Draft Dodger/ Deserter or Dissenter? Conscientious objection as grounds for refugee status

This working group paper looks at the state of the law concerning conscientious objectors in a number of jurisdictions: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The author would like to thank all judges who provided case-law and comments, along with Ms Trina Ng who collected more case law and secondary literature and the colleagues working on the IARLJ working group papers. In general, the law may be considered up to date as of December 2010, although a 2011 decision of the European Court of Human Rights and a 2011 German decision have been included because of their importance.