Conscription continues in Colombia – Is the alternative to military service viable?

As part of its electoral campaign promises, Gustavo Petro’s government (2022-2026) pledged to follow the recommendations of the Truth Commission on abolishing conscription. In this context, discussions on possible alternatives to military service were relaunched in 2022 and led to the adoption in the same year of the Law of Total Peace (no. 2272), based on article 22 of the Constitution, which proposed the creation of the Social Service for Peace (SSP) as an alternative to compulsory military service. Yet it was not until 23 August 2024 that the national government succeeded in laying out the regulations and formalising the SSP via Decree 1079, which stipulated a duration of 12 months and granted benefits similar to those of compulsory military service such as financial support, certification of first work experience and the issue of a military card.

Thus, the responsibility for implementing the SSP will belong to the Ministry of Defence[1] and the Administrative Department of the Public Function in coordination with the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry for Equality. The law stipulates 11 options for the social service alternative to conscription including: human rights advocacy, peace, reconciliation and justice for victims of conflict; protecting culture and the environment; digital, social and educational inclusivity; supporting vulnerable communities and climate risk management.

Implementation and Access to the Social Service for Peace[2]

In consequence, since 27 January 2025, the national government has opened up the application process to enable young people from specific territories to be considered for the SSP. For this year, a contingent of up to 5000 has been stipulated, based on the available governmental funds, and more than 400 participants have been selected.

The application prerequisites include being aged between 18 and 24. Those exempt from military service as well as those whose military obligations have not yet been determined are eligible to apply. The age requirements are the same as for military recruits with a high school diploma, which also allows female high school graduates to volunteer for the SSP under the same conditions. During this initial stage, the programme will be available in the territories prioritised for peacebuilding: Bogotá D.C.; Cartagena de Indias (Bolívar); Santiago de Cali (Valle del Cauca); Puerto Tejada (Cauca); Quibdó (Chocó); Buenaventura (Valle del Cauca); Tumaco (Nariño); Ocaña (Norte de Santander); y Armero Guayabal (Tolima).

The Challenges of Alternative Civilian Services

The international context

International experience shows that similar types of alternative service usually face implementation challenges.

In Spain, for example, the Law on Conscientious Objection (1984) stipulated Alternative Social Service (PSS: Prestación Social Sustitutoria in Spanish[FT1] ) in lieu of military conscription[3]. Nevertheless, its implementation faced serious difficulties due to high costs, scarcity of available places and greater job insecurity for the young people enrolled. Consequently, access to the alternative service became gradually restricted until the programme was dismantled in 2001[4].

At present, Finland maintains compulsory conscription with a military and a civilian option, yet the alternative service continues to be unsatisfactory from a human rights perspective, especially with regard to length of service and gender parity. Despite the country’s considerable economic resources, the government deliberately restricts access to the civilian option through fear of amplifying conscientious objection; it does this by limiting the number of available places and generating inequalities similar to those observed in Spain[6].

Therefore, in all these countries, both military and alternative service conscription have been shown to have a negative psychosocial impact on youth after the completion of their basic education. Conscription delays access to higher education, financial independence and labour market entry, all of which carry a significant cost for young people’s life trajectories. In addition, its impact varies depending on the social and financial circumstances of those conscripted, generating life quality disparities since those belonging to more vulnerable groups tend to encounter greater obstacles and limitations in their professional and personal development[7]. Likewise, in these countries, alternative service has been shown to function as a parallel recruitment mechanism to military conscription, which casts doubt on its distinct, civilian and pacifist character.

Potential Challenges for the Social Service for Peace in Colombia

While the proposition of an alternative to military service expands the options of participating in peace building in Colombia, it also raises serious concerns.

First of all, there is political and institutional ambiguity regarding the gradual dismantling of compulsory military service. In particular, the scope and accessibility of the SSP to young people remain unknown given that its continuation depends on the passing of the national budget under each new government. By contrast, the financing system for compulsory military service is more stable and clearly specified due to the permanence of military expenses in Colombia, confronted with war for the last 70 years. Thus, the sustainability of the SSP might? remain subject to the security objectives set by each administration faced with the challenges of the internal military conflict, as recently seen in the security changes implemented by the current government following the crisis in Catatumbo[8]

Furthermore, the implementation of the SSP poses serious challenges in the territories affected by military conflict, where social and state institutions are precarious or have a limited presence. In these contexts, the young people opting for the SSP might find themselves in risk situations, facing pressure from illegal armed groups or logistical and safety difficulties in fulfilling their roles. The lack of institutional guarantees in these territories could diminish the effectiveness of the SSP as a true alternative to military service and increase the conscripts’ vulnerability instead of fostering a culture of peace.  Furthermore, it is not clear from the legal point of view what will happen to the young people who decide to quit the SSP since there is a possibility of their being penalised within the framework of military law/by a military tribunal, which is not only an outrage but also evidence of the gaps in this policy of guaranteeing the right to conscientious objection stipulated by Law 1861 of 2017.

In addition, the implementation of alternative service under the concept of "citizen duty" based on the idea of the right to peace (Art. 22) demonstrates its compulsory nature, which could infringe on the fundamental rights to freedom of conscience (Art. 18), conscientious objection (Law 1861, Art. 4) and the right to work (Art. 25). Thus, allowing women to participate in the SSP pushes them to participate in the same compulsory scheme that men must submit to given that the SSP is legally understood as an alternative way of fulfilling the military obligations stipulated by Law 1861 of 2017 for male citizens aged between 18 and 26. This explains why the men participating in the  SSP obtain a second category military card, as defined in Decree 1079 of 2024, which makes clear their affiliation with the armed forces as reservists.

Therefore, even if the economic and educational incentive mechanisms intended to mitigate the stringent imposition of the SSP might assist young people in starting their professional lives, they are not equitable compared to the benefits of military conscription proposed by Petro’s government such as a bonus of more than two minimum monthly wages for high school graduates who complete their service and incentives for professional development throughout their military career. Consequently, the SSP might increase young people’s job insecurity due to its precarious and niche character, similar to the developments in other countries that have implemented these policies, thereby making the military career a more viable and attractive option in the long term for young Colombians seeking to raise their social status. Not to mention the fact that by using the army’s own recruitment system, the SSP deprives some citizens of the opportunity to participate, such as the young disabled people with the ability to work and contribute to peace.

Finally, the deficiencies in financing the SSP, in addition to the potential involvement of the private sector in its implementation, as stipulated in Decree 1079 of 2024, might lead to the corporatisation of this policy. This means that private actors, guided by commercial or strategic interests, would assume a central role in the management and implementation of the programme, replacing the state as main guarantor. Consequently, the SSP might lose its public, social welfare-oriented role and turn into a mechanism that obeys market logic and prioritises rentability over its original purpose.  

Conclusion

It is vital to ensure that the SSP is not converted into an unacknowledged obligation to the state or an indirect recruitment mechanism, disguised by the flag of Total Peace.  The difficulties in terms of the national management of SSP must also be underlined given that, unless adequate regulatory and financial mechanisms are implemented, the programme could lead to the substitution of technical and other skilled positions, turning young people into a precarious and badly paid workforce. Furthermore, the right to conscientious objection must be respected and punitive measures against those who decide not to participate in the SSP must be avoided. To achieve this, it is essential to create spaces for dialogue with anti-militarist and human rights organisations which can ensure that any alternative service is truly voluntary and does not reproduce the control mechanisms of military conscription. We conclude by inviting the present and all subsequent governments to abolish military service once and for all as well as any kind of compulsory alternative service.