The UN has taken over peacekeeping in the Central African Republic amid an upsurge of violence which has left scores dead, including two pastors, in early September.
The pastors were killed when armed men stormed a town, looting properties while people took refuge in the bush. Around 100 were killed a week later in the compound of an Elim church, again while terrified people hid in the bush or fled to neighbouring villages.
Columbia: conscience
Christian Solidarity Worldwide
The Colombian Constitutional Court upheld the right to conscientious objection, freedom of worship and religious freedom on September 16 in the case of Jhonatan David Vargas Becerra, who was forcibly inducted into the military in March 2013 and later arrested and imprisoned on charges of going absent without leave.
His right to object to military service should have been respected from the outset as he had made a verbal declaration of his status in 2013. The court has given the National Army 48 hours to free him.
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