Inter­na­tio­nal Support of Conscien­tious Objec­tors and Deserters

EBCO criticises failure of European institutions to implement the right to co

Regression and political lack of interest

(14.02.2020) In its Annual Report on Conscientious Objection to Military Service in Europe 2019, the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO) red-flags the multiple discriminations that conscientious objectors to military service continue to undergo in Europe. In the political context of a growing importance attached to European defence cooperation, armament projects and joint military operations, the right to conscientious objection to military service risks to be marginalized instead of being consistently perceived as a human right to be monitored and guaranteed.

Hear the voices of DR Congo’s girl child soldiers

(19.06.2017) Multiple conflicts simmer across eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo), further impoverishing already struggling rural communities, trapping children in a web of violence.

The conflicts have destroyed communities and created thousands of child soldiers, serving directly on the front lines, or labouring as porters, cooks, and spies. Up to 40 percent of them are girls.

In 2016, Child Soldiers International interviewed 150 girls formerly associated with some of the country's multiple armed groups.

The interviews form the basis of our new report, What The Girls Say, released today on 19 June – the UN's International Day For Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. It gives a voice to former girl child soldiers, revealing testimonies that are rarely heard and often overlooked.

Rwanda: recruitment, desertion and prosecution of soldiers

Former Soldiers are reporting

(04.01.2017) Rwanda is a landlocked African country with a recent history of war and conflict. In 1990, a rebel army, formed by mostly exiled Tutsi refugees, attacked the regular army from Uganda. The war lasted four years and the rebel group, the Rwandese Patriotic Front, took control of the country and ended the genocide of 1994. Its military branch, the Rwandese Patriotic Army, integrated some of the regular defeated army and became the Rwanda Defence Forces.

Burma/Myanmar: Teenager seeks protection after deserting army

(07.05.2012) A teenager, who was forcibly recruited by the military four years ago, is seeking protection from the International Labour Organisation’s liaison office in Rangoon after deserting the army. Ye Min Oo, 19, was convinced to leave his hometown Chanmyatharzi in Mandalay division by a man who promised him a construction job in Kyaikhto township in Mon state that would pay twice the amount he was currently making.