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The International Peace Bureau (IPB) Has Announced its Intention to Nominate Three Remarkable Organizations with a Focus on the Right to Conscientious Objection for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3 August 2023

The International Peace Bureau (IPB) Has Announced its Intention to Nominate Three Remarkable Organizations with a Focus on the Right to Conscientious Objection for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize

Berlin, Germany – The International Peace Bureau (IPB) has announced our intention to nominate three exceptional organizations for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize: the Russian Movement of Conscientious Objectors, the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, and the Belarusian organization “Our House”. The decision to nominate these three organizations is a testament to their unwavering dedication in advocating for the right to conscientious objection to military service and promoting human rights and peace in their respective countries.

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the world’s most esteemed awards, recognizing individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the pursuit of peace and harmony. The nomination period for the 2024 prize will open on 1 September 2023 and the nominations will be promptly submitted for consideration.

The Russian Movement of Conscientious Objectors (https://stoparmy.org/), the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement (http://pacifism.org.ua/), and the Belarusian Our House (https://news.house/) have demonstrated unparalleled excellence and dedication in their efforts as defenders of peace, conscientious objection, and human rights, especially after the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine began on 24 February 2022 and despite the considerable stigmatization each organization has faced since.

The fundamental right to conscientious objection to military service is an inherent human right, protected under the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion as safeguarded by Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). This right remains inalienable, even during periods of public emergency, as explicitly stated in Article 4(2) of the ICCPR. Embracing conscientious objection is a concrete means of contributing to peace. Hence, it becomes imperative to emphasize and safeguard this fundamental human right, especially during times of war.

Even in the face of escalating threats, the three movements persist in their dedication to aiding individuals who resist war and military mobilization. Their focus is particularly on supporting those who endure persecution, torture, and imprisonment. This commitment encompasses all instances of forced and violent recruitment into participating armies, as well as the persecution of conscientious objectors, deserters, and non-violent anti-war demonstrators.

“We are humbled and honored to nominate these three remarkable movements for the Nobel Peace Prize. Their courage in championing the right to conscientious objection and their tireless efforts to promote peace and human rights serve as an inspiration to us all,” said Philip Jennings, Co-President of IPB.

By nominating these three movements, we seek to raise awareness about the importance of the right to conscientious objection, fostering peace and human rights. Furthermore, we hope that the announcement of this intended nomination will remind and pressure governments and nations across the globe to respect the right to conscientious objection in their own countries and provide alternatives to military service for those that object. This includes the right to asylum for conscientious objectors forced to flee their own countries in order to avoid military service.

We call other organizations and particularly Nobel Peace Laureates from across the globe to support this nomination. Together our voices in support for conscientious objection can protect those who are selflessly putting their lives on the line to defend their beliefs and their compatriots who reject war and violence.

The selection process for Nobel Peace Prize laureates is highly competitive and is conducted by esteemed committees dedicated to recognizing peace efforts worldwide. We firmly believe that these three movements stand among the most deserving candidates for this prestigious recognition.

About IPB

The International Peace Bureau is dedicated to the vision of a World Without War. Our current main programme centres on Disarmament for Sustainable Development and within this, our focus is mainly on the reallocation of military expenditure.  We are a Nobel Peace Laureate (1910); over the years, 13 of our officers have been recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize.

For media inquiries or further information, please contact:

International Peace Bureau

info@ipb-office.berlin

+49 (0) 30 1208 4549

Marienstraße 19-20 10117, Berlin – Germany

IPB-2024-Nobel-Peace-Prize-NominationDownload
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Justice for Yurii Sheliazhenko

Berlin, Germany – The International Peace Bureau strongly condemns the Security Service of Ukraine’s (SBU) decision to charge IPB Councilmember and Seán MacBride Prize Laureate Yurii Sheliazhenko with “justification of Russian aggression” and search of his apartment. The charge is based solely on Sheliazhenko’s “Peace Agenda for Ukraine and the World,” a document which explicitly condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine and promotes peace, justice, and the right to conscientious objection to military service.

Yurii and his organization, the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, have always opposed both sides of the current war and advocated for dialogue, negotiations, and a peaceful resolution which addresses the underlying causes of the war.

We call on the Ukrainian government and the SBU to respect the rights of conscientious objectors and the right to free speech for peace in Ukraine, rights that cannot be violated even during times of war. We vow to support Yurii’s rights and to rally international support for his freedom and wellbeing.

Yurii’s response to the charges and search can be found at https://worldbeyondwar.org/we-object-to-the-illegal-search-and-seizure-at-apartment-of-yurii-sheliazhenko-in-kyiv/

A petition for the Ukrainian government to drop the prosecution of Yurri can be found here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-the-ukrainian-government-to-drop-prosecution-of-peace-activist-yurii-sheliazhenko/

Please see attached Press Release.

IPB-Statement-YuriDownload
Featured

Report – 2nd Negotiations Round on a Nulcear Weapons Ban Treaty

After the successful session in March 2017 and the publication of the draft of the Convention to prohibit nuclear weapons by the Chair Ambassador Elayne Whyte from Costa Rica, the Second round of negotiations on a Convention started on June 15th.

The sprit of the 125+ participating countries is productive and dynamic and no major disagreements have been stopping the hard works of the participants from going forward. Nuclear weapons States possessors and their allies, the countries who rely on nuclear weapons in their security doctrines, have chosen to boycott the process, except the Netherlands. Continue reading “Report – 2nd Negotiations Round on a Nulcear Weapons Ban Treaty”

Yurii Sheliazhenko – arbitrarily detained to be forcibly conscripted – a victim of cruel and humiliating treatment


March 24, 2026

The undersigned organisations express their deep dismay over what happened to Mr. Yurii Sheliazhenko and strongly condemn the serious human rights violations committed against him by the Ukrainian authorities. Yurii Sheliazhenko was forcibly taken by the Ukrainian police in Kyiv on the evening of March 19th and arbitrarily deprived of his liberty for over 44 hours without his family or lawyer being able to ascertain his whereabouts or condition (see statement released on March 19th).

He was taken to the Pechersk District Police Station and later to the Svyatoshyn Military Registration and Enlistment Office.

His phone has been seized and he could not communicate, nor could he have legal assistance against the unlawful deprivation of liberty, in blatant violation of Ukrainian and international human rights law. He described his brutal experience in a video testimony on YouTube where he also reported physical violence – he has been beaten and pepper-sprayed, for instance – and humiliating treatment while arbitrarily detained. His concluding words in his video testimony are

“Now I know at least to some degree how forcibly detained conscientious objectors are feeling. And it will inspire me to work more and better”.

Yurii Sheliazhenko is a well-known conscientious objector, publicly declared since 1998, a pacifist and a human rights defender. He is also an academic, the executive secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement (member organisation of War Resisters International), Director of the Institute of Peace and Law in Ukraine, Council member of the International Peace Bureau (IPB), and a Board member of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection and of World Beyond War.

We are relieved that he is now free and no longer detained. However, he has endured a traumatic experience, and we remain extremely alarmed because he continues to remain under constant threat of forced conscription (see statement released on January 23rd), in violation of Ukrainian domestic law and international human rights standards.

Therefore, we continue to call for his immediate protection.

We urge the Ukrainian authorities to:

  • Promptly and duly investigate the incident, which amounts to extremely serious human rights violations, and ensure full accountability;
  • Withdraw from persecuting and criminalizing peace activists and conscientious objectors to military service like Mr. Yurii Sheliazhenko;
  • Refrain from any practices of forced mobilization;
  • Release all conscientious objectors to military service currently imprisoned in Ukraine.

Connection e.V.

European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO)

International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR)

International Peace Bureau (IPB)

War Resisters’ International (WRI)

World BEYOND War (WBW)

Additional organisations are invited to endorse this statement.

Add your organization’s name here.
FINAL 2026-03-24 Press Release UPDATED (24.03.2026)Download

The world is closer to Armageddon

By Pablo Ruiz*

In January 2026, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists stated that we are 85 seconds away from midnight—or the “Doomsday Clock”—due to the threats of nuclear war and climate change.

As the war—which resumed in late February against the Islamic Republic of Iran—intensifies, with new attacks carried out by the United States and Israel against Tehran, we must once again raise the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons in this conflict, in a context where international law, the UN, are at an impasse, and where the nations of the world, represented in various international organizations, lack the capacity to stop the US or Israel from committing so many crimes and violations of international law and the very Charter of the United Nations signed on June 26, 1945, in the city of San Francisco, in the United States itself.

Continue reading “The world is closer to Armageddon”

GSPP Statement: Stop Israel’s Assault on Lebanon!

20 March 2026

*The International Peace Bureau is a member of the Global Solidarity for Peace in Palestine (GSPP) coalition

Less than two years after the 2024 Israel–Lebanon ceasefire agreement, a renewed Israeli assault on southern Lebanon, stretching to include suburbs of the capital Beirut and other more northern sites, has led to a massive humanitarian crisis, with more than one million people displaced from their homes and at least 886 people, including 111 children killed. In an area still suffering from the destruction of civilian infrastructure and massive loss of life from the last open war, this newest assault threatens to destroy even more livelihoods and take more innocent lives. It must end immediately. Those who have fled face urgent shortages of shelter, food, and medical supplies, with many families staying in makeshift shelters or overcrowded communities, adding strain and tension in an already difficult situation.

The 2024 ceasefire was in fact never truly implemented – just the day after its signing, Israel was accused of killing civilians returning home, and The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) also reported that Israel has violated the ceasefire more than 10,000 times since November 2024. Following the US and Israeli illegal war against Iran and assasination of the Ayatollah, Hezbollah returned to firing rockets toward Northern Israel, resulting in one injured civilian and two Israeli soldiers’ deaths. The Israeli response, as we have seen in Gaza over the past two and a half years, has been completely disproportionate and overwhelmingly impacted civilians, including Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. 

With recent news of Israel’s intentions to expand their campaign and possibly even occupy southern Lebanon, the plight of Lebanese civilians is likely to worsen in the coming days and weeks. Following the pattern of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the country is holding Lebanon’s entire population under the threat of utter and complete destruction, occupation, and suffering. There is rightful concern about a return to an Israeli occupied “security zone” in Southern Lebanon or even an annexation.

We, as the Global Solidarity for Peace in Palestine (GSPP), firmly reject Israel’s brutality and indiscriminate attacks in Lebanon and call for an immediate halt to all attacks on Lebanon. We call for the 2024 ceasefire agreement to be fully implemented by all parties and for an end to violence in the region. We understand that peace cannot be achieved through attacks on civilians and destruction of infrastructure We also ask that negotiations include women, to ensure a durable and sustainable peace. 

Furthermore, we emphasize the common strains between the struggles of the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples. Israel’s repudiation of international and humanitarian law has brought itself and the wider region into deeper conflict and cost countless innocent Palestinian and Lebanese lives. 

The United Nations can and must play a role to protect civilian lives and to stop the brutal assaults, including, when necessary, by enacting UNGA Resolution 377(V) “Uniting for Peace” to bypass the ineffective security council and take action to end the genocide in Palestine and massacre in Lebanon. States must cease arms sales and transfers to Israel and ensure it complies with international law, including UNGA Resolution ES-10/24 on the occupation of Palestinian territories.

GSPP stands firmly in support of the peacebuilders on the ground in Lebanon working to care for the displaced population in these difficult moments. We encourage international solidarity and support for those on the frontlines of this unprecedented humanitarian crisis – the second in just two years. 

GSPP Statement_ Stop Israel’s Assault on LebanonDownload

Urgent Action: Free Conscientious Objector Yurii Sheliazhenko

Yurii Sheliazhenko, Executive Secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, IPB Council member, and a well-known conscientious objector, was detained by Ukrainian authorities in Kyiv on Thursday, March 19th. This action was taken without a proper legal basis and without compliance with the procedural safeguards required by Ukrainian law. It is a targeted human rights violation which IPB rejects completely.

Many of you have had the chance to hear Yurii speak in online events and read his work on the importance of conscientious objection and nonviolent resistance over his many years of work. Now is the moment to stand in solidarity with Yurii and demand that the Ukrainian authorities free him immediately.

We urge you to join us in demanding that the Ukrainian government drop the prosecution of Yurii by signing the petition to the Ukrainian government below.

Please Sign the peition Here

We also encourage you to contact the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) with a letter demanding they take action to secure Yurii’s freedom. A sample letter is below:

To: Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

To: Maria Telalian, Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

Subject: Protection for Ukrainian Human Rights Defender and Conscientious Objector Yurii Sheliazhenko

Dear Commissioner Türk, dear Director Telalian,

On Thursday, 19 March 2026, Ukrainian Human Rights Defender and Conscientious Objector Yurii Sheliazhenko was apprehended by Ukrainian officers of the Pechersk District Police in Kyiv without a proper legal basis and without compliance with the procedural safeguards required by Ukrainian law. The authorities presented no clear legal grounds for the deprivation of liberty and Yurii’s access to legal counsel was obstructed. We strongly suspect that Yurii is to be transferred to a Territorial Centre of Recruitment and Social Support (TCC) without due legal procedure.

Yurii is a well-known conscientious objector, which he has publicly declared since 1998. He is the Executive Secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, which has repeatedly been harassed by Ukrainian authorities in particular since the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. Since then, Yurii has been repeatedly targeted with threats of imprisonment on faulty charges and forced conscription.

It is well documented that the right to conscientious objection is a fundamental human right, as outlined in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), based in the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. This right has likewise been recognized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).  It is important to emphasize that the right to conscientious objection is of most vital importance in active wars and conflicts.

Yurii’s case has been supported by a wide range of international and regional organizations, including Amnesty International, War Resisters International, European Bureau for Conscientious Objection, the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Connection e.V., World Beyond War, and the International Peace Bureau (IPB). Our networks around the world are watching his case closely.

We strongly urge the United Nations and the OSCE to take urgent action to protect Yurii Sheliazhenko’s right to conscientious objection and freedom of speech in Ukraine. This may include, but is not limited to, opening investigations into the Ukrainian authorities’ violations of Yurii’s human rights, releasing public statements expressing concern for Yurii’s wellbeing, and emphasizing the inalienable right to conscientious objection and freedom of expression during war.

We count on your support to provide justice and accountability in Yurii’s case.

Further Actions to support Yurii:

Germany Fourth Largest Exporter of War Weapons – with Fatal Consequences!

Action Aufschrei Demands a Turn Towards a Culture of Peace

The alliance Aktion Aufschrei – Stoppt den Waffenhandel! (Outcry – Stop the Arms Trade!) strongly criticizes the trend in the global arms trade, as presented in the latest figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). It was to be feared that Germany would move up to fourth place with a global share of 5.7%, ahead of China, behind the USA, France and Russia. Germany has been among the top group of global exporters for years. The trend is sharply rising, as German arms deliveries increased by a dramatic 15 percent in the period from 2021 to 2025 (compared to 2016 to 2020).

The SIPRI figures show at an alarming rate the speed at which arms races are accelerating worldwide, but they inadequately address the resulting problems. Because German weapons and armaments are not simply sold; they are also used in conflicts around the world.

Continue reading “Germany Fourth Largest Exporter of War Weapons – with Fatal Consequences!”

GDAMS 2026 Appeal · A Call to Action Against Global Militarization

The global security landscape has deteriorated massively in recent years: the number of wars and violent armed conflicts active today is the highest since the end of World War II, erupting across the world and drawing in an unprecedented number of states and actors. From Gaza and the West Bank, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Ukraine, Venezuela, Iran, and beyond, levels of violence, civilian suffering, and violations of international law have reached heinous heights, including the commission of genocide.

Continue reading “GDAMS 2026 Appeal · A Call to Action Against Global Militarization”

Massive US War Spending Hike Raises Debt, Taxes, Doubts

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Kuhaneetha Bai Kalaicelvan

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Feb 27 2026 (IPS) – As US President Donald Trump pushes the world to war, arms spending has been rising worldwide. Wars secure more budgetary allocations, mainly benefiting the US-dominated military-industrial complex.

US military spending increases

After bombing Venezuela, the Trump administration raised its war budget from $1.0 trillion, 47% of discretionary government spending in 2024, to $1.5 trillion!

In 2024, the US accounted for over 36% of the world’s military spending of $2.7 trillion! This exceeded the total expenditure of the next nine biggest spenders – China, Russia, Germany, India, UK, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, France, and Japan!

China’s military budget for 2025 was $250-300 billion. Most others are US allies who have pledged to increase war spending from under 2% of GDP to 5%!

Continue reading “Massive US War Spending Hike Raises Debt, Taxes, Doubts”

Macron’s “Advanced Deterrence”: A Dangerous Shift in French Nuclear Policy

By: Alain Rouy, IPB Vice President and Le Mouvement de la Paix President

French | English

On March 2, 2026, at L’Ile Longue nuclear military base in Brittany, Emmanuel Macron gave an extremely bellicose, dangerous, and irresponsible speech on French nuclear weapons.

Macron developed a new concept, that of “advanced deterrence”, which consists of positioning French strategic air forces in other European countries and allowing those countries to participate in nuclear exercises “in full transparency with the United States of America and in close coordination with the United Kingdom,” and in close cooperation with Germany.

Continue reading “Macron’s “Advanced Deterrence”: A Dangerous Shift in French Nuclear Policy”

Statement by the World Peace Foundation RDCONGO Africa: In response to the attacks against Iran and the military escalation in the Middle East

In response to the attacks against Iran and the military escalation in the Middle East

The World Peace Foundation DRCongo Africa expresses its deep concern and solidarity with the International Peace Bureau (IPB) in condemning the attacks carried out by the United States and Israel against Iran. These military actions constitute a serious violation of international law and threaten the stability not only of the Middle East but also of the entire global community.

Continue reading “Statement by the World Peace Foundation RDCONGO Africa: In response to the attacks against Iran and the military escalation in the Middle East”