SPAIN'S DRAFT OBJECTORS NOW HAVE LESS TO OBJECT TO

by Alan Riding

Herald Tribune, Monday, August 8, 1994

Madrid. Alarmed that nearly half off young men in Spain who are eligible for the draft claim to be conscientious objectors, the government has come up with a policy aimed at making obligatory military service seem less like, well, obligatory military service.

Under the policy, draftees will work only Monday through Friday for a total of 37.5 hours per week, and if they live within 65 kilometers (40 miles) of their barracks, they can sleep at home. If they are in uniform but off duty, they need no longer salute officers.

If they feel they have been abused, they can circumvent military authorities and complain directly to Spain's ombudsman, the so-called defender of the people.

For Spain's top brass, these are hardly changes designed to create a tough citizen's army. But if trends continue, they also know, they may soon be without soldiers.

This year, 90,000 young men, almost half of those eligible for the draft, are expected to register as conscientious objectors. In 1986, only 6,407 registered.

The defence Ministry would prefer simply to clamp down on those claiming moral reasons to avoid military service, but it cannot. During the Franco dictatorship, conscientious objectors were thrown in jail. Today, their rights are protected under Spain's 1978 Constitution.

An alternative is to improve the image of the draft, but this is also not easy. In recent years, wide publicity has been given to draftees who have been victims of abuse and cruelty. Many desert or go absent without leave, and last year 13 draftees suicide.

But it is only since 1990 that conscientious objection to military service has caught on. Those who make the claim are supposed to carry out 13 months of alternative social service, compared with 9 month of military service for those drafted. But in practice, because the mechanism for assigning them to hospitals or schools is inefficient, most avoid any service.

In Western Europe only Germany has a comparable rate of conscientious objection, but there the system has been institutionalized to the point that young men are virtually free to choose between 12 months of military service and 15 months of social service.

In Spain, the government has begun a program to ensure that community service positions are found for those claiming to be conscientious objectors. It believes that although a backlog of 130,000 young men is waiting to be placed, fewer will avoid the draft if they know they will still be called up - and for 13 instead of 9 months.