, Dutch, Italian and English), ebco.brussels@skynet.be, mobile +32 477 268893

The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO) was founded in Brussels in 1979 as an umbrella structure for associations and experts of conscientious objectors in the European countries to promote the right to conscientious objection to preparations for, and participation in, war and any other type of military activity as a fundamental human right. EBCO enjoys participatory status with the Council of Europe since 1998 and is a member of its Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations since 2005. EBCO is entitled to lodge collective complaints concerning the European Social Charter of the Council of Europe since 2021. EBCO provides expertise and legal opinions to European and international institutions. EBCO publishes its annual report “Conscientious Objection to Military Service in Europe” which is also EBCO’s contribution to the annual report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament on the application by the Member States of its resolutions on conscientious objection and civilian service, as determined in the “Bandrés Molet & Bindi Resolution” of 1994. EBCO is a full member of the European Youth Forum since 1995.