Denmark

24/07/1998

1 Conscription

conscription exists

Conscription is enshrined in art. 81 of the 1953 Constitution, which states: "All men able to bear arms are under the obligation (...) to the defence of the nation." [2]

Its present legal basis is laid down in the 1980 National Service Law, as amended in 1992. Art. 2 states: "National service may take the form of military service, national rescue preparedness service, development service abroad for those having appropriate skills and civilian service". [2]

military service

All men between the ages of 18 and 30 are liable for military service.

Military service lasts for 4 to 13 months, depending on the branch of the armed forces and the rank attained. Most conscripts serve for 9 months. [1]

Reservist obligations pertain up to the age of 50. [1]

postponement and exemption

Postponement is permitted for students up to the age of 26. It is possible to apply for further postponement up to the age of 28. [1]

Exemption is possible for medical and domestic reasons. [1]

recruitment

Call-up for medical examination takes place at the age of 18. [2]

The selection of conscripts is by balloting, as the number of young men available for military service is much greater than the number considered necessary by the Danish National Forces. Selection involves drawing lots during medical examination. The lots are actually not drawn by the conscripts themselves but by the military authorities. Apparently this is because once somebody ate his lot ticket, which meant they had to suspend the draft that day in order to find out which lot number had been eaten. [1]

The lot numbers range from 1 to 35,000. Firstly, conscripts who have applied to serve voluntarily are drafted, whatever lot number they might have. From the remaining conscripts only those with the lowest numbers are drafted, until the necessary amount is reached. Therefore it takes some months, before conscripts are told whether or not they must serve. Conscripts drawing a 'blank' are not called up but transferred to a reservist-category liable to be called up in wartime. [1]

There are more conscripts than the armed forces needs. Therefor in practice only 30 to 50 percent of all liable conscripts are called up for military service. Most conscripts in the armed forces have volunteered to serve (in 1993 this was 82.4 percent). [5]

Voluntary applications for military service can be made from the age of 17 when the person has special reasons to do so, for example for reasons of education. [7]

2 Conscientious objection

legal right

The right to conscientious objection has been legally recognized since 1917. Its present legal basis is laid down in the 1980 National Service Law and the 1987 Civil Service Act (588/1987). Art. 1 of the Civil Service Act states: "Conscripts for whom military service in any form is judged, from available information, to be incompatible with the dictates of their conscience, may (...) be exempted from military service on condition that they are engaged in other national work, which is not, however, serving any military purpose." [2]

procedure and practice

Written applications must be made to the conscientious objection administration board of the Ministry of the Interior within four weeks of receipt of call-up papers. According to the government, all kinds of reasons of conscience (religious, ethical) are acceptable but applications based solely on political grounds are not to be granted. [2]

There are no individual examinations of applications and in practice almost all applications are granted, provided the word conscience is mentioned. CO groups have evolved a standard formula that is said to be generally acceptable to the authorities. [1]

Applications can be made while serving, in which case the application needs to be more elaborate and should include an explanation as to when and where the applicant's conflict of conscience took place. About 20 percent of applications are made by conscripts who are actually serving. [4] [5]

Professional soldiers may apply for CO status. [4]

Before call-up all conscripts get a leaflet explaining National Service regulations and the possibilities of performing substitute service. Together with call-up papers conscripts receive information about how to apply for CO status. [2]

substitute service

Substitute service lasts from 4 to 13 months - the same length of time as military service. Length of substitute service depends on what part of the armed forces the conscript would otherwise have served in. [2]

Substitute service is run by the Ministry of the Interior. It can be performed in either government or non-governmental organisations like hospitals, social work for the elderly and children, theatres, museums and peace and environmental organisations. Since 1970 it has been possible to perform two years' voluntary service overseas as substitute service, but this option has not been widely taken up. [4]

COs can choose themselves where they want to perform substitute service. [5]

The wages of COs are approximately the same as conscripts in the armed forces. [5]

Substitute service starts with a six-day introductory course on the conditions of service. [5]

3 Draft evasion and desertion

penalties

Draft evasion and desertion are punishable under the Military Penal Code, but COs are not subject to its provisions. [4]

Refusal to perform substitute service is punishable by a fine and up to a year's imprisonment under art. 6 of the 1987 Civil Service Act. The length of imprisonment is equivalent to the length of time that should have been served. [3]

total objection

Every year about 25 people refuse to perform both military and substitute service, all of them Jehovah's Witnesses. They are normally twice sentenced to a fine. After a third refusal they are sentenced to imprisonment to the length of time that they should have served. This normally means six months' imprisonment, as the judges consider them to refuse to perform the shortest possible service. In practice total objectors are usually released when they have served half the prison sentence. Then, as a rule, they are expected to hand over DKK 9,000 to cover costs of board and lodging while in prison. [1] [3]

5 History

The right to conscientious objection has been legally recognized since 1917. Denmark was the first country in Europe to pass a law on conscientious objection and it was one of the first countries that liberalised the law in the late 60s. In the 1960s political motives of conscience were recognized as a possible ground for granting CO status and in 1968 individual examinations of CO applications were abolished.

Since the 60s the conditions of substitute service have improved as well. Until the 60s COs could only perform substitute service in government institutions and they were mainly employed in special camps in state forests. Urged by pressure from CO groups, who eventually even set some camps on fire, the government decided in 1968 that substitute service could be performed in other fields as well. Denmark has, in fact, always had a strong and vocal CO movement, which has surely contributed to its rather favourable policy towards COs.

Since 1983 it has been possible to perform substitute service in non-governmental organisations working on environmental and third world issues. Since 1986 the length of substitute service is the same as military service and substitute service can no longer be performed in civil service institutions, meaning substitute service is totally excluded from the defence system. [4]

6 Annual statistics

The armed forces comprise 32,900 troops (which is 0.63 percent of the population).

Each year about 33,800 young men reach conscription age. There are 7,810 conscripts in the armed forces. [6]

The following table gives the number of CO applications in recent years (as a percentage of the number of conscripts called up after balloting has taken place). [5]

1990 614 (5.1 %)

1991 525 (4.8 %)

1992 579 (4.4 %)

1993 714 (6.0 %)

1994 763 (7.1 %)

1995 773 (7.6 %)

1996 762 (7.9 %)

About 95 percent of applications are granted. [5]

Sources

[1] Militaernaegterforeningen 1996. Corrections to the draft report, 18 November 1996. [2] UN Commission on Human Rights, 1994. Report of the Secretary-General prepared pursuant to Commission resolution 1993/84 (and Addendum). United Nations, Geneva. [3] Maeland, Henry John 1993. Accommodation of Conscience - The Scandinavian Experience. [4] Sörensen, Henning 1990. Conscientious Objection in Denmark. Paper presented at the International Conference on Conscientious Objection, Utrecht, 24-27 March 1990. [5] Reports by Militaernaegterforeningen 1987, 1992-97. [6] Institute for Strategic Studies 1997. Military Balance 1997/98. ISS, London. [7] Danish Ministry of Interior 1998. Response to Quaker United Nations Office inquiry, 27 January 1998.

Return to main menu