Finland

A/HRC/8/24

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The European Committee of Social Rights has repeatedly dealt with the issue of the length of substitute service - especially in the cases of Greece and Finland. In recent years, it has taken up the issue on its own in several conclusions on country reports. We publish the relevant parts below (thanks go to the European Buereau for Conscientious Objection):

Estonia

"The Committee previously noted that legislation provided for alternative service to compulsory military service, but sought further clarification on the length of such alternative service.

Finish Minister of Labour Tarja Cronberg (Greens), who is responsible for the administration of civilian service, is proposing to shorten the length of civilian service from 13 months to 11 months. She also wants to introduce mandatory refresher courses for reservist civilian servicemen.

Service in place of military service

Under the Military Service Act the length of military service is either 180, 270 or 362 days. According to the report the majority of conscripts perform at least 270 days (52.3 %) and 47.7 % perform 180 days. The duration of unarmed military service is 330 days and alternative civilian service 395 days.

The War Resisters' International Council Meeting in Seoul, Korea 30 June - 2 July 2005 demands that the Finnish government change its current stand of ignoring the demands of the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC). No person should be imprisoned or otherwise punished based on his or her convictions, and one of the most evident such cases is that of refusing to learn how to kill other people. Finland has for too long evaded its responsibility to grant its citizens full rights of conscientious objection.

Lobby the Finnish Minister of Labour on the right to conscientious objection

The Finnish Union of Conscientious Objectors is calling for a lobbying campaign directed at the Finnish Minister for Labour, Mrs Tarja Filatov now.

CCPR/CO/82/FIN
2 December 2004

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14. The Committee regrets that the right to conscientious objection is acknowledged only in peacetime, and that the civilian alternative to military service is punitively long. It reiterates its concern at the fact that the preferential treatment accorded to Jehovah's Witnesses has not been extended to other groups of conscientious objectors.

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Imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Finland

The focus of Prisoners for Peace Day 2004 is the imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Finland. Finland, a member state of the European Union, continues to imprison conscientious objectors who refuse to perform a substitute service which is punitive in length.

Several groups and organisations work to support conscientious objectors in Finland

Aseistakieltäytyiäliitto
Union of Conscientious Objectors, Peace Station, Veturitori, 00520 Helsinki, Finland
tel +358 9 140427; fax 147297
email akl@aseistakieltaytyjaliitto.fi
www.aseistakieltaytyjaliitto.fi/

In October 2004, War Resisters' International released a report to the United Nation Human Rights Committee, titled "Imprisonment of Conscientious Objectors in Finland". WRI's main concerns are:

In July 2001, Jussi Hermaja was sentenced by a Finnish court for total objection - nothing special, just one of about 70 cases per year. However, unlike most other conscientious objection, Jussi Hermaja did not report to prison, but fled to Belgium in October 2001, and applied for asylum. This was the beginning of a very special asylum case.

The defence of the entire country is only possible if general conscription is maintained. The high educational standard of conscripts makes it possible, with the current periods of service, to provide conscript training in even the more demanding tasks, and to recruit high-quality personnel for international crisis management tasks and for the professional personnel posts in the Defence Forces.