About EBCO

The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO) was founded in 1979 as an umbrella organisation for national associations of conscientious objectors, with the aim of promoting collective campaigns for the release of the imprisoned conscientious objectors and lobbying the European governments and institutions for the full recognition of the right to conscientious objection to military service.

EBCO promotes:

  • the right to conscientious objection to preparations for, and participation in, war and any other type of military activity as a fundamental human right, on both a national and an international level, at the European Union, the Council of Europe, the United Nations and other international bodies,
  • the right to asylum for conscientious objectors of any gender or sexual orientation coming from countries that do not recognise or that insufficiently recognise their rights in countries having signed the European Convention on Human Rights,
  • the signature and ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict,
  • the end of conscription, social spending instead of military spending, peace, conflict prevention and conflict resolution, non-violence, antimilitarism, antidiscrimination, human rights and youth rights.

EBCO:

  • is involved in drawing up the annual report of the Committee on Civil Liberties 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,
  • provides expertise and legal opinions on behalf of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs of the Council of Europe,
  • enjoys participatory status with the Council of Europe since 1998 and is a member of the Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations of the Council of Europe since 2005,
  • is entitled to lodge collective complaints concerning the European Social Charter of the Council of Europe since 2021,
  • is a full member of the European Youth Forum since 1995.

Support EBCO

Account Information

  • EBCO account: TRIODOS BANK Brussels
  • IBAN: BE43 5230 8091 0001
  • BIC: TRIOBEBB

European Bureau for Conscientious Objection

35 Van Elewyck street, 1050 Brussels, Belgium

Tel: +32 2 648 5220, Fax: +32 2 648 6988

ebco@ebco-beoc.org / www.ebco-beoc.org

EBCO has the legal status of Belgian international association provided by Royal Decree of 26 May 1986, published in the Belgian Official Journal “Moniteur Belge” on 6 June 1986.    

Régistre des personnes morales à Bruxelles : 428 899 653