Slovenia

According to the reply of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia to the Questionnaire about EBCO’s Annual Report 2020 (e-mail on 18/01/2021):

In the Republic of Slovenia, compulsory military service was abolished in 2003, after the Act Amending the Military Service Act entered into force. On 11 September 2003, in accordance with the fifth paragraph of Article 62. B of the Military Service Act, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted a resolution on termination of compulsory military service, thus the decision was made to change the manning system of the armed forces from conscription to professional. From this resolution onward, the Republic of Slovenia has had voluntary military service. Certain components of compulsory military service were frozen, but are still applicable and can be reactivated/reintroduced in certain situations of threat to the state on the proposal of the Government and with the approval of Parliament.

The Military Service Act (Official Journal of the Republic of Slovenia, n˚18/91) enabled to exercise the right of conscientious objection to military service only for conscripts called up for conscription. On the basis of this Act, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia issued a Regulation on the Enforcement of the Conscientious Objection to the Military Service and of the Civil Alternative Service. In 1995, the Constitutional Court ruled that the cited Military Service Act was in conflict with the Constitution because it did not grant the exercise of the right to conscientious objection also upon completion of conscription, as long as the duty to participate in the defence of the state was applicable. With the adoption of the Act Amending the Military Service Act (Official Journal of the Republic of Slovenia, n˚74/95) the right to conscientious objection was also expanded to soldiers doing their military service and conscripts who had completed their military service. Hence every individual obliged to do military service – i.e. conscripts, soldiers doing their military service and conscripts in the reserve component could exercise the right to conscientious objection at any time during the period of their military duty.

The legal minimum age for voluntary enlistment is 18 years.

Professional members of the military cannot exercise the right to conscientious objection. Since 2010, the Republic of Slovenia has only had professional armed forces, the contract reserve and volunteer soldiers doing voluntary military service. Persons, whose human right to conscientious objection to military service is recognised or is in the process of being recognised, cannot become contract service members of the reserve component of the Slovenian Armed Forces. In the event that a contract service member exercises his/her human right to conscientious objection to military service during the contract period, the contract will expire. The same rule applies for volunteer soldiers and professional members of the military.