UN Human Rights Committee

Submission to the 95th Session of the Human Rights Committee: March 2009

Although the regular armed forces of the United Republic of Tanzania
have always relied on voluntary recruitment, there are concerns about
the national service scheme “Jeshi na Kujenga Taifa” or
JKT, which in 1972 was put under the control of the Ministry
of Defence and became compulsory for those completing secondary
education.

Submission to the 95th Session of the Human Rights Committee: March 2009 Summary

CPTI wishes to draw three concerns to the attention of the Committee.

The
first is that the Law on Civilian Service, while excellent in some
respects, does not grant automatic recognition to those who declare a
conscientious objection to military but requires them to convince a
commission regarding the nature of their objections before permitting
them to opt for civilian rather than military service, and sets a
duration for civilian service which appears to be discriminat

Introduction

Conscientious objection to
military service is not explicitly recognised in the international
human rights standards. This has led some States to argue that it is
not protected by them. However, this is not the case.

Submission to the 94th Session of the Human Rights Committee: October 2008

CPTI
suggests that in the list of issues Chad be asked whether the
provisions concerning the recognition of conscientious objectors to
military service reported to the Commission on Human Rights in 1991
are still in force, to give details of the procedures concerned, and
an indication of the number of applications for conscientious
objector status submitted and approved.

Background

Although a legal ordinance dating from the time of independence
places a formal militar

Submission to the 94th Session of the Human Rights Committee: October 2008

Rwanda
has never used conscription in order to recruit its national armed
forces, although at various times armed opposition groups which had
formerly been or were subsequently to form the government were
accused of widespread forced recruitment, including of children,
especially outside Rwandan territory.

National law makes no provision for conscientious objection, and
there are no reports that this issue has yet arisen with regard to
the national armed forces.

Submission to the 94th Session of the Human Rights Committee: October 2008

Australia
has the distinction of having been the first country to have
introduced legislative provisions recognising conscientious objection
to military service. These were attached to the Defence Act of 1903
which enabled conscription. In fact, however, the provisions of that
Act were not implemented until 1939; they did not apply to a
compulsory military training scheme which operated between 1911 and
1929.

Submission to the 94th Session of the Human Rights Committee: October 2008

Obligatory military service was suspended in the Netherlands in 1996, but the provisions governing such service, and the arrangements for conscientious objection, remain on the statute book. All males are required to register for military service; there is no provision for registering as a conscientious objector.

Obligatory military service in Spain has been suspended since 2001. It appears however that this could be reinstated at any time, if considered necessary, even without the formal declaration of a state of emergency. In such an event, there is some uncertainty as to how the constitutional guarantee of the right of conscientious objection would be implemented.

There is also no indication of any provisions allowing the release of serving members of the armed forces who develop a conscientious objection.

Main concerns

The regulations governing the right to conscientious objection are not in the public domain, and information is difficult to obtain by members of the public, and also by members of the Armed Forces.

Decision making on an application for conscientious objection in the first instance is by the respective branch of the Armed Forces itself, and not by an independent body.

Using the UK Freedom of Information Act, War Resisters' International finally obtained the regulations governing the right to conscientious objection for the three branches of the British Armed Forces, in time to examine them for a counter-report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which will examine the United Kingdoms human rights record in its sessions in October 2007 and July 2008.

The regulations governing this right have so far not been publicly available, although War Resisters' International did make a le

On 23 August 2007, the Human Rights Committee released a new General Comment on article 14 (Right to equality before courts and tribunals and to a fair trial) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). While this General Comment goes into great detail about almost every aspect of a trial - which is of no interest here - it also deals with the issue of repeated imprisonment of conscientious objectors.

CCPR/C/CHL/CO/5
18 May 2007

(...)

13. The Committee notes the State party’s intention to adopt a law recognizing the right of conscientious objection to military service, but continues to be concerned that this right has still not been recognized (article 18 of the Covenant).