Conscientious objection

05/11/1997 1 Conscription

conscription exists

Conscription is enshrined in the 1960 Constitution.

The present legal basis of conscription is the 1961 Military Service Law. [4]

military service

All men aged between 18 and 50 are liable for military service. [6] [7]

The length of military service is 26 months. [4] [8]

At the end of military service regular reservist training, lasting for from several days to several weeks, is compulsory up to the age of 50 and up to the age of 65 for officers.

05/11/1997 1 Conscription

conscription exists

Not much is known about the conscription system in the Republika Srpska. The legal basis for conscription was probably the Defence Law of the former Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia. On 28 December 1996 a new Army Law was passed, and proposals for a fresh law on defence were discussed in early 1997. [9] [10]

military service

The length of military service is 9 months. It was reduced from 18 months with the passing of the new 1996 Army Law.

05/11/1997 1 Conscription

conscription exists

The present legal basis of conscription is unclear. Before 1996 the legal basis of conscription was probably the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's Defence Law. On 6 July 1996 a new Law on Defence was passed, but not much information is available about it. [9]

Military service is performed in the armed forces of Bosnia-Herzegovina or in the Bosnian Croat forces (HVO). Both these forces are officially to merge into one in 1999.

Serdar Tekin of ISKD (Izmir War Resisters) reflects on the impact that Osman Murat Ülke's well-publicised conscientious objection has had in Turkey.

In Turkey, all men over 20 are required to do 18 months of what the Constitution euphemistically calls "Fatherland service". Despite our country's strong militarist tradition, for years there has been widespread avoidance of conscription: by buying oneself out; by taking advantage of deferments; by evading the draft; or by deserting.

Pedro Oliver of KEM-MOC (the Basque CO Movement) evaluates the prison experience of insumisos as a political tool.

From the very beginning, in 1989, MOC and other anti-militarist groups have endeavoured to make their total resistance campaign ("Insumisión") its own best antidote against state repression.

Bart Horeman reports: About 250 conscientious objectors - all of them Jehovah's Witnesses - are currently imprisoned In Greece Usually sentenced to four years, COs start their jail term in a military prison and are later transferred to a civilian one, where they can work in exchange for a sentence reduction. When they have completed two-thirds of their sentence, the rest is conditionally suspended.

(...)

3. The right of conscientious objection

77. With regard to the third category of violations, the Special Rapporteur wishes to stress that the right of conscientious objection is a right which is closely linked with freedom of religion.

CCPR/C/79/Add.80
4 August 1997

(...)

19. The Committee is concerned that in order to exercise the right to conscientious objection to military service, which is a part of freedom of conscience under article 18 of the Covenant, the application must be made in advance of the conscript's entry into military service and that the right cannot be exercised thereafter. Moreover, the Committee notes that the length of alternative service is twice as long as military service and that this may raise issues of compatibility with article 18 of the Covenant.

(...)

CCPR/C/79/Add.79
4 August 1997

(...)

The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 15.b of the Statute of the Council of Europe,

Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between its members;

Recalling that respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is the common heritage of member states of the Council of Europe, as is borne out, in particular, by the European Convention on Human Rights;

Considering that it is desirable to take common action for the further realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms;

The widespread movement of conscientious objection during the first twelve years of Soviet rule remains a topic almost unexplored by scholars. Yet it is one of the most important themes in the history of pacifism before the nuclear age. Until near the end of the Communist era the few writers who broached the subject, e.g.. the hard party-liner F.M. Putintsev or the erudite sociologist of religion A.l. Klibanov, did so in an extremely tendentious fashion. With the collapse of Communism, the situation of course changed.

ELOC 96 in Guatemala Preparations for ELOC 97, Quito, Ecuador, 25-31 August 1997 First Bilateral Youth Meeting Peru-Ecuador -- Quito, 20-23 August

ELOC 96 in Guatemala

The Third Latin American Conference on Conscientious Objection (ELOC 96) took place last year in Guatemala City, from 20 to 26 October.