No Means No
Selected by our editors
Essential reading
Latest
-
Our House Youth Bring Belarusian Voices to Helsinki
Our House’s youth team recently visited Helsinki for a programme of meetings, exchanges and advocacy activities focused on the challenges facing young Belarusians in exile. IMG_2890 An important part of the visit was a series of meetings with Finnish parliamentarians and German diplomats. These conversations provided an opportunity to raise concerns about the protection of…
-
IFOR Statement Calls for Protection of Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian Conscientious Objectors
IFOR urges Europe to protect conscientious objectors from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) submitted a written statement on conscientious objection to the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council. Issued on 22 September 2026 under agenda item 10, the statement bears the reference A/HRC/63/NGO/67. IFOR is an international peace…
-
EU Erasmus+ Project: 12-Member Our House Delegation Heads to Helsinki to Meet Finnish MPs
Young Belarusians will discuss peace, human rights, and refugee challenges in Helsinki. Ten young Our House activists and two former Belarusian political prisoners will spend a week in Helsinki participating in an international project funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ programme. The project focuses on human rights, peace, democratic participation, and conscientious objection…
-
Not everyone who does not want to fight wants peace
Why conscientious objection is only the beginning of demilitarisation This article is not an attempt to provide a ready-made answer. Rather, it is an invitation to think more deeply about what we actually mean by antimilitarism when war ceases to be an abstract possibility and becomes an immediate political reality. The past four years of…
-
Olga Karach to Speak at the University of Helsinki on the 120th Anniversary of Satyagraha
Olga Karach to Speak at the University of Helsinki on the 120th Anniversary of Satyagraha Olga Karach at the University of Helsinki: Gandhi, Satyagraha and the Power of Nonviolence 120 Years Later Today, 11 September 2026, human rights defender and head of the organisation “Our House” Olga Karach will take part in an international seminar…
-
The Third September 11: 120 Years of Satyagraha and the Question of the Power of Nonviolence Today
September 11 is usually remembered as a date of violence. But this date also carries…
-
Olga Karach Receives Peace Ambassador 2026 Award in Sweden
Belarusian human rights defender Olga Karach received the Peace Ambassador 2026 award. On 22 August 2026, Belarusian human rights defender Olga Karach, head of the human rights organisation Our House, received the international Peace Ambassador 2026 award at the Peace World Award ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden. The award recognises Karach’s longstanding human rights and anti-war work, including…
-
Olga Karach has been labeled an «extremist» 29 times — a record in Lukashenko’s campaign against Belarusian civil society.
Olga Karach, organisations affiliated with her, and the activities of Our House have now been labelled «extremist» or «terrorist» by Lukashenko’s regime 29 times. This is a record number of repressive labels imposed on a Belarusian human rights defender and the organisations and initiatives associated with her. Olga Karach was included in the list of…
-
Inputs for OHCHR Conscientious objection to military service in Lithuania
The expansion of conscription in Lithuania undermines the right of Lithuanians to conscientious objection to military service, while Belarusian and Russian conscientious objectors seeking asylum in Lithuania face serious risks with regard to both access to asylum and personal security January 15, 2026 Brief summary In recent years, Lithuania has significantly expanded its compulsory military…
-
To Refuse to Kill Is Threatening to Every State — An Article in Ställ om! Magazine
Ställ om!, a Swedish digital magazine focused on peace and climate justice, published an article which calls for support for Belarusian and Russian conscientious objectors in Lithuania. They face deportation and imprisonment for refusing military service. It also presents a fundraising calendar dedicated to twelve conscientious objectors. The calendar aims to make their courage visible…
-
Media Report Deportation of Russian Deserter from Lithuania, While Authorities Say He Left Voluntarily
The Telegram channel and human rights media outlet focused on Russia, Slovo Zashchite (“A Word for the Defence”), reported that a young Russian serviceman who had previously applied for asylum in Lithuania was deported to Russia. The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service says that the man himself withdrew his asylum application and agreed to return…
-
Lithuania Deported a Russian Deserter after Six Months of Continuous Detention
A Russian deserter who fled the war in Ukraine and requested asylum in Lithuania spent nearly six months continuously deprived of liberty before being returned to Russia. His subsequent arrest raises serious concerns about the handling of asylum claims and compliance with international protection obligations. The public version of the case is based almost entirely…
-
Conscientious Objection, Former Combatants and Democratic Security: Preventing the Reproduction of War in Eastern Europe
Context Core challenge: War creates not only destruction, but also the people through whom it can return. Security rationale: Supporting conscientious objectors, deserters and former combatants is not only a humanitarian or social policy concern. It is an investment in preventing future violence and reducing the risk of renewed escalation. Target groups: Former combatants, conscientious…
-
Those Who Never Make It into the History Books
They left no monuments, won no medals, and rarely appear in history books. Yet their quiet courage may be among war’s most important stories. When we speak about war, we tend to think first of shattered cities, of lives lost beneath bombardment, of shifting borders, or of armies colliding on the battlefield. Yet every war…
-
Our House contributed to EBCO Annual Report on conscientious objection in Europe
Human rights groups documented militarisation, persecution, and conscientious objection trends across Europe. Our House Centre for Human Rights and Relief, together with partner organisations and future member organisations of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO), contributed to the preparation of the Annual Report “Conscientious Objection to Military Service in Europe 2025.” The report provides…
-
Support for Yurii Sheliazhenko: Legal Defense and Family Assistance
Urgent support is needed for Yurii Sheliazhenko — a human rights defender, pacifist, and conscientious objector facing unlawful detention and prosecution for his peaceful beliefs. Funds will cover legal defense, international complaints, family support, lost income, and protection-related costs.
-
We Condemn the Illegal Detention of Conscientious Objector Yurii Sheliazhenko
We Condemn the Illegal Detention of Conscientious Objector Yurii Sheliazhenko Statement of the International Center for Civil Initiatives «Our House» We express our strongest outrage at the unlawful detention of Yurii Sheliazhenko, a human rights defender, pacifist, and conscientious objector, carried out in Kyiv by officers of the Pechersk District Police together with an unidentified…
-
Constraining Duty: Legal Reengineering of Military Obligation in Belarus, 2025
Legal amendments tighten military obligations, narrowing exemptions and expanding enforcement mechanisms nationwide. In 2025, state policy in the field of military obligation was supplemented by significant amendments to criminal legislation aimed at strengthening liability for failure to comply with conscription-related and related obligations. Strengthening liability for evasion of military obligation On 17 February 2025, the…
-
German school and university students protest conscription plans and the country’s militarization
German students stage nationwide walkouts protesting conscription plans and accelerating militarization under Merz government On March 5, 2026, protests took place in several German cities against a new military service system and army expansion introduced by a law adopted in December, 2025. School pupils and university students joined the demonstrations—numbering several thousand in some cities—skipping…
-
Victory: Belarusian conscientious objector Siarhei released from closed refugee camp in Lithuania
On Friday evening, Belarusian conscientious objector Siarhei was released from a closed refugee camp in Lithuania. We won the court case. Although the hearing took place late on Friday, when courts normally finish their work, the court still proceeded and made a decision to release him. On Friday evening, Belarusian conscientious objector Siarhei was released…