Country report and updates: France
Issues
- France does not recognise the right to conscientious objection for professional
soldiers.
Military recruitment
Conscription
In 2001, France ended conscription in peacetime1. This was based on a change of the National Service Law in 19972. However, conscription is in fact only suspended, and can be reintroduced in times of war or an emergency. The relevant articles of the National Service Law have been changed in a way that presently they are suspended for persons born after 31 December 19783. They can easily be reinstated.
Conscription has been replaced by a compulsory one day "rendez-vous citoyen" (national day of preparation for national defence). All young men and women between the ages of 16 and 18 are obliged to participate in this day. On this day, people have civil status and do not have to bear arms or wear a uniform or be subjected to military discipline. Participation in the
"rendez-vous citoyen" is a necessary condition for taking part in final examinations or obtaining a diploma in state universities4.
Professional soldiers
The service of professional soldiers is regulated in the Defence Law (Code de la Defense)5
Conscientious objection
Conscientious objection for conscripts
The right to conscientious objection was legally recognised in 1963. French CO legislation was restrictive and did not comply with international standards on conscientious objection. CO applications could only be made before starting military service and not by serving conscripts, and substitute service lasted twice as long as military service. In 1999, the United Nations Human Rights Committee came to the conclusion that this length of substitute service constituted a violation of article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights6.
Compared to other European countries, the number of COs in France has always remained relatively low. During the 1990s approx. 6,000 CO applications were made per year, which was only 3 per cent of all eligible conscripts.
With the suspension of conscription in 2001, the 1983 Law on Conscientious Objection (Law 83/605) became applicable only to men born before 31 December 1978. Consequently, young men who are born after 1979 have no possibility of claiming the right to conscientious objection.
Conscientious objection for professional soldiers
The right to conscientious objectors is not recognised for professional soldiers.
Draft evasion and desertion
No information on practice is available.
Notes
1France
salutes end of military service, BBC News Service, 29 November 2001,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1682777.stm,
accessed 2 May 2008
2Loi
n°97-1019 du 28 octobre 1997 portant réforme du service national,
http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do;jsessionid=FC3459C64D252FD0848FB4EA22AF1B89.tpdjo11v_1?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000368950&dateTexte=19971109,
accessed 2 May 2008
3Code
du service national, Version consolidée au 22 décembre 2007,
http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCode.do;jsessionid=FC3459C64D252FD0848FB4EA22AF1B89.tpdjo11v_1?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006071335&dateTexte=20080502,
accessed 2 May 2008
4The
Right to Conscientious Objection in Europe, Quaker Council for
European Affairs, 2005, http://wri-irg.org/co/rtba/france.htm,
accessed 2 May 2008
5Code
de la defense,
http://www.defense.gouv.fr/defense/content/download/86693/779255/file/code_defense_legislatif_2007.pdf,
accessed 2 May 2008
6Communication
Nº 666/1995 : France. 09/11/99. CCPR/C/67/D/666/1995.
(Jurisprudence),
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/0c8f045e5407717e8025686900523f13?Opendocument,
accessed 9 October 2008
Recent stories on conscientious objection: France
From November 1st to November 3rd, 2019 a group of activists from France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland gathered to discuss militarism in their political, social and everyday lives. Conscientious objection, among and in relation to other topics, was central to the discussions at this Antimilitarist Camp in Paris.
A new national civic service programme targeting young people was launched in June this year, 20 years after ending conscription for men in the country.
For many years, it looked like obligatory military service was on the way out. But in the last five years, the picture has changed: Norway has extended conscription for women; Sweden has reintroduced conscription for all; Ukraine, Georgia, Lithuania and Kuwait have reintroduced conscription for men after short hiatuses; Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have introduced conscription for the first time. We look at why governments are turning to compulsion in filling their armies, and what this means for pacifist movements.
In this presentation I will give an overview of the right to conscientious objection, its
legal practices and frameworks in the 27 European Union member states. Before I do so, I want to step back a bit and have a brief look at the existing international standards about the right to
conscientious objection, as these standards allow us to put the practices in the EU member states into a perspective.