Serbia

On 23 March 2010, the National Assembly of Serbia passed a new Amnesty Law, which will allow many Serbian expatriates to return to Serbia without fear of being arrested. According to the law, all citizens who have avoided military duty or service, or willfully left the Serbian Army from 18 April 2006 until the new law comes into force, will be granted amnesty.

According to a report in BalkanInsight.com, Serbia's minister of defence Dragan Sutanovac has announced that compulsory military service will be suspended and the professionalisation of the Serbian Army be completed next year.

In an interview with the daily Blic, Sutanovac expressed his belief that the country's president Boris Tadic will be in a position to suspend compulsory military service based on a report given by the defence ministry.

A/HRC/10/78/Add.1

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A/HRC/10/78

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"33. (...) According to the Constitution, conscientious objectors could serve their military duty without the obligation to carry weapons. There were 1,730 institutions and organizations for civil service. The civil service lasted nine months and 49 per cent of conscripts had opted for it."

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With the new electronic format of The Broken Rifle we want to use the opportunity to also get the WRI network using the forums in our re-developed website. This article will be posted on the WRI forum, we invite people to react to it.

“In September 2001, when I demanded that the Serbian authorities recognise my right to CO there were 12 religious COs imprisoned in Serbia. Thanks to the campaign organised by the WRI and other peace groups, not only was I not jailed, but also these 12 imprisoned objectors were released in following months.”

Igor Seke, conscientious objector from Serbia

We ask you to support our efforts to support conscientious objectors and Prisoners for Peace. Take some time on 1 December – Prisoners for Peace Day – to write letters to prisoners (see the included list). And – for us to be able to continue our work – give generously to support WRI's work in support of Prisoners for Peace.

Controlling Fear

Convenor: Roberta Bacic, Chile

Within the context of the WRI Triennial, a short workshop was developed on the control of fear. There was a large attendance and active participation in this workshop which made possible a dialogue and exchange of experiences on all kinds of valuable and significant activity carried out in various countries.

The workshop was divided into two parts;

Boro Kitanoski – Peace Action, Macedonia

“Proclamation to the Serbian friends

SERBIAN
MAN. Your Serbian virtue must be loyalty. Be loyal in the Orthodox
Church to the God of your Holy Ancestors. Be in the St. Sava’s
patriotism loyal to your Fatherland. Be in household responsibility
loyal to your family. Without God, without a Fatherland, without a
family, You are nobody and nothing.

The Ministry of Defence of the Federal Republic of Serbia and Montenegro presented a new draft law to regulate military service and the substitute service for conscientious objectors.

As published in The Right to Conscientious Objection in Europe, Quaker Council for European Affairs, 2005.

ConscriptionConscientious objection

Conscription

Conscription is enshrined in Article 57 of the 2003 Constitution and is further regulated by the 1993 Defence Law.

The length of military service is 9 months.

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

22. March, 2005: Open letter of expatriate citizens of Serbia and Montenegro following the statement of Mr. Prvoslav Davinic in the show "Javna Tajna" on TV B92

Serbia: Numbers of conscientious objectors grow - change in regulations

As the numbers of applications for conscientious objector status continue to grow in Serbia and Montenegro, the authorities respond with new regulations for conscientious objectors, which are even less in compliance with international standards then the present regulations.

Ivana Petrovic reports for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting: "According to recent data from the defence ministry in February, 8,500 recruits opted to serve their country in civilian form this year.

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