Brussels, 19 October 2021 - EBCO at the IPB World Peace Congress in Barcelona.

Members of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO) participated both in-person and remotely at the second IPB World Peace Congress “(Re) Imagine our World: Action for Peace and Justice” in Barcelona, on 15-17 October 2021.

The congress brought together 900 participants in Barcelona and 1700 participants online, from peace and disarmament advocates to feminist and LGBTQIA+ campaigners, ecologists and climate activists, antiracists and indigenous peoples, human rights defenders and trade unionists to generate a unified response to the anxiety of our times.

In the final plenary, EBCO President Alexia Tsouni emphasized that conscientious objection to military service is as well a basic human right as a tangible contribution to peace; it is a concrete act of rejecting war and violence, and promoting peace and universal human values. She called all the peace organisations to equally promote the right to conscientious objection to military service and support the conscientious objectors who are still discriminated, prosecuted, fined, imprisoned, and even killed in some countries.

You can watch her intervention from 51:30-52:55: https://youtu.be/1tZKErJPO7A

You can see the video of EBCO which was projected in the plenary session on Sunday 17 October, as well as photos from the congress, here below:

https://youtu.be/w29uqTZLF3U

ipb