With the crucial second reading on alternative Service scheduled for 14 June in the State Duma, human rights activists warned at the press-conference on 29 May that the bill might be passed that makes alternative service not very different from military service. Several amendments give reasons for concern. (03-JULY-2002)
First, it might allow the army to force those in alternative service to do Civilian work on military bases.
Second, it would force teenagers, considered unfit for the military to go into alternative service. “The military is doing everything possible to block all attempts to improve the bill”, said Sergei Krivenko of the For Democratic Alternative Service coalition, a group of non-governmental organizations. At a meeting May 23 between Deputy Prime Minister on social issues Matvienko, the military, some cabinet ministers and a group of Duma deputies and independent experts, the military blocked an amendment in the Alternative service bill that states that civil servicemen can’t be sent to military units against their will.
“This is the road straight to a labour army” said Valentina Melnikova of the Soldiers’ Mothers Committee. The alternative service bill which was passed in first reading in April, also contained provisions unacceptable for the For Democratic Alternative Service coalition. The military whose version was incorporated into the bill, had insisted that teenagers with no higher education serve four years, while those with university degrees serve two years.
Also, all civil servicemen must be able to prove their pacifist believes before a special commission. Liberal lawmakers had proposed three years of service for those without university degrees and 16 months for graduates. They also said that the declaration of one’s pacifist’s beliefs should be sufficient to qualify for alternative service.
