Take action to #freeKoreanCOs

Every year on 15th May we celebrate International Conscientious Objection Day.

This year War Resisters' International is focusing on South Korea, the country that imprisons more conscientious objectors than the rest of the world put together. Right now there's over 250 young people in jail, with 18 months sentences. But there's good news. Currently, there's no substitute service in South Korea, so if you don't want to go to the army, you go to jail. But the current President pledged to change this in his election manifesto, and the National Human Rights Commission of Korea has voted repeatedly to recommend that the South Korean government institute an alternative service system. See a recent news story here: wri-irg.org/en/story/2017/south-korea-growing-hopes-conscientious-objectors

War Resisters' International calls for actions to show solidarity with South Korean conscientious objectors on the International Conscientious Objection Day this year and join others from around to world in asking the South Korean government to take the next step, finally recognise the rights of conscientious objectors, and stop sending them to prison.

How to take action

• Come back to this page in late April to download a postcard that you can send to Korean embassies in your countries, demanding the release of conscientious objectors in jail;
• Join or run an event to enable others to take action! This might be a stall outside the Korean embassy, a street action to raise awareness (and give out postcards!), or a letter writing group to send messages of solidarity to those in jail (you'll find a list of World Without War-supported COs in jail in Korea here). Contact us for more ideas!
• Post your support on social media using the #freeKoreanCOs. On Twitter and Facebook you can tag World Without War, the CO support campaign in South Korea;
• On 15th May, on our website you'll be able to send a CO-Alert email to the South Korean government demanding the release of the prisoners. Sign up here to receive a reminder;
• Join the event on Facebook for updates!
• Share our video to spread the word! Find it on YouTube and Facebook and Twitter.

Visit War Resisters' International's event page for info on confirmed events