A/HRC/41/23 to their religious belief and conscientious objection had violated the complainants’ rights under article 18, paragraph 1 of the Covenant.4 6. In a recent report on youth and human rights, the High Commissioner pointed out that conscientious objection to military service concerned young people more than any other group, and regretted the lack of implementation of jurisprudence and of recommendations made in international and regional human rights instruments, and the fact that some States did not recognize or implement fully the right to conscientious objection to military service in practice (A/HRC/39/33, paras. 53–56). At the regional level, the European Youth Forum adopted in November 2018 a comprehensive resolution on the right to conscientious objection to military service, inter alia calling upon its member organizations to promote conscientious objection as a “youth right”.5 7. The present report coincides with the enactment, drafting or amendment of legislation on conscientious objection in a number of countries. Several national court decisions recognizing the right to conscientious objection have also been issued recently: for example, the Constitutional Tribunal of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, in the operative part of its decision 0265/2016-S2 dated 23 March 2016, urged the legislative assembly to regulate, through specific norms, everything relating to the right to conscientious objection and provisions regarding alternative service to the mandatory military service. 6 In Colombia, a new recruitment law regarding conscientious objector status was adopted in August 2017. In Greece, on 8 March 2019, the Ministry of National Defence presented a bill that regulates, inter alia, issues relating to the right of conscientious objection. The bill, open for consultation, has been commented on by civil society organizations, 7 while welcoming the positive provisions contained in the bill, reiterated their concerns over several remaining problematic issues in contravention of international and European human rights law 8 as identified by both United Nations and regional human rights bodies.9 8. On 28 June 2018, in a landmark decision, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Korea ruled that the failure to offer alternative forms of civilian service to conscientious objectors was unconstitutional, and gave the Government until 31 December 2019 to implement an alternative civilian service for conscientious objectors. 10 The Government announced in September 2018 that it was planning to prepare measures for an alternative service system and a proposal to amend the Military Service Act for submission to the National Assembly.11 On 1 November 2018, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Korea rendered a landmark decision that decriminalized conscientious objection, holding that moral and religious beliefs were valid reasons to object to military service, and ordered the 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 See for example CCPR/C/124/D/2268/2013, para. 7.4. See also A/HRC/23/22, paras. 8–13, A/HRC/35/4, paras. 4–8 and OHCHR, Conscientious Objection to Military Service (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.12.XIV.3). See www.youthforum.org/sites/default/files/publication-pdfs/016018_Resolution_conscientious_objection_FINAL_0.pdf. Submission by the Plurinational State of Bolivia. For example, see www.ebco-beoc.org/sites/ebco-beoc.org/files/attachments/2019-04-16EBCO_Press-Release-Greece.pdf. See www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur25/0088/2019/en/ and www.ebco-beoc.org/node/453. See for example CCPR/C/GRC/CO/2, paras. 37–38, A/HRC/33/7, para. 136.15 and 136.16, and A/HRC/35/4, paras. 18, 51, 53 and 54, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, communication GRC 3/2016 (https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublic CommunicationFile?gId=22834); and European Court of Human Rights, Papavasilakis v. Greece, application No. 66899/14, judgment of 15 September 2016. See response of the Government of the Republic of Korea on communication KOR 2/2018 sent by jointly by the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. See also www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/south-korea-supreme-court-finds-conscientious-objection-tomilitary-service-justifiable/. https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile?gId=34327. 3