XPost: alt.peace
On Sun, 20 Sep 2020 19:00:36 -0700 (PDT), Yurii Sheliazhenko <
shelya.work@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear friends, congrats with the International Day of Peace!
For your information:
Newsletter of Ukrainian Pacifist Movement
[ First Issue, 21.09.2020 ]
Peaceful History of Ukraine: a short documentary dedicated to the
International Peace Day
Ukrainian Pacifist Movement published a short documentary movie
"Peaceful History of Ukraine" prepared by Yurii Sheliazhenko and
dedicated to International Peace Day 21 September 2020. The short
documentary describes the historical development of peace culture in
Ukraine, which includes nonviolent life of ancient people like the
philosopher Anacharsis from the northern Black Sea coast, medieval
notions of peace, e.g. in the testament of Yaroslav the Wise,
19th-century antimilitary writings of Taras Shevchenko and Mykhailo
Drahomanov, the emergence of Ukrainian sections of War Resisters'
International and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
in the first half of 20th century, official and unofficial peace
movements and repressions against pacifists in Soviet Ukraine, the
introduction of alternative service (1992) and the abolition of
nuclear weapons (1994) in independent Ukraine. The short film in
English is accessible via YouTube:
https://youtu.be/tQTspdu6HXU
Ruslan Kotsaba: amnesty for those Donbas combatants who are not guilty
in war crimes should help to achieve peace
Many armed conflicts in the world came to peaceful resolution after
the amnesty for combatants, and Ukraine should declare such amnesty to
resolve the Donbas conflict. President of the Ukrainian Pacifist
Movement Ruslan Kotsaba expressed this view at the Magnolia TV
channel. Also, he emphasized that the amnesty should not grant
impunity to war criminals whose guilt in crimes against humanity is
proved by a fair trial.
OSCE continues to report violations of Donbas ceasefire on both sides
OSCE SMM recorded 1 066 ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and
Luhansk regions after the adoption of additional measures to
strengthen the ceasefire of 22 July 2020 by the Trilateral Contact
Group. According to the SMM daily reports, Ukrainian Armed Forces and
armed formations of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions extend their
trenches. President Zelensky informed that 6 September one Ukrainian
soldier was killed and another wounded. Several news outlets inform
that pro-Russian separatists declared 16 September at the Trilateral
Contact Group that, in their view, Ukraine abandoned additional
measures to strengthen the ceasefire because of refusal in joint
inspection in the area of the village of Shumy.
16 460 conscripts were drafted, near 15 000 to be drafted in 2020
As a result of the spring military draft 16 460 conscripts were
drafted in May-July 2020, reports the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
As announced, the planned number of conscripts may be decreased by 1
500 (to near 15 000) during the autumn conscription campaign in October-December. Spring military draft was delayed by one month due
to COVID pandemics (10 deaths, 709 infected in the Armed Forces of
Ukraine today). During the draft, the police informed about several
arrests of officers of the military commissariats and military medics
for taking bribes to help conscripts to evade the draft. Several
episodes of violations of rights of conscripts to the deferral of
enlistment due to admission to the higher education institutions were
reported by the media and parliamentary human rights commissioner.
Officials refuse to protect the human right to conscientious objection
against military service in Ukraine
Ukrainian Pacifist Movement received letters from the Ministry of
Justice of Ukraine and Secretariat of Parliament Commissioner for
Human Rights with rejection on the proposal to include the goal of
protection of the human right to conscientious objection against
military service into the Ukrainian National Human Rights Strategy.
Once again, as all past years, the government demonstrates unwilling
to comply with the UN Human Rights Committee Concluding observations
on the seventh periodic report of Ukraine of 22 August 2013 ?
CCPR/C/UKR/CO/7, recommending that alternative service arrangements in
Ukraine should be accessible to all conscientious objectors without discrimination as to the nature of the beliefs (religious or
non-religious beliefs grounded in conscience) justifying the
objection, and should be neither punitive nor discriminatory in nature
or duration by comparison with military service. The 2019 Annual
report of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection revealed
that in Ukraine objectors are discriminated against, alternative
service is hardly accessible, and draft evasion is criminalized.
Disarmament is not a crime, it is a necessity: pacifists criticize the
State Bureau of Investigations (DBR)
The State Bureau of Investigations should not criminalize disarmament, including a decrease of military personnel of the Armed Forces of
Ukraine in 2011-2013 years when conscription was temporarily
abolished. This opinion was expressed by pacifists commenting on the
statement of the agency that political and military leaders of the
time are under investigation for a crime of high treason, committed in
a way of organizing disarmament. Criticizing the DBR, pacifists
explained that disarmament is not a crime, but a necessity for all
people of the world and a legitimate way to universal peace recognized
by the international law, in particular, the Preamble and Article
11(1) of the UN Charter.
Ukrainian Pacifist Movement condemned arms race between USA and Russia
Ukrainian Pacifist Movement expressed deep concern by the recent
rhetorics of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, which revealed a large
scale arms race between the great powers. "People of the Earth need
peace and happiness, not deadly rockets." -- says statement of the organization.
Ukrainian Pacifist Movement (UPM) is a non-governmental, nonprofit,
nonpartisan organization established in 2019, aimed to promote the
right to peace, disarmament, the abolition of conscription, nonviolent resolution of conflicts, and democratic civilian control over military
affairs. UPM is a member of the European Bureau for Conscientious
Objection, a section of War Resisters’ International, and a member of
the International Peace Bureau.
Sincerely,
Yurii Sheliazhenko
Executive secretary
Ukrainian Pacifist Movement
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