Supporting conscientious objection is at the very root of the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s existence: the organization was founded in 1914 by two people who wanted to find a way to work for peace even though their countries were at war. They decided that their main task would be to support conscientious objectors. This was central to FOR’s work throughout World War I and the organization also contributed to gaining a legal recognition of CO rights during that time. During World War II, FOR continued to support conscientious objectors and organized an extensive campaign to prevent the Pentagon from extending wartime conscription into universal military training.

In recent years in the United States, activism focused on counter-recruitment, support for conscientious objection and war resistance have grown dynamically. Together with the grinding brutality of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the indifference of the system for veteran care, this growth of activism has caused the armed forces to have difficulty meeting its recruitment goals and face significant limits on its capacity to wage or expand war.

In Colombia, the recipient of the most US military aid outside the Middle East and Afghanistan, there is also a budding conscientious objection (CO) movement. As in the US, youth face an overwhelmingly militarized society structured to use young people from poor neighborhoods for warfare. Over the last twenty years, CO groups that object to conscription into any armed group have developed around Colombia, many of them using art and theater to project their presence. Prominent among these are the Medellin Youth Network (Red Juvenil), the Bogota Organization of Cos (ACOC) and the National Organization of Colombian COs (ANOOC), which is a coalition of 7-9 groups around the country. Because of recent decisions regarding international humanitarian law, Colombia is considered a test case for the development of conscientious objection as a human right.

These conditions make the time ripe for collaboration between US and Colombian groups of conscientious objectors, war resisters and anti-militarism activists.

FOR is collaborating with the Red Juvenil de Medellín (Medellín Youth Network) on this work. Read more about the Red here