Information collected by Peace Action New York State

TAKE ACTION: #PROTECTION4OLGAFollowing the denial of political asylum by the Lithuanian authorities for the Belarusian peace builder and human rights defender Olga Karatch (Volha Karach), the international campaign#protection4olga has just been launched to demand protection and asylum for the director of the organization ‘Our House‘. She has been fighting for human rights in Belarus for years, including the right to conscientious objection to military service, and is therefore persecuted and faces capital punishment in her country of origin, where she has been labelled a ‘terrorist’ by the regime. Learn more and find ways to help and support at theOur House website.
PETITION: DROP THE PROSECUTION OF PEACE ACTIVIST YURII SHELIAZHENKO. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has charged IPB Councilmember and Seán MacBride Prize Laureate Yurii Sheliazhenko with “justification of Russian aggression.” The charge is based solely on Sheliazhenko’s “Peace Agenda for Ukraine and the World,” a document which explicitly condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine and promotes peace, justice, and the right to conscientious objection to military service. Yurii and his organization, the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, have always opposed both sides of the current war and advocated for dialogue, negotiations, and a peaceful resolution which addresses the underlying causes of the war. Learn more about Yurii here, and click here to sign the petition calling on the Ukrainian government to drop the prosecution.
PETITION: FREE BORIS KAGARLITSKY! Boris Kagarlitsky was arrested in Moscow on July 25, 2023 after being accused by the Russian security service FSB of “justifying terrorism”. According to information in the press, he is threatened with seven years imprisonment. Kagarlitsky is a worldwide renown sociologist and peace activist who has played a central role in peoples’ movements internationally, including as a speaker at European Nuclear Disarmament meetings already during the Soviet era. Through his work Kagarlitsky has contributed to nuclear disarmament and agreements of importance for world peace. Learn more and sign the petition here.