CO-Update

Even before the present stand-off between Colombia on one side and Venezuela and Ecuador on the other side following Colombia's alleged incursion into Ecuadorian territory, the Colombian military increased its recruitment efforts.

In the early weeks of 2008, Colombia experienced a wave of "batidas" - raids on youth on public places such as bus stations in order to recruit draft evaders or anyone without the appropriate military papers to the military.

In an article published in the paper Stratejik Arastirmalar Dergisi No 8 of September 2006, a major of the Turkish military recommended to close down several websites promoting the right to conscientious objection, among them savaskarsitlari.org and wri-irg.org, the website of War Resisters' International. The article, titled "Turkey and the practice of conscientious objection" first gives an overview of conscientious objection in Europe, and then goes on to look at the situation in Turkey.

The European Committee of Social Rights has repeatedly dealt with the issue of the length of substitute service - especially in the cases of Greece and Finland. In recent years, it has taken up the issue on its own in several conclusions on country reports. We publish the relevant parts below (thanks go to the European Buereau for Conscientious Objection):

Estonia

"The Committee previously noted that legislation provided for alternative service to compulsory military service, but sought further clarification on the length of such alternative service.

22/03/08 NATO Game Over: