Peace Education – Page 12 – IPB – International Peace Bureau

Yurii Sheliazhenko*, Conscientious Objector to Military Service and Human Rights Defender, under Immediate Threat

JOINT PRESS RELEASE | 23 January 2026

The undersigned organizations express serious concern regarding the continued persecution of Ukrainian human rights defender Yurii Sheliazhenko, a conscientious objector to military service. He is currently under an alarming threat of being arrested and forcibly conscripted under Ukraine’s system of universal military registration, which is enforced through coercive measures including arbitrary detentions and forced transfers to conscription offices. Such practices effectively compel conscientious objectors to act against their beliefs and directly violate Article 18(2) of the ICCPR, which prohibits coercion impairing freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

In answer to his appeals against the summon recently received at Christmas time, Yurii Sheliazhenko was sent a communication from a number of authorities, all stating in writing that there is not recognition of conscientious objection to military service in Ukraine in times of war. The Secretariat of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets replied to a related complaint, “mobilization by the State of Ukraine is the only necessary and urgent measure to prevent aggression by another state, during which the possibility of alternative service is excluded (since mobilization itself is aimed not simply at performing military service, but at protecting the Motherland from military invasion by another state). At the same time, the current legislation provides for the liability of persons guilty of violating the legislation on military duty and military service.”

Inputs for OHCHR: Conscientious objection to military service in Belarus

Belarus systematically suppresses conscientious objection, expanding criminal penalties, militarization, and coercive recruitment while undermining international human rights standards.

January 15, 2026

1. Brief summary

Belarus maintains compulsory military service for male citizens of conscription age (18-27 years), with conscription generally taking place twice a year. IIn 2025, this is confirmed by official documents on spring and autumn conscription.¹ ²

After completing their fixed-term military service, citizens are subject to enlistment in the reserve and continue to perform military duties until they reach the maximum age for remaining in the reserve, as established by the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Military Duty and Military Service.” Depending on the reserve category and military category, this age is in some cases up to 60 years, and for certain categories of conscripts, up to 65 years.³ ⁴

In wartime or when mobilization is declared, the law allows for the expansion of the age range for conscripts.⁵

IPB Statement on Iran Protests

The International Peace Bureau (IPB) expresses our deep concern for the situation in Iran, even as the most recent protests are reported to be winding down. The repeated cycle of protests have become more regular and have been met by disproportionate and unacceptable levels of violence against legitimate demands. The thousands of Iranians killed, injured, and arrested during the past month should shock and concern everyone, even while the complete information blackout makes it difficult to determine totals. The IPB unequivocally condemns the violence of the Iranian state against protesters.

Quantum Scientists Publish Manifesto Against the Militarization of Research

Quantum technologies are often presented in public discourse as one of the most promising scientific frontiers of the twenty-first century. The so-called “second quantum revolution” encompasses developments such as quantum computing, quantum cryptography, and quantum sensing—technologies that are now transitioning from fundamental research to early industrial applications. While large-scale commercial deployment is still limited, concrete uses are already emerging, particularly in sensing and secure communications.

Monaeka Flores – Board Member

Monaeka Flores has been elected as a board member in 2025.

Monaeka is the Executive Director and a founding member of Prutehi
Guåhan (formerly Prutehi Litekyan: Save Ritidian) and a
founding member and core organizer of the collective Mariånas for Palestine.

Prutehi Guåhan is a community-based direct-action group in Guam, an “unincorporated territory” and military colony of the United States. The group is dedicated to the struggle against U.S. Imperialism and the Military Industrial Complex that is plundering and plaguing our planet.

Prutehi Guåhan works through direct action strategies, legal strategies and lawsuits, advocacy and information campaigns, community building, and international solidarity. Prutehi Guåhan want to determine a future that aligns with their indigenous values of respect, care, and sustainability.

Youngah Lee – Board Member

Youngah Lee has been elected as a board member of IPB in 2025.

Youngah Lee works at People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) as Manager of the Center for Peace and Disarmament and is also working at the secretariat of the Korea Peace Action Campaign. She has worked on peace, disarmament, international conflict and human rights issues since 2010.

Quique Sánchez Ochoa – Board Member

Quique Sánchez Ochoa was elected as an IPB board member in 2025.

Quique holds a bachelor in Political Science and a master’s degree in International Peace, Conflict and Development Studies. His career, activism and research are dedicated to peacebuilding and social and environmental justice. He works as a project manager at Centre Delàs of Peace Studies and is part of the coordination team of the Global Campaign on Military Spending (GCOMS).

Reiner Braun – Board Member

Reiner Braun is a German peace activist, historian, journalist, and author with decades of experience in the international peace and disarmament movement since 1980. He has held leadership roles in organisations focused on peace, nuclear disarmament, scientific responsibility, the militarization of Europe (EU and NATO), military spending, and demilitarisation.

Braun has a long association with the International Peace Bureau (IPB), serving as a board member from 2006 to 2013, Co-President from 2013 to 2019, and Executive Director from 2019 to 2022. After a break from 2022 to 2025, he returned to the IPB board in 2025 for the 2025–2028 term.

He is also a prolific author and editor, having written and contributed to numerous books and publications on peace, disarmament, common security, nuclear weapons, and the responsibility of scientists. His work includes books on Albert Einstein and the peace movement, as well as on Nobel Peace Prize laureate Joseph Rotblat. Through his activism, leadership, and writing, Braun has contributed significantly to the German and international peace movement.

Reiner Braun has written and edited a number of publications on peace, disarmament, nuclear weapons, science, and international security.

Selected publications include:

Einstein – Peace Now!: Visions and Ideas (with David Krieger, Wiley-VCH, 2005). A collection exploring Albert Einstein’s ideas on peace, disarmament, and humanity’s responsibility in the nuclear age.
Joseph Rotblat: Visionary for Peace (co-editor, with Robert Hinde, David Krieger, Harold Kroto and Sally Milne, Wiley-VCH, 2007). A major volume on the life and work of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Joseph Rotblat and his commitment to nuclear disarmament.
Dem Frieden eine Chance: Truppen raus aus Afghanistan (2008). A publication advocating a peaceful alternative to the military engagement in Afghanistan.
Kriege um Ressourcen: Herausforderungen für das 21. Jahrhundert (editor, 2008). A collection addressing conflicts over resources and their implications for the 21st century.
Wissenschaft – Verantwortung – Frieden: 50 Jahre VDW (co-editor, 2009), examining the relationship between science, responsibility, and peace.
Frieden durch Recht? (with Peter Becker, 2010), addressing international law and the pursuit of peace.
Verantwortung von Wissenschaft und Forschung in einer globalisierten Welt: Forschen – Erkennen – Handeln (co-editor, 2011), focusing on the responsibilities of science and research in a globalised world.
Perspektiven und Begegnungen – Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker zum 100. Geburtstag (co-editor with Ulrich Bartosch, 2012), commemorating the German physicist and philosopher Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker.
Selbstvernichtung oder Gemeinsame Sicherheit (with Michael Müller and Peter Brandt, among others), addressing the war in Ukraine, European security, militarisation, and the concept of common security.
Common Security in the Indo-Pacific Region (author contributor, 2024), analyzing key crises in the region and developing diplomatic alternatives aimed at fostering greater peace, justice, and prosperity.

Francis Daehon Lee – Board Member

Francis Daehon Lee has been elected as a board member of IPB in 2025.

Francis Daehoon Lee has been a professor for peace studies at SungKongHoe University, Ritsumeikan University and the International University of Japan. He served as legal advisor to the Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Sub-commission in 2005 and worked with the Center for Peace Museum in Korea. He is the former executive director of ARENA (Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives, Asia-wide) and the director of the Center for Peace and Disarmament in Korea. He has coordinated CENA (the Civil Society Education Network in Asia), a collaborating network of universities committed to peace, human rights, and democracy studies. Francis has been actively involved in facilitating UNESCO and APCEIU teacher training workshops since 2006. In 2012, he joined the Peace Education Project MOMO (PeaceMOMO) to provide school teachers and peace activists in Korea with peace education training that is based on new, learner-oriented pedagogical principles. He is also the director of the Trans-Education for Peace Institute (TEPI).

Francesco Vignarca – Board Member

Francesco Vignarca has been elected as a board member in 2025.

Francesco has been working in the field of peace and disarmament for over twenty years and has been the Coordinator of the Italian Peace and Disarmament Network Campaigns since 2020. He was previously the National Coordinator of the Italian Disarmament Network (2004-2020).

He works on the issues of military expenditures, private defence companies, military procurement, trade and arms export control, industrial reconversion,
arms race and proliferation, paths towards disarmament and nonviolence, holding both research and coordination duties in many campaigns promoted by the Italian peace movement.