CO UPDATE

Editorial

Welcome to the October issue of the co-update e-newsletter - a little late, but we hope that with the next issue we will get back on schedule.

The focus of this issue is mainly on developments regarding recruitment trends - Canada, China, and the European Union. But one case of a 'conscientious objector' was all over the media recently, and we too mention it in this newsletter: the case of Hakan Ekinci who hijacked a Turkish Airlines plane while being deported from Albania.

It is obvious, as the Turkish war resisters say in their statement, that "the act of hijacking a plane and endangering the life of hundreds doesn’t comply with the basic premises of conscientious objection which is rejecting all forms of relations that preach murder." While the plane hijacking has little to do with conscientious objection - and is used by authorities to discredit conscientious objectors - it highlights the possible implications of compulsory military service, and also of a restrictive asylum procedure. It shows to what kind of desperate acts the fear of prosecution for not performing military service can lead, especially when someone comes from an oppressive country, which Turkey, in spite of all the talk of democratisation and EU membership, still is.

It is questionable - maybe unlikely - that Hakan Ekinci would have qualified as conscientious objector, even if Turkey would recognise conscientious objection, and would pass a law on conscientious objection, as demanded by the European parliament on 8 September. While conscientious objection is a fundamental human right, and is not the answer to all the problems related to conscription (or for that matter even the special 'work' contracts of voluntary soldiers, which don't allow for discharge at any time, and threaten imprisonment for non-fulfilment of contract obligations, which is unheard of in the private world). The case of Hakan Ekinci once again shows that it is not conscientious objection which is problematic, but any form of military service, be they compulsory or voluntary.

Andreas Speck

Upcoming events

1 December - Prisoners for Peace Day: Focus on Russia

Prisoners for Peace Day 2006 will highlight the situation in Russia, with the new NGO law threatening the work of independent NGOs and the war in Chechnya also leading to increased persecution in Russia itself. The Prisoners for Peace campaign pack will be available early November in English, Spanish, French, and German. Contact the WRI office for more information.

Witnessing Conscientious Objection from Turkey to the World: History and Breaking News.

Istanbul, 27-28 January 2007

A conference of academics, legal experts, and activists will take place at Istanbul Bilgi University in January, to support the right to conscientious objection in Turkey. The conference is organised by a conference committee, with support of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International Turkey, War Resisters' International and the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection. For more information, contact Ozgur Heval Cinar.

CO-Update

Monthly email newsletter of WRI's Right to Refuse to Kill Programme
War Resisters' International, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX, Britain; tel +44-20-7278 4040; fax +44-20-7278 0444; email co-update-editor@wri-irg.org

Subscribe/
Unsubscribe

To subscribe, you can go to the website of this list, or send an email.
To unsubscribe, send an email to co-update-unsubscribe@lists.wri-irg.org.

Donate to WRI!

War Resisters' International depends on your donations to be able to carry out its work. Donate to WRI online now at wri-irg.org/en/donate-en.htm.

Canadian military moving to "aggressive approach" on recruitment

With the number of Canadian soldiers going AWOL increasing, and the Canadian military playing an increasingly aggressive role in Afghanistan and Haiti, the Canadian military too seems to have problems recruiting new soldiers. According to the "London Free Press", "[t]he number of Canadian soldiers who have gone absent without leave has doubled in the last six years... Records obtained through access to information show 708 troops were convicted of going AWOL in 2005 - more than twice the 340 convicted of the offence in 2000. Numbers show a sharp rise after 2001, when the 9/11 terrorist attacks propelled Canada's military into a more dangerous, combative role abroad."

As a response, the Canadian military is launching 'Operation Connection' to increase the number of recruiters. General Hillier made the aims of Operation Connection clear at a defence association conference in February 2006: "We've got to make recruiting every service man and woman's business and I mean this. Going from 300 recruiters at present to very quickly 30,000 recruiters and then eventually to 80,000 recruiters touching every community, geographical and ethnic, in Canada. And we're moving from a passive approach on recruiting where essentially we sat around waiting for you to come to us to a more active and aggressive one...".

The Canadian peace movement is countering 'Operation Connection' with 'Operation Objection', which aims to spark an urgently needed national counter-recruitment campaign.

Recently, Francisco Juarez, a Canadian soldier until recently, became the first Canadian soldiers to speak out against Canada's war in Afghanistan. According to a report by CTV, Francisco Juarez refused to walk onto an obstacle course during a training session earlier this year at Gagetown, N.B., and told his commanding officer: "I no longer wish to participate."

He was dragged before several army captains, told he would feel like a failure for the rest of his life, and threatened with a court martial and possible jail time.

The military relented somewhat. They fined the B.C. native $500 and discharged him without honour.

But Juarez doesn't regret his disobedience for a second.

He says he was being groomed to become a second lieutenant and would have been in Kandahar by early next year.

"Morally I could have sat back and said, 'You're paid to do a job. Just do it and shut up.' But I decided I couldn't," he said in an interview Saturday.

"I began to ask myself: Could I give orders to subordinates that would result in them dying for a mission I did not believe in?"

Juarez joined the navy in 2002, lured by the promise of a steady salary. He got a transfer to the reserves last year because it allowed him more time to complete his justice-studies degree at Royal Roads University.

By the end of his first week of training this spring at Gagetown, where he carried a rifle all day long and learned about handling grenades, Juarez knew he wanted out.

Juarez was discharged over the summer 2006.

Sources: operationobjection.org, CTV: Former reservist refused to serve in Afghanistan, 9 September 2006.

Chinese People's Liberation Army adds psychological test to recruitment process

According to a report in People's Daily Online, new recruits of the People's Liberation Army will in future need to pass psychological tests. This is in response to increasing mental and psychological problems among young people in China. According to the report, the PLA recruitment office and research departments started piloting the psychological tests in 2002 in over 400 cities and counties. Over 100,000 applicants have taken the tests. "The contents, standards and methods of the psychological recruitment tests have been revised, improved and upgraded over the past five years," the report said, adding that the tests finally passed national assessment in July. "The move is designed to prevent young people with mental and psychological problems from joining the army," the report quoted an official with the PLA General Logistics Department as saying. "It aims to improve the overall quality of army officers and soldiers and reinforce battle effectiveness," the official said.

China has become increasingly aware of the mental health of its armed forces. Earlier this year, China's military colleges were ordered to carry out drug and psychological tests when recruiting would-be military officers.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army is almost 2.5 million strong, and is based on conscription. The Military Service Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that male citizens who reach the age of 18 by December 31 each year are eligible for enlistment for active service. Those who are not enlisted that year remain eligible for enlistment until the age of 22. Female citizens may also be enlisted, if necessary. Male citizens reaching the age of 18 before December 31 should register for military service before September 30 of the same year. Citizens who meet the required conditions for active service are enlisted into active service after gaining approval from the military service organs of their own counties, autonomous counties, cities or municipal districts.

Sources: Chinese PLA to add psychological test to recruitment process, 30 September 2006; China's National Defence 2004

Europe short of soldiers in 2025?

The new "European Defence Agency" released a report on the "Initial Long-Term Vision for European Defence Capability and Capacity Needs", which was discussed by European Defence Ministers at their meeting in Finland on 3 October. According to the report, which covers issued well beyond of recruitment, the average European will be 45 years old in 2025, and the pool of 16 (!)-30 year olds available for military service will be reduced by 15%. Under the title 'The Manpower Balance', the report states:

"It is now conventional wisdom in Europe that there is a need to increase the proportion of defence budgets going on investment – which implies the need to reduce operating costs. A significant part of these, of course, can be the costs of deployments – which, if met from defence budgets, are particularly damaging to coherent capability development in that they are usually unpredictable and short notice. In some Member States, such costs are met from the central government reserve; wider adoption of that practice would be a powerful support to the development of the defence capabilities ESDP needs.
But the largest element of operating costs is for personnel – over 50% of collective EU defence spending. As armed forces professionalise, and as the falling birth-rate increases competition in the labour market for young men and women, personnel costs will in practice pre-empt more and more of defence spending unless manpower is reduced. With approaching 2 million men and women currently in uniform in Europe, there is scope to do this. Approaches include out-sourcing; increased automation (from warships to robots); and reducing superfluous capability (do Europeans between them really need nearly 10.000 main battle tanks, and nearly 3.000 combat aircraft?)."

The tendency to professionalisation of military forces within the European Union, it can be expected that more countries will abolish conscription within the next 20 years. At the same time 'out-sourcing' is likely to mean an increasing number of 'Private Military Companies' and service providers taking over tasks which were traditionally done the by military itself - a trend which is much more developed in Britain than in the rest of the European Union, and even more in the United States, where on every 10 soldiers comes 1 private contractor.

These development will pose new questions for anti-war activists, and for the right to conscientious objection, which mostly does not exist for 'professional' soldiers, and is not even conceived of for private contractors.
Source: European Defence Agency: Initial Long-Term Vision Report for European Defence Capability and Capacity Needs

A conscientious objector as plane hijacker?

Hakan Ekinci, 28, who deserted his Istanbul garrison in May and fled to Albania, on Tuesday seized the Turkish Airlines Tirana-Istanbul flight on which he was being deported, threatening the pilot with a parcel disguised as a bomb, officials said. He had made an unsuccessful bid for asylum in Albania earlier. Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said "such types of asylum requests should be regarded with suspicion," adding that Ankara would ask for Ekinci's extradition, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Hakan Ekinci had earlier contacted Turkish antimilitarists via their website savaskarsitlari.org. In an August interview with the leftist Birgun newspaper from a UN-run refugee camp in Albania, Ekinci claimed he was tortured while in the army. He said he would not return to Turkey "whatever happens" because, "I reject the law of compulsory military service that keeps me away from my motherland."

While in the refugee camp in Albania, Hakan Ekinci asked Turkish antimilitarists for help and support in his asylum bid. However, due to his sometimes incoherent information, it was difficult to provide support. He also did not respond to emails asking for specific information.

The Turkish war resisters issued a statement, in which they condemn the plane hijacking. The statement is printed below in full.

European Parliament votes in favour of conscientious objection in Turkey

On 8 September 2006, the European Parliament voted in favour of the right to conscientious objection in Turkey. The issue of conscientious objection was raised in an amendment that had been proposed by EBCO and was introduced into the report by the Green Group. The relevant paragraph reads:

The European Parliament,

(..) recalls that the European Court of Human Rights advised Turkey to prepare a new legal framework for conscientious objectors and reminds Turkey that the right to conscientious objection is recognized in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights; therefore welcomes the initiative by the Ministry of Justice to legalise the right to conscientious objection and to propose the introduction of an alternative service in Turkey; is concerned that in a recent judgement of the Turkish military court a conscientious objector to military service was sentenced to imprisonment and that the military court openly declined to follow a relevant ruling of the European Court of Human Rights; condemns the on-going persecutions of journalists and writers who have expressed their support for the of conscientious objection to military service;

Source: European Parliament report on 8 September 2006