Iceland

14/10/1997

1 Conscription

conscription does not exist

Although Iceland is member of NATO, it has no armed forces and thus no conscription.

According to the Icelandic government: "Iceland has no defence establishment and hence no military service of any kind either by conscription or voluntary means, and Iceland has never had any such establishment. The only thing that bears any resemblance to such an institution is the Icelandic coastguard service; but its duties consist of police patrolling of Iceland's economic zone, rescue and salvage work." The coast guard is 130 strong. [1] [4]

According to art. 75 of the 1944 Constitution, conscription may be introduced in time of "national danger". [3]

In the event of war, Iceland would be defended by the USA (according to a 1951 Treaty). The USA has a military base in the port of Keflavik where approximately 3,000 troops are stationed. [2] [3]

2 Conscientious objection

There is no legal provision for conscientious objection to military service, as there have never been any armed forces in Iceland.

Sources

[1] Evans, E. 1984. Conscientious objection to military service in Europe, a study submitted by the Quaker Council for European Affairs. Council of Europe, Strasbourg. [2] Fladung, A., P. Mucke 1990. Kriegdienstverweigerung in Europa. Katholische Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Kriegsdienstverweigerung, Köln. [3] Schmid, G. 1994. Wehr- und Zivildienst in Europäischen Ländern, Informationen, Analysen, Unterrichtbausteine. Wochenschau Verlag, Schwalbach. [4] Embassy of Iceland in London 1996. Response to CONCODOC inquiry, 23 July 1996.

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