International Conscientious Objectors' Day started in the early 1980s, and in 1987 the United Nations Commission on Human Rights recognised "the right of everyone to have conscientious objection to military service as a legitimate exercise of the right of freedom, thought, and religion". However in many countries around the world this right is still denied.

The annual London event was held as usual at the north end of the gardens in Tavistock Square, around the large grey rough-hewn boulder of Cumbrian slate unveiled in 1994 as a memorial to conscientious objectors by composer Sir Michael Tippett, himself a conscientious objector.

Introduced by Bob Russell of Christian CND, the event included anti-war songs 'The Ones Who Said No' and 'We Are For Peace' written by Sue Gilmurray, who also conducted the socialist choir. The main speaker was Norman Kember, a CO and long-term peace campaigner who was kidnapped in Iraq in 2005 while there as a peace volunteer.

More details and pictures on My London Diary at  http://mylondondiary.co.uk/#co