PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Moscow - September 24, 1995

ANTI-MILITARIST RADICAL ASSOCIATION

Ul. Trubnaja 25-2-49, 103051 Moscow

Tel./fax +7-095-9239127

E-mail: ara@glas.apc.org

The Movement for Military Reform which unites a number of political parties, public organizations, unions of intellectuals and single personalities, has been created today on the Founding Congress in Moscow. The Anti-militarist Radical Association (ARA) since the very beginning has taken part in creation of the Movement and now joined it as a collective member. About 20 members of ARA were participating in the Founding Congress of the Movement, including Nikolaj Khramov, secretary of ARA, and Valerij Borscev, member of the Provisional Coordination Council of ARA and member of Russian State Duma.

Together with other organizations which have joined the Movement - Russia's Democratic Choice party, Party of Social Democracy, Farmers' Party, Russian Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, Militaries For Democracy and others - ARA intends to act for achieving the statutory objectives and goals of the new born movement, including reduction of military service terms and amount of armed forces, transition to the voluntary principle of armed forces recruitment, creating the system of an effective civilian control over the army.

ARA considers as an urgent need the soonest passing by the State Duma a law on alternative civilian service (ACS), which would correspond to the following basic principles:

- ACS should be a really civilian service, being an instrument to convert military structures into civilian ones; it should have nothing common neither with army, nor with military industrial complex, nor with other military structures;

- the right to refuse military service should be an everybody's civil right; every convictions should be recognized as a legal base for granting ACS, no commission should be allowed to judge the sincerity of a draftee's convictions;

- ACS should not have discriminatory character or be a sort of punishment: its duration must not exceed the terms of military service;

- conscientious objectors should be allowed to fulfil the ACS abroad Russia, for instance in the framework of UN humanitarian operations or so called "civil corps for democracy" which are to contribute into establishing of democracy in new independent states or countries got rid of dictatorship.

This demands to the future law on alternative civilian service were formulated in the appeal of the Transnational Radical Party and Anti-militarist Radical Association to the both chambers of Russian parliament and president of Russian Federation. About 8,000 of Russian citizens have signed this appeal till now. The draft law "On Alternative Civilian Service" which was already passed in first reading in the State Duma, is still awaiting for its second reading examination. Now it does not correspond to any demand fixed in the appeal of ARA and Radical Party.

For more information:

tel. +7-095-9239127

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