A/HRC/41/23* United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 24 May 2019 Original: English Human Rights Council Forty-first session 24 June–12 July 2019 Agenda items 2 and 3 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Approaches and challenges with regard to application procedures for obtaining the status of conscientious objector to military service in accordance with human rights standards Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights** Summary In the present report, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) builds upon submissions received from stakeholders and on the analytical report submitted by OHCHR to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-fifth session (A/HRC/35/4). It reaffirms briefly the international legal framework outlined in that report, points to some implementation gaps, then provides information on current trends and developments relevant to conscientious objections since 2017. It subsequently outlines different approaches for obtaining the status of conscientious objector to military service and their associated challenges. OHCHR concludes the report by proposing the minimum criteria that should be respected in application procedures for obtaining the status of conscientious objector to military service. * Reissued for technical reasons on 24 June 2019. ** Agreement was reached to publish the present report after the standard publication date owing to circumstances beyond the submitter’s control. GE.19-08512(E) 