Press Release

10:00 PM

Moscow, November 21, 1994

The joint memorandum by the Transnational Radical Party and Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, prepared by Nikolaj Khramov, Anzhelika Chechina and Galina Sevruk, which contains amendments to the draft of Federal Conscientious Objection Bill, was sent to the members of two committees of State Duma: on defence and on public organizations and religious societies.

The draft bill elaborated by mixed working group including members of both Duma's committees as well as independent experts, represents a step forwards in comparison with existing situation, when Russia is almost the only European country where the legislative mechanism of implementation of right to object military service is still absent (in spite of that one fixed in the new Russian Constitution).

At the same time, a large number of positions in the new draft bill does not permit consider it as a fully democratic one: first of all because of laid down possibility for Military Recruitment Offices to establish sincerity of convictions declared by a draftee, and therefore possibility to grant or not to grant Alternative Civilian Service. There are many doubts also about the terms of Alternative Civilian Service provided by the draft bill, which are 1,5 times more, than military service.

The basic positions of Radical Party's and CSM's joint memorandum named "For An Alternative Civilian Service As A Universal Civil Right" result as follows:

- granting the Alternative Civilian Service must have a registration, but not a permission (as in the draft bill) character, no commission for proving the sincerity on convictions must be provided;

- military service and Alternative Civilian Service must be absolutely equal, therefore the terms of taking the services must be the same;

- Alternative Civilian Service must be really a service for peace, but not a source of a cheap and rightless working power for the State or - even worse - for its military or paramilitary structures; therefore, in particular, the possibility to take ACS abroad of Russian Federation in the framework of international humanitarian operations, also under UN aegis, must be provided - of course on an absolutely voluntary basis.

At the present moment the preparations of draft bill for first reading, which earlier was scheduled for November 23, was hampered because of counter-activity of military lobby, which wants to pass this bill not earlier than in 1999 and with a completely changed content: so as it will be in fact not an alternative civilian, but a military noncombatant service, similar to the notorious military construction units.

The full text of memorandum as well as text of draft bill are available in Moscow office of Radical Party.

For more information please contact:

RADICAL PARTY PRESS CENTER

Tel./fax 7 095 9239127

E-mail n.khramov@agora.stm.it