International Organizations Call For Actions at the Belarusian Embassies on the 20th of February to Protest Against a Possible Entry into the War in Ukraine by Belarus, and to Support Conscientious Objectors and Deserters.

Joint Press Release

2/2/2023

International Organizations Call For Actions at the Belarusian Embassies on the 20^th of February to Protest Against a Possible Entry into the War in Ukraine by Belarus, and to Support Conscientious Objectors and Deserters.

Under the title “No Means No – to the War in Ukraine” seven international and local organizations from Belarus, Ukraine and Germany call for protests in front of Belarusian Embassies on the 20^th of February. The date was chosen because on the 20^th of February 2022, Russian troops were ordered to stay in Belarus after the end of a joint exercise with the Belarusian army. Four days later, the attack against Ukraine began, including Russian troops based in the territory of Belarus. Up until now no Belarusian troops have joined the war, though Belarus provides logistical aid to Russia. “We are concerned that Lukashenko might plan to send the Belarusian army to fight on the side of Russia in the war”, Rudi Friedrich, the coordinator of the German organization ‘Connection e.V.’ says. “We want to send a strong signal in support for the Belarusian’s NGO Nash Dom’s campaign ‘NO means NO’. “ The campaign of Nash Dom calls on men of Belarus to refuse to join the army or to leave it if they are already serving.

“More than 20,000 young men have already left Belarus to avoid service in the army. Most of them are in the Baltic countries or in Poland, adding to the swelling numbers of refugees there. These countries urgently need financial and material aid by their partners in the EU to adequately cater to the needs of these refugees. And we need a humanitarian corridor for them”, explains Olga Karatch, the head of ‘Nash Dom’.

The action day is also supported inter alia by the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement’. The Executive Secretary Dr. Yurii Sheliazhenko stated “To us, the right to conscientious objection which has been established at the UN as a universal human right is essential. Those who do not wish to fight must not be punished or sent to prison as it is currently the case. We call to the Lukashenko regime in Belarus to respect the human right of conscientious objection to military service and to restrain from participation in and complicity with Putin’s regime war of aggression against Ukraine.”

Dr. Christine Schweitzer, the Coordinator of the German NGO “Federation for Social Defence” expresses the hope that such a mass movement of objectors also sends a strong message to Russia. “Belarus under Lukashenko so far has been the stoutest ally of Putin’s Russia. When its citizens refuse to join the war, this will hopefully further demoralize the nationalist and militarist narratives in Russia as well, and increase the pressure to put an end to this war”, she says. “We also hope that other initiatives, for example those that have in the past supported the twinning between cities in Belarus and the West, use this occasion to make new contact to their partners in Belarus and encourage them to support those who do not want war.”

Contact address

Alexia Tsouni, European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO), ebco(at)ebco-beoc.org, www.ebco-beoc.org (English, Greek)

Semih Sapmaz, War Resisters’ International (WRI), semih(at)wri-irg.org, www.wri-irg.org (English, Turkish)

Zaira Zafarana, International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR), zaira.zafarana(at)ifor.org, www.ifor.org (English, Italian)

Rudi Friedrich, Connection e.V., office@Connection-eV.org, www.Connection-eV.org (English, German)

Yurii Sheliazhenko, Ukrainian Pacifist Movement: shelya.work@gmail.com (English, Ukrainian, Russian)

Olga Karatch, Nash Dom, olga.karatch@gmail.com (English, Belarusian, Russian)

Christine Schweitzer, Bund für Soziale Verteidigung, Christine Schweitzer, schweitzer@soziale-verteidigung.de (English, German)

More information at https://en.Connection-eV.org/article-3719  

The full appeal can be read in English and German