Reports

EBCO Annual Report

Every year, EBCO produces the Annual Report on conscientious objection to military service in Europe, gathering input from member states’ governments, national human rights institutions, as well as international and national non-governmental organisations and solidarity groups. The culmination of this work comes with its presentation to the European Parliament, to the Parliamentary Assembly and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, and to various State authorities. In each case EBCO accompanies it with a set of targeted recommendations.

Annual Report: Conscientious Objection to Military Service in Europe 2025 Published on May 11th, 2026.

Previous years: 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |

Other reports

| 2011 |  EBCO report to the Council of Europe

The European Court of Human Rights has recently explicitly recognised the right to conscientious objection to military service under the European Convention on Human Rights, and in particular under Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion). “The exercise of this right is, however, subject to rules and practices that differ greatly from country to country. Experience shows that, unfortunately, the rights of certain objectors are not recognised in law or in practice in their country, although the right to conscientious objection to military service is recognised in many states as a human right.” (Council of Europe Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs).
In this report the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection submits evidence on the state of the human right to conscientious objection both in law and in practice in all the Member States of the Council of Europe. It also includes evidence from other sources on other relevant issues, like the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the compulsory recruitment age, the voluntary recruitment age and the military expenditure.