wfn.org | European Council support Conscientious Objectors

[APD <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

June 28, 2001
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

European Council Protects Rights for Conscientious 
Objectors

Strasbourg, France.     An individual's right to refuse 
active military service on the grounds of conscience is a 
"fundamental aspect of the right to freedom of thought, 
conscience and religion," according to a recommendation 
passed by the Assembly of the Council of Europe. The 
recommendation, adopted late May, paves the way for the 
Council to call on member states to introduce legislation 
protecting the rights of conscientious objectors.

This is a "significant recommendation," says Maurice 
Verfaillie, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty director 
for the Adventist Church in the Euro-Africa region, in 
Berne, Switzerland. He says sections of the document are 
"far-reaching," outlining the right of an individual to 
register as a conscientious objector both before, during, 
or after conscription. The recommendation also affirms the 
right of all conscripts to "receive information on 
conscientious objector status and the means of obtaining 
it," and to receive "genuine alternative service of a 
clearly civilian nature" that is "not punitive in nature."

"In the past, many Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's 
Witnesses in Spain, Italy, and Belgium, have met great 
difficulties with military conscription," says 
Verfaillie. But even in countries where the right to 
conscientious objection is enshrined in law, it is 
sometimes applied in an unsatisfactory manner, he adds.  
In Switzerland, conscientious objectors not only have to 
complete a term that is twice as long as those in active 
military service, but they also become ineligible to be 
employed as civil servants.

"I strongly support Recommendation 1518 of the Assembly of 
the Council of Europe," says Verfaillie. "Let us hope that 
the right of conscientious objectors to be equal with other 
citizens will be pushed forward in the European states." 
The Assembly's recommendation will now be considered by 
the Committee of Ministers, who can invite the five member 
states that don't have protection for conscientious 
objectors to introduce appropriate legislation. 

The Council of Europe is an inter-governmental body with 
headquarters in Strasbourg, France. It helps establish 
European conventions and works for agreements between its 
43 member states on major social issues such as human 
rights, education, health, and the environment. [Editor: 
Bettina Krause for ANN]