The Regional Center of the Campaign of Conscientious Objection in Mostar was established in February 2002, as a part of the C.O. Campaign in Bosnia Herzegovina. The aim of the campaign is to inform the population about the existence of the right to Conscientious Objection and the possibility of civil service for all the recruits who do not wish to be the members of the armed forces due to their moral, religious, philosophical, political and other convictions. In the scope of our activities we have formed the Office of Conscientious objection, which was active two times a week in order to inform the interested population which wanted to know more about this right, as well as to introduce the recruits into the procedure of obtaining the decision on civil service and properly prepare them for it.

   A group of young people interested in working on this issue was formed, and this group, through its weekly meetings created the guidelines of the work and created the image of the campaign in public.

    A team of lecturers was formed inside this group with the task of organizing the lectures in schools and in that way introducing the future recruits with the existence of this right. In that way, some lectures in Mostar secondary schools were organized. Several street actions were also organized with the aim promoting the right to conscientious objection which got great support of local media. The activists were interviewed in almost all local TV and radio stations which contributed to the popularization of this idea in this region. Many Mostar NGOs accepted this idea and supported us, either financially or by their presence in our actions.

  The population of Bosnia Herzegovina, and especially the most important target group of this problem, the recruits, are still insufficiently introduced to the existence of the right to conscientious objection and the possibility of civil service instead of the military service for all those who, due to their conviction, do not wish to be the members of the armed forces. The reason for these needs to be sought in the total refusal of the competent structures to inform the young people about this on the occasion of recruitment, as well as to inform the wider public about the existence of this right.

  However, the problem of this lack of information is also due to the fact that there is no other institution or organization that worked on this problem up until now, therefore the possibility to get informed about this right was equal to zero. The Mostar Regional Center of C.O. Campaign started a big job on the popularization of this right in the Herzegovina region and the result of this is that a large number of people was informed about this right in Herzegovina region and there are first applicants-objectors which our office helped a lot especially with the legal procedure of applying.  

  However, we think that our mission is not finished and that the office needs to continue with its work and activities, since we expect the new applicants-objectors which will need help in obtaining their status, as well as because we find the continuation of the work on promoting this right (especially in rural areas) indispensable.