REPLY from the Committee of Ministers to Written Question No. 366 by Mr Van der MAELEN concerning the rights of conscientious objectors in Greece

Doc. 7694
29 October 1996

REPLY from the Committee of Ministers to Written Question No. 366 by Mr Van der MAELEN concerning the rights of conscientious objectors in Greece

I. Written Question No. 366 (17 June 1996, Doc. 7577)

Mr Van der Maelen,

1. Despite the promises given by successive Greek governments, despite the resolutions adopted by the European Parliament, despite the proposals made by the Council of Europe and the numerous protests coming from international human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International, notes that conscientious objectors in Greece are still, to this day, liable to be given a prison sentence of four years. In its special report of March 1993, Amnesty pointed out that, since 1930, Greek conscientious objectors had been condemned to a total of 5 000 years' imprisonment. Every day there are 400 conscientious objectors being held in Greek prisons.

2. The right to freedom of conscience is, however, a fundamental human right (Article 9.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights).

3. Recognising the freedom of conscience and emphasising the importance of the equality of all citizens before the law in terms of military service obligations, all other member states of the European Union which have or had a military service system offer or offered a civilian service as an alternative to military service. These systems provide inherently for an assessment of conscientious objection and offer an alternative (but hardly less important) obligation to undergo a civilian service.

4. To ask the Committee of Ministers

i. whether it can insist once more that the Greek Government set up a civilian service system as an alternative to military service for conscientious objectors;

ii. what the attitude of the current Greek Government is in respect of this question and whether it does not agree that, in respect of the rights of conscientious objectors, it is high time for Greece to fall into line with other European states and respect human rights.

II. Reply from the Committee of Ministers (17 October 1996)

The Committee of Ministers, in response to the Honourable Member's Written Question No. 366 on the rights of conscientious objectors in Greece, would first recall that, while Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights guarantees the right of every person to freedom of thought and conscience, according to the established case law of the European Commission of Human Rights, this provision does not embody a right to conscientious objection as such. Furthermore, Article 4 of the Convention, which prohibits the performance of forced or compulsory labour, expressly excludes from the term "forced or compulsory labour", "any service of a military character or, in case of conscientious objectors in countries where they are recognised, service exacted instead of compulsory military service".

The Committee of Ministers would also recall that, on 9 april 1987, it adopted Recommendation No. R (87) 8 regarding conscientious objection to compulsory military service in which it laid down the basic principle that "anyone liable to conscription for military service who, for compelling reasons of conscience, refuses to be involved in the use of arms, shall have the right to be released from the obligation to perform such service" on conditions laid down in the Recommendation.

At the time the Recommendation was adopted, Greece, in application of the relevant Rules of Procedure, reserved the right to comply with the Recommendation or not.

According to information supplied by the Greek authorities, the current legal situation is as follows: the Greek Constitution stipulates that each Greek who is able to be called up for military service is required to contribute to the defence of the country and that no one can be exempt from his obligation towards the State or refuse compliance with the law on account of his religious beliefs. A law enacted in 1977 provides for the possibility for persons who refuse to take up arms for ideological reasons to perform unarmed military service or training for a period which is double the duration of armed service. Conscientious objectors refusing to perform such unarmed service are sanctioned under the provisions of the military penal code and may face imprisonment. However, the possibility of introducing civilian or social service as an alternative to compulsory military service is currently under study within the Greek Ministry of Defence. Since the introduction of such alternative civilian service raises constitutional questions according to a recent Opinion of the State Legal Council, this matter is being studied in the framework of the revision of the Greek Constitution.

More generally, the Committee of Ministers has noted that there have been a number of developments in recent years in several member States as regards conscription and/or conscientious objection to military service. At the same time, the membership of the Organisation has expanded considerably since the time the Committee adopted its Recommendation No. R (87) 8. For these reasons, the Committee of Ministers believes it would be helpful to have at its disposal a comparative review of member States' legislation and practice in the field. The Committee of Ministers wishes to inform the Honourable Member that it has instructed the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) to conduct such a review and to assess the implementation of Recommendation No. R (87) 8 with a view to identifying what further action might be called for at European level.