ABSTRACT: Criticizes the new bill on conscientious objection passed by the Italian Chamber of Deputies because it accepts the sentence of the Constitutional Court according to which "the civil service represents a different way of [...] defending the homeland" without drawing the logical consequences. A radical amendment has nonetheless established that "the civil service can be carried out in the context of the United Nations' peacekeeping operations", thus affirming a conception of security based on "permanent U.N. forces" instead of on the national army.

(1994 - IL QUOTIDIANO RADICALE, 9 November 1993)

The law on conscientious objection passed by the Italian Chamber of Deputies includes, it its first articles, a sentence of the Constitutional Court according to which the civil service represents a different way of fulfilling the duty of defending the homeland; it does not, however, draw the due consequences of this. There is no logical relation between the correct definition of conscientious objectors are citizens who exert their duty and right to defend the homeland without using weapons and civil service the way it has been conceived in these years and fundamentally confirmed by this bill.

Carrying out a service at a community or the offices of a municipality is no doubt a useful activity for society, but one that has little influence on the issues of defence or security. Generally speaking this type of service will include the defense of the general interests of the country, of the weakest levels of the population, of the principles of economic, social or environmental solidarity, but not of defense proper as contained in the first article of the bill. Only thanks to a radical amendment accepted by the Chamber has it been established that the civil service may be carried out also in the context of the United Nations' peacekeeping operations. Even if this is no more than an indication of a possibility, the fact does nonetheless lay down a specific role of the objector in the context of initiatives aimed at guaranteeing security. Also, a state bill finally acknowledges that the purpose of conscientious objection is precisely overcoming the concept of national defense to the advantage of a conce

ption of security based on the cogency of the international law and on the constitution of permanent U.N. forces - not necessarily or not exclusively military - to guarantee its effectiveness.