Memorandum to the Parliamentary Permanent Committee of National Defence and Foreign Affairs

The draft law which is currently under discussion, and article 12 in specific, fails to end the human rights violations and the injustice suffered by conscientious objectors for decades. In order to restore the rights of conscientious objectors and bring the Greek legislation in line with international law and international standards, but also in order to be able to offer to the society, we, conscientious objectors demand the following:

  1. Repeal all convictions to prison terms and all fines imposed so far on conscientious objectors (including total objectors) in violation of international law, return the money and provide the necessary compensations.
  2. Alternative service of equal length to military service.
  3. Abolition of the process of examination of applications by the special committee (also known as conscience control committee) and automatic application of the provisions on alternative service for all those who apply for it and all those who were rejected so far, if their cases are still pending.
  4. Abolition of the "irrefutable evidence" of paragraph 3 of Article 59 of Law 3421/2005 (as amended by Article 78 of Law 3883/2010).
  5. Right to recognition as a conscientious objector at any time, both before and after enlistment in the Armed Forces.
  6. Abolition of the possibility of deduction of the right to conscientious objection.
  7. End the discrimination against conscientious objectors over 35 years regarding the buying off the rest of their obligations.
  8. Obligation of the administration to process the application of conscientious objector within two months.
  9. Real coverage of the financial needs of conscientious objectors and end of the discrimination against them on financial level.
  10. End the discrimination against conscientious objectors in relation to transpositions.
  11. Submission of the institution of alternative service under civilian supervisory authority.
  12. Possibility to perform the alternative service in NGOs and humanitarian missions abroad.
  13. Validity of the right to conscientious objection and alternative service even in times of war or emergency.
  14. Right to recognition as a conscientious objector for professional soldiers as well.
  15. Reduction of the age limit for military duty from 45 years, which is currently in force, by at least a decade.
  16. Decriminalization of total objection to military service (full decriminalization and initially lifting at least the criminal and administrative sanctions that violate fundamental rights).

(full version of the memorandum in greek)