one who refuses to serve in the military due to personal reasons of conscience
A conscientious objector (CO) is an individual following the religious, moral or ethical dictates of his or her conscience that are incompatible with being a combatant in
military service, or being part of the
armed forces as a combatant organization. In the first case, conscientious objectors may be willing to accept non-combatant roles during
conscription or
military service. In the second case, the objection is to any role within
armed forces and results in complete rejection of conscription or military service and, in some countries, assignment to an alternative
civilian service as a substitute for conscription or military service. Some conscientious objectors may consider themselves either
pacifist or
antimilitarist. This is not to be confused with 'Persistent Objectors', which are nations whose persistent stance against a particular rule exempts them from that rule under customary international law.
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