Subject: Press release - Kyrgyzstan
Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 07:50:36 -0400
HUMAN RIGHTS WITHOUT FRONTIERS
RUE DE LA PRESSE 5
B-1000 BRUSSELS
Tel./Fax: 32 2 219 88 80
_____________________________________________________________________
PRESS AND INFORMATION SERVICE
Section "Religious Intolerance and Discrimination"
April 30, 1998
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KYRGYZSTAN
Alternative (Non-military) Service
HRWF- Article 24 of the Constitution of the KR states: "Citizens of the
Kyrgyz Republic have the right and obligation to defend the motherland.
Citizens perform military service to the extent and in the forms
established by law".
According to the law "On general military duties for the citizens of the
Kyrgyz Republic" (1992), military service in the ranks of the Armed Forces
of the Kyrgyz Republic is an honourable duty of the citizens of the
Republic. The law itself is a close copy of the law which operated in the
Soviet Union. By law, male citizens irrespective of their origins,
property, employment, education, language, religion, family, occupation,
place of residence, raced, ethnicity or other such matters, are obliged to
perform military service.
Nevertheless, desertion remains a serious problem for the army. The
prestige of serving in the armed forces has sharply fallen. Voluntary
recruits come only from families with a military tradition or extremely
poor families who want their sons to be fed. There is a growing number of
soldiers who find themselves in hospital diagnosed with "dystrophy".
Amongst those who have been fitness tested from the active military service
20 per cent of the National Guards, 22.5 per cent of the troops under the
Ministry of Defence, 20 per cent of the internal troops for the Ministry of
Interior and 50 per cent of the Border Guards of the Russian Federation
stationed in the KR suffer from nervous-psychiatric illnesses. Therefore a
large number of people called up for the army are making every effort to
defer their military service by entering tertiary education, obtaining
alternative service or finding other ways of avoiding active service. In
1997 a person could be punished by imprisonment between one and three years
for avoiding military service and between one and five years, if they have
done so by falsely claiming illness, forging documents or causing harm to
health (article 74 of the old Criminal Code). Article 351 (1) of the new
Criminal Code prohibits avoiding military service without a legal basis.
The punishment for a breach of this section is a fine between 200 and 500
minimum wages or arrest for between three and six months or imprisonment
for up to two years.
In 1995 cases were brought against individuals for avoidance of
conscription (under article 74 of the old Criminal Code). There were
two such matters in the Djalal-Abad Region, four in Talas, six in
Bishkek (in the first six months of 1996). (Note: the information-report of
the Ministry of Defence which appeared before the members of Parliament
on 15 October 1997 stated: "... Between 1993 and 1996 no citizens, who
were eligible for alternative service, failed to answer their
conscription; there have been no citizens found in searches who were
conscripted for alternative service." (?!)
The majority of "objectors" who have refused to perform military service on
the basis of their beliefs (not always religious) do appear in court. In
order to provide peaceful options in place of military service, a law was
passed on 16 December 1992 "On alternative (non-military) service" (with
amendments of 12 January 1994). Kyrgyzstan was the firs country from the
former Soviet Union to pass such a law. For example, in Russia the right to
perform alternative service in place of military service is granted by
article 59 (3) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation on the basis
of people's beliefs or religious principles which are opposed to the
performance of military service. However, there is still no law to enforce
this right.
Kyrgyzstan constitutionally recognizes and guarantees fundamental human
rights and freedoms. Nevertheless, the right to alternative service on the
basis of beliefs is not included in the Constitution.
Under the law "On alternative (non-military) service" a category of
citizens who have the right to alternative service was designated. This
category is determined on the basis of religious belief, family position,
state of health, previous convictions and so on.
The most commonly used basis for obtaining alternative service between 1993
and 1997 were family related, specifically having four or more children
under 18 years of age.
The law limits the types of beliefs that can be used to obtain alternative
service to religious beliefs. Some members of religious organizations, who
have received the right to obtain alternative service, have refused to
perform it. The reason for such refusals is that such people do not agree
to having to pay 20 per cent of their wages to the Ministry of Defence (to
support the military machine). In such situations these people are charged
with avoiding alternative service (article 74 of the old Criminal Code,
article 351(2) of the new one).
Victor Alekseev was sentenced by the Lenin District Court in
Bishkek to 18 months imprisonment for refusing to perform military
service because of religious beliefs. He was to serve his sentence
in a colony settlement. He was called up in 1994 but on the basis of his
religious beliefs, which prohibited him from performing military service,
he was granted the right to perform alternative service. The basis for
convicting him was that he left his position without authorisation after
several months of work as a teacher at the Bishkek secondary school N*.
47 ("Vecherni Bishkek", 16 January 1997).
For other citizens who are subject to conscription, permission to perform
alternative service takes on a rather arbitrary character. Statements of
the conscript are r reviewed by the commission which has the right to
refuse the application, if it considers the reasons given are unable to
prove that the conscript's beliefs are real.
Alternative service must be performed over a period of 36 months. For
people with higher education it is 18 months (active military service is
for 18 and 12 months respectively).
Article 7 of the law "On the status of those performing military service"
guarantees soldiers' freedom of conscience. They have the right to follow
any religion or not to believe in any religion. But soldiers performing
military service cannot be released from the duty of performing military
service because of religious beliefs.
The Conscription Committee is guided by article 31 of the law "On general
military duties". Looking at moral and professional p positions and the
state of health of the applicant, the Commission can decide whether the
applicant is suitable for military or alternative service or is temporarily
unsuitable for inclusion in military enlistment.
The Youth Human Rights Group has repeatedly approached the Ministry of
Defence with requests for the "List of illness and physical impairments"
which contains a list of illnesses and details which determine a person's
suitability for conscription. At firs they were told that such documents
are "classified" and then that they are "for official use". This is a
breach of article 41 of the Constitution of the KR (the publication of laws
and their conditions of application is obligatory) and article 4 of the law
"On Protection of State Secrets" (information about facts which infringe on
the rights and legal interests of citizens is not subject to restricted
access). Unofficially everything is explained in terms of the fear that
conscripts will begin to falsify medical certificates and no one will be
answering their conscription.
Between 60 and 70 thousand people annually are subject to conscription,
however the army needs no more than 10 thousand people (less than 14 per
cent) per year.
According to information from the Ministry of Defence, 33,776 people were
called upon to perform alternative service between 1993 and 1996. In 1993,
4607 people were called up for alternative service and by 1996 this figure
had reached 10,693 people. In 1997, 14,975 people were called up for
alternative (non-military) service.
The Ministry of Defence considers that it is not currently possible to
replace today's army with a professional one, referring to the
difficulties of the transitional period.
The system of deducting a percentage of the wages of people performing
alternative service guarantees a part of the budget. According to the
Minister for Defence (in the information-report, 15 October 1997) the state
is not able to make up this amount in any other way at the current time
("defence" makes up 10 per cent of the state budget). The total receipt
from taking 20 per cent of the wages of those performing alternative
service for the use of the Ministry of Defence between 1993 and 1996 came
to about 5.9 million som and for the firs quarter of 1997 it was more than
one million som.
In view of the lack of conformity of the laws in this area, the law "On
interpreting point 2 of article 34 of the Law of the KR "On general
military duties of citizen of the KR" and paragraphs 5 and 12 of article 1
of the Law "On alternative (non-military) service" was passed on 16 April
1997. In order to clarify disputed questions, instruction were prepared for
the Conscription Commission. This was agreed to by the military prosecutor.
The current situation demands reform of the military system. Replacing
today's army with a newly created professional one is necessary. In many
countries service in the armed forces is prestigious and well paid. The
system will not improve as long as the commanding officers are occupied by
the thoughts of daily bread instead of the paramount questions of
strengthening defence capabilities and military training for servicemen.
Source: Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law - Zulfia Marat 28 February
1998.
