Belarus

A conscientious objector to military service in Belarus has been threatened with conscription, Forum 18 News Service has learned, even though President Aleksandr Lukashenko on 4 June signed into law an Alternative Service Law. But on 11 June Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector Dmitry Chorba, from Rechitsa in Gomel Region, had a case under Criminal Code Article 435, Part 1 ("Refusal of call-up to military service") filed against him by the local Military Conscription Office. Although it appears that the case has been closed he fears a renewed call-up in the Autumn.

For more information, see Forum18.org, 'BELARUS: Conscientious objector threatened with conscription', July 2015: http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2083

Belarus has for the first time adopted an Alternative Service Law, to take effect from 1 July 2016. The law will allow some - but not all young men - who are conscientious objectors to perform a civilian alternative service, instead of compulsory military service. However only young men with a religious objection will be eligible to apply, not those with non-religious pacifist convictions. It is also unclear whether even all young men with religious objections to military service will be allowed to do civilian alternative service.

Given the sharp increase of repressive measures by the Belarusian government and its security services against the opposition it is currently almost impossible to be socio-politically active. However, for Nash Dom ('Our House' in Russian), a network for the protection of citizens’ rights – which since 2005 has cooperated with the German Bund für Soziale Verteidigung (Federation for Social Defence) – it has become easier to protect activists from state repression in the last couple of years.

As reported on CO-Update No 54, February/March 2010, Belorussian President Lukashenko ordered the drafting of a law on substitute service on 18 February 2010. Following this order, Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky issued an instruction on 31 March 2010 to set up an Interagency Working Group to draft a law on substitute service. The Working Group includes 13 members from different government ministries and agencies, and is to submit a draft to the Council of Ministers by 1 September 2010.

According to the Belarusian Telegraph Agency, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko gave an instruction to develop a law on alternative service. This instruction followed a report on alternative service presented by State Secretary of the Security Council Leonid Maltsev on 18 February.

Military recruitment is not always used for entirely military purposes. Frequently, authorities use military recruitment as a tool to silence opposition activists, as recently happened in Belarus.

Dzmitry Zhaleznichenka, a member of the Belarusian Popular Front, was expelled from the university on January 22, thus becoming eligible for active military service. He was called up for military service when he still was a student and he was shown the expulsion order by the university's representative only at the military recruitment office.

On 22 January, Mr.

As published in The Right to Conscientious Objection in Europe, Quaker Council for European Affairs, 2005.

Conscription

Conscription is enshrined in Article 57 of the 1994 Constitution and further regulated by the 1992 Law on Universal Military Duty and Military Service.

The length of military service is 18 months, and 12 months for university and college graduates.

All men between the ages of 18 and 27 are liable for military service. There are two call-up periods per year, one during spring and one during autumn.

Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee : Belarus.

19/11/1997.

CCPR/C/79/Add.86. (Concluding Observations/Comments)

(...)

16. The Committee notes the statement of the delegation of Belarus that legislation on conscientious objection to military service is envisaged. In this regard:

CCPR/C/79/Add.86
19 November 1997

(...)

16. The Committee notes the statement of the delegation of Belarus that legislation on conscientious objection to military service is envisaged. In this regard:

The Committee recommends that a law exempting conscientious objectors from compulsory military service and providing for alternative civil service of equivalent length be passed at an early date in compliance with article 18 of the Covenant and the Committee's General Comment No. 22 (48).

(...)