2. International Human Rights Commitments Conscientious objection is an example of a human right that has become recognized in the last fifty years, largely through interpretation of the existing treaty obligations protecting freedom of thought, belief, and religion. In the case of the ICCPR, the UN Human Rights Committee stated in its General Comment 22: The Covenant does not explicitly refer to a right to conscientious objection, but the Committee believes that such a right can be derived from article 18, inasmuch as the obligation to use lethal force may seriously conflict with the freedom of conscience and the right to manifest one’s religion or belief. Whereas the texts of the ECHR and the ICCPR do not recognize the right, the more recent Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union108 does. Art. 10.2 states: The right to conscientious objection is recognised, in accordance with the national laws governing the exercise of this right. In 2006, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe affirmed the importance of the right of conscientious objection as “an essential component of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion as secured under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights”. The Parliamentary Assembly requested the Council of Ministers to reconsider its proposal to introduce the right to conscientious objection to military service into the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms by means of an additional protocol amending Arts. 4.3.b and 9. 109 110 Box 10.1 Conscientious Objection: Key Events in the United Nations109 1984 Report of two special rapporteurs to the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights recommending that states should be recognized by law.110 1987 Commission on Human Rights adopted Resolution 1987/46, in which it appealed to states to recognize that conscientious objection to military service should be considered a legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. 1989 Commission Resolution 1989/59 appealing to states to enact legislation aimed at exemption from military service on the basis of genuinely held conscientious objection. 1993 Resolution 1993/84 recommending that states with a system of compulsory military service introduce alternative service for conscientious objectors and emphasizing that “such forms of alternative service should be of a noncombatant or civilian character, in the public interest and not of a punitive nature”. 1998 In Resolution 1998/77, the Commission called upon states to establish independent and impartial decisionmaking bodies to determine whether a conscientious objection is genuinely held, taking account of the requirement not to discriminate. 108  “Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union”, op. cit., note 46. 109  “Civil and Political Rights”, op. cit., note 107. 110  In the following cases: “(a) the right of persons who, for reasons of profound religious, ethical, moral, humanitarian or similar conviction, refuse to perform armed service and, at a minimum, should extend the right of objection to persons whose conscience forbids them to take part in armed service under any circumstances; and “(b) the right to be released from service in armed forces which the objector considers likely to be used to enforce apartheid, in action amounting to genocide and for illegal occupation of foreign territory; [or ] … which the objector holds in gross violations of human rights … [or] likely to use weapons of mass destruction or other weapons outlawed by international law or which cause unnecessary suffering.” A. Eide and C.L.C. Mubanga-Chipoya, Conscientious Objection to Military Service, Study for the 36th Session of United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (New York: United Nations, 1983), ch. III, sect. B, para. 153. 76 Handbook on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Armed Forces Personnel