Colombia

31/03/1998

1 Conscription

conscription exists

Art. 216 of the 1991 Constitution provides for compulsory military service. It states: "All Colombian citizens are obliged to take up arms when there is a public need for this in order to defend national independence and the public institutions. The law will determine the conditions which at all times qualifies an individual for exemption from military service and the benefits for service in them." Compulsory military service is regulated by Law No. 48 and Presidential Decree No. 2048, both passed in 1993. [2] [8]

military service

All men between the ages of 16 and 28 are liable for military service. [1]

Military service for those who have completed secondary education (Bachilleres) lasts for a year, for others it is two years. [1] [7]

postponement and exemption

No information is available on regulations for postponement of military service.

Conscripts may be exempted

- if they have serious physical disabilities;

- if they belong to and live with an indigenous ethnic group;

- if they are the only sons of widowed or separated mothers;

- if they are heads of a families. [1] [9]

Conscripts try to avoid military service

- by deferring it and avoiding call-up until passed the age of service (28);

- by buying a military service record (for those who can afford it);

- by managing to get an unfit-to-serve medical certificate. [1]

recruitment

There are two distinct means of recruitment: legal and illegal - that is, forced.

All young men who have completed their secondary school education, regardless their age, are registered by their schools with the district commanders. Those who have not completed secondary education may be registered upon reaching the age of 18. They receive medical examinations and if declared fit, get a further examination in order to be assigned to an appropriate section of the armed forces. Then they draw lots to decide who shall and who shall not be enlisted. In practice, despite the minimum legal recruitment age of 16, military service is performed between the ages of 15 and 24. [1] [9]

Only 40 percent of those who complete secondary education are actually serving. [1]

forced recruitment

Those who do not go to secondary schools may be victims of various forms of forced recruitment by the armed forces. At bus stops, in market places, on the street the military pick up youths. Those who cannot prove that they have a military service record or have a valid reason to be exempted, are taken to recruitment centres. They are then dispersed around the country to conflict areas, border areas, forests and swamps to perform military service under very harsh and dangerous conditions - this despite Law No. 48 which states that conscripts are to perform their service in their home areas. Such forms of forced recruitment are officially denied by the armed forces. [1] [4]

2 Conscientious objection

legal right

Art. 18 of the 1991 Constitution states that "(...) freedom of conscience is guaranteed. No one will be obliged to act against their conscience." While the right to conscientious objection is not explicitly granted in article 18, conscientious objection to military service was one of the concepts discussed in the formulation of this article. However, legislative efforts to provide guarantees for COs have not prospered. [2]

procedure and practice

There is no procedure to achieve CO status.

Those who announce they are COs have no clear guarantee that they may leave the armed forces. They either have to perform their military service in the police force as prison guards or they have to desert and remain in hiding. If they refuse to perform military service, they are may face the charge of desertion and be imprisoned. [2]

substitute service

No substitute service is available. [1]

Art. 102 of the 1993 Law No. 99, regulated by the 1994 Decree 1743, allows a young man to perform his military service by working with environmental projects. This service is then directed by the Education and Environment Departments. However, there are no known cases of conscripts having performed such substitute service. [4]

The case of Luis Gabriel Caldas Leon shows it is not a genuine alternative as the government did not allow him this choice. Instead, in 1995 he was court martialled and condemned as a deserter, even though he had never actually been enlisted. [4]

He had informed the military authorities in January 1994 that he was a CO and was willing to perform substitute service in environmental works. On 10 June 1995 he was seized by the police and sent to prison. He was released on 28 November 1995 after serving six months. He was told he would be re-arrested if he did not report to an army induction centre within six days of release. He, his family and his girlfriend have been receiving death threats from mysterious sources, believed to be right-wing paramilitary gangs. He went to the court to declare his conscientious objections and to explain why he could not perform military service. The Metropolitan Police ordered him to report within six days. They issued a new warrant against him, so he fled from Bogotá. His family was immediately warned that they must disclose where he was hiding. The Public Prosecutor started an investigation against his mother. His case was raised with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by the Mennonite Church and the CO-group (Colectivo de Objetores de Conciencia) in Bogotá, asking the Commission to declare that in this case Colombia is infringing art. 12 of the American Convention on Human Rights. The Commission has called on Colombia and Luis Gabriel to negotiate about his situation, but the Colombian authorities have declined to negotiate until Luis Gabriel has completed his prison sentence. This has led to the present deadlock, meaning Luis Gabriel has to stay in hiding. [4]

In the mean time many others have announced their conscientious objection to military service. They have all been exempted from military service on the grounds of redundancy. Clearly the armed forces endeavour to avoid having new cases of conscientious objection. The Ombudsperson (Defensoria del Pueblo), who knows all about the case of Luis Gabriel, has launched a campaign for a new law allowing conscientious objection. [4]

3 Draft evasion and desertion

penalties

According to a 1945 Law, those who fail to respond to call-up are considered remiss (remiso) and cannot enter university or obtain a passport (Ley 1a de 1945). [6]

Those who refuse to perform military service are considered deserters. [1]

The penalties for desertion are prescribed by arts. 115 to 117, Chapter III, of the Military Penal Code. Art. 115 prescribes a penalty for desertion of six months' to two years' imprisonment. If the desertion occurs in wartime, during a domestic uprising or public unrest or while in the vicinity of rebel forces the punishment may be doubled (art. 116). If a deserter returns voluntarily within eight days of desertion the penalty may be reduced by a half (art. 117). [6]

practice

Those who do not respond to the call-up may be forced to perform military service. Draft evaders do not have a military service record and therefore cannot get work, enter university, sign a contract, own a property or leave the country. [1]

Deserters are imprisoned and afterwards have to resume performing military service. In prison they are frequently beaten, left without food or physically mistreated in some way by the military. [1]

4 Forced recruitment by armed groups

There are also cases of forced recruitment by guerilla and paramilitary organisations, especially in the country. According to the US State Department, "guerrilla incursions, military counterinsurgency operations, guerrilla and paramilitary conscription, and land seizures by narcotics traffickers often forced peasants to flee their homes and farms." [5]

6 Annual statistics

The armed forces comprise 146,300 troops, some 67,300 being conscripts. They form about 0.41 percent of the population. The reserve forces are 60,700-strong. [7]

Every year approximately 350,000 young men become 18 - conscription age. [7]

Sources

[1] ROLC 1994. Informe del taller de formacion para la objecion de consciencia i encuentro latinoamericano de objecion de consciencia. Serpaj, Asuncion, Paraguay. [2] Toney, R.J. 1996. Military Service, Alternative Social Service, and Conscientious Objection in the Americas: A Brief Survey of Selected Countries. NISBCO, Washington DC, USA. [4] Information from the Colectivo por la Objecion de Consciencia (COC) 1995, 1996, 1997. COC, Bogota, Colombia. [5] US State Department 1996. Human right practices in the year 1995. Country reports. USA, New York. [6] IRBDC 1992. Information from Presidencia de la República, Presidential Advisor for Defense and National Security, Bogotá, 17 June 1992. [7] Institute for Strategic Studies 1997. Military Balance 1997/98. ISS, London, UK. [8] Embassy of Colombia in the Netherlands 1996. Letter to CONCODOC, 17 December 1996. [9] Alvarez Benitez, L. 1996. The case of Colombia, Graca Machel project on under age soldiers. COC, Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia.

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