Austria

24/07/1998

1 Conscription

conscription exists

Conscription is enshrined in art. 19(a) of the Constitution (amended in 1975), according to which all male citizens are liable for military service. [3]

The present legal basis of conscription is the 1990 Defence Law (Wehrgesetz). [3]

military service

All men between the ages of 18 and 35 are liable for military service. [8]

Women are not liable for military service, nor are they admitted to the armed forces as professional soldiers. [7]

The length of military service is 8 months. Conscripts may perform military service either by serving for 8 months right away or by serving for 7 months and doing the rest as reserve training (before the age of 30 with a maximum of 15 days reserve training annually). [7] [8] [10]

Reservist obligations pertain up to the age of 50, and up to the age of 65 for officers and those possessing certain special skills. In practice reservists are called up for reserve training until their mid-thirties. [7] [11]

postponement and exemption

Postponement is possible for students: up to the age of 25 in the case of secondary school students and vocational trainees, up to the age of 28 in the case of university students. [7]

recruitment

Young men are called up for medical examination in the year they turn 19, call-up for military service usually takes place in the same year. At least 6 months must elapse between notification of fitness and call-up. [7] [8]

Voluntary applications for military service can be made from the age of 17. [7]

2 Conscientious objection

legal right

The right to conscientious objection was included in the Constitution in 1975. Art. 9(a) states that those who refuse to perform military service for reasons of conscience must perform an alternative service. [3]

Its present legal basis is the 1974 Law on Civilian Service (Zivildienstgesetz). This law was amended many times, most recently in December 1996. [3] [4]

right for whom

Applications must be submitted within a clearly defined period: from the moment a conscript has been declared fit to serve up to 2 days before receipt of call-up papers (as stated above, at least 6 months must elapse between notification of fitness and call-up). A potential applicant can therefore never know that the period for submitting an application is actually over, until it is already too late. [8]

Applications can thus not be made while serving. [8]

The limited time in which conscripts may apply for CO status means that in practice those who are over 19 are denied the right to CO status. Moreover, when the Law on Civilian Service was amended in December 1996, foolish provisions were made for those who had been declared fit to serve before 1 January 1994: they might apply for CO status only after 5 years had elapsed since they were first declared fit; then they would have to apply within six weeks of that date. [8]

Several COs, who continued to refuse to perform military service after their applications were rejected because they were not submitted within the time limit, have been sentenced to up to one year's imprisonment for failure to comply with call-up orders. However, in March 1997 the Schwechat District Court acquitted a CO of the charges and ruled that "the accused could not be reproached for not knowing about the particular deadline for submitting applications to perform alternative service, especially since the authorities made no particular efforts to inform the public about the regulation." [12]

Professional soldiers may not apply for CO status. [5]

procedure and practice

Written applications must be made to the Ministry of Interior. Applicants must demonstrate that they would face a major conflict of conscience if they were to perform military service. According to par. 25 of the Defence Law selective objection is not allowed.

There is no individual examination of conscientious motives and almost all applications are granted - providing they are submitted within the time limit.

If the application is rejected, appeal to a competent judicial authority is possible. [4] [5]

substitute service

The length of substitute service is 12 months, one and a half the length of military service.

Substitute service is run by the Ministry of the Interior. It may be performed in disaster relief and civil defence projects, in the public sector, in hospitals and in social work on behalf of disabled, youth and refugees. It is also possible to serve in the armed forces in a non-combatant capacity. [3] [5] [4] [8]

Payment for COs is about the same as for conscripts in the armed forces. [3]

3 Draft evasion and desertion

penalties

Draft evasion and desertion are punishable under the Military Penal Code. [8]

Not responding to a call-up within 30 days is punishable by three months' imprisonment or a fine (section 7 (1)). After 30 days the sentence can be as heavy as a year's imprisonment (section 7 (2)).

Persistent disobeying of military orders is punishable by up to 2 years' imprisonment (section 12 (1) 2).

practice

Total objectors get sentenced to 2 to 6 months' imprisonment. There are no known cases of total objectors in recent years. [4] [5]

5 History

Before 1974 COs were only allowed to perform unarmed military service within the armed forces. The introduction of the 1974 Law on Civilian Service made a civilian substitute service available, but applicants for CO status had to undergo a rigorous examination of their motives. In an oral hearing at the Civilian Service Commission they had to demonstrate that, except in cases of self defence or emergency assistance, they had conscientious motives for rejecting resort to arms against another person and consequently would face a major conflict of conscience were they to perform military service. The commission was known to be very rigid. For example, in 1989 it rejected Christian Schwarz' application as he did not express his beliefs "in a credible manner, he repeated prepared phrases and he lacked knowledge about nonviolent methods of defence". Only about 60 percent of applications were granted by the commission (a further 10 percent was granted after appeal to court). Despite such thorough examination of applications the number of COs increased in the 70s and 80s, from about 1,700 in 1975 to over 4,000 per year in the 80s. [5] [6]

In 1991 individual examinations were abolished. At the same time, however, the government attempted to restrict the number of COs by lengthening substitute service from 8 to 10 months. It was even further extended to 11 months in 1994 and to 12 months in 1996. The number of COs, however, kept increasing from about 4,500 in 1991 to over 12,000 in 1992. [9]

Ever since 1975 the time limit for submitting applications has been subject of controversy. Initially applications for CO status could be made for up to 14 days after receipt of call-up papers. In 1994 this period was curtailed to within a month of receiving notification of fitness. In 1996 the period was slightly extended again, but the Civilian Service Law still does not meet the international legal standards on conscientious objection. [3] [4] [5] [8]

6 Annual statistics

The armed forces comprise 45,500 troops, which is 0.57 percent of the population. There are 16,600 conscripts in the armed forces. [11]

Every year about 50,600 young men reach conscription age. [11]

The following table gives the number of granted CO applications in recent years: [5] [6] [9]

1975 1,257

1981 4,242

1991 4,573

1992 12,039

Figures for later years are not available.

Sources

[1] Abecassis, L., P. Duong, S. Perrier, N. Watt, 1994. Conscription Militaire ou Service National a Option Civique, rapport de l'enquête préliminaire effectuée auprès d'une vingtaine d'Etats membres de l'UNESCO. CCIVS - UNESCO, Paris. [2] International Conscientious Objectors' Meeting Documentation 1993. [3] Schmid, G. 1994. Wehr- und Zivildienst in Europäischen Ländern, Informationen, Analysen, Unterrichtbausteine. Wochenschau Verlag, Schwalbach. [4] Silvestri, A. 1993. Conscientious objection to military service: a regional human right? Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales, Geneva [5] War Resisters' International 1990. Country report Austria. WRI, London. [6] Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Wehrdienstverweigerung und Gewaltsfreiheit 1994. Response to Quaker Council for European Affairs inquiry. [7] Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence 1994. Response to Quaker Council for European Affairs inquiry, 31 May 1994. [8] Amnesty International 1997. Austria, conscientious objection to military service: a summary of current concerns. AI, London. [9] Frankfurter Rundschau, 18 August 1993. [10] US Library of Congress 1993. Austria - a country study. Area Handbooks, State Department, Washington DC. [11] Institute for Strategic Studies 1997. Military Balance 1997/98. ISS, London. [12] Amnesty International 1998. The right to conscientious objection to military service in Europe. AI, London.

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