NSCIEN ConsCientious I objeCtion US to Military Service

1 ConsCientious objeCtion to Military ServiceDesigned and printed by the Publishing Service , United Nations, Geneva February 2013 3,480 HR/PUB/12/1 United Nations publicationSales No. 14 ISBN 978-92-1-154196-0 ConsCientious objeCtion to Military Service UNItED NatIoNSConsCientious objeCtion to Military ServiceNew York and Geneva, 2012 ConsCientious objeCtion to Military serviCeiiiiHR/PUB/12/1 UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATIONSALES No. : 978-92-1-154196-0 e-ISBN: 978-92-1-055405-3 2012 UNITED NATIONSALL wORLDwIDE RIGHTS RESERVED noteThe designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures.

2 Mention of such a figure indicates a reference to a United Nations .. 1i. ConsCientious objeCtion : inteRnAtionAL HuMAn RiGHts stAnDARDs AnD juRisPRuDenCe .. 6A. The international legal framework .. 7B. Human Rights Committee .. 9C. Regional human rights courts and commissions .. 14D. Commission on Human Rights .. 17E. Selective ConsCientious 20F. Limitations on freedom of thought, conscience and religion in the context of ConsCientious objeCtion .. 21G. Definitions, applicability and related discrimination .. 21H. Exemption from Military Service on other grounds and the obligation to recognize ConsCientious objeCtion .

3 24I. ConsCientious objeCtion for persons serving in the armed forces 25J. Legal basis and process applicable to conscription .. 26K. Minimum age for recruitment, including conscription .. 28L. Conscription: international humanitarian law and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement .. 30M. National implementation procedures: access to information and decision-making process .. 31N. Imprisonment and the death penalty for ConsCientious objectors 33O. Prohibition of repeated punishment .. 34P. Post-conflict amnesties .. 37Q. Alternative Service .

4 37ii. ConsCientious objeCtion AnD ALteRnAtiVe Service : nAtionAL LAW AnD PRACtiCe .. 44A. Exemptions from conscription unrelated to ConsCientious objeCtion .. 45 ConsCientious objeCtion to Military serviCeiVB. Registration for conscription where compulsory Service has been abolished or suspended .. 47C. Legal basis in national law .. 48D. Definitions in national law .. 49E. Application for ConsCientious objector status: time limits, treatment pending a decision, formal requirements and conditions resulting in 51F. ConsCientious objeCtion for those serving voluntarily.

5 55G. ConsCientious objeCtion for those serving in the reserves .. 57H. Selective ConsCientious 58I. Information about applying for ConsCientious objector 59J. Decision-making process .. 62K. Alternative Service : non-combatant and civilian Service .. 65L. Documentation issued at the conclusion of Military or alternative Service .. 68M. Arrangements during periods of transition .. 69iii. PRoteCtion oF ConsCientious objeCtoRs in inteRnAtionAL ReFuGee LAW .. 72A. United Nations action relating to international protection .. 73B. Determining the international protection needs of ConsCientious objectors, draft evaders and deserters.

6 74C. Persecution .. 75D. Underage recruitment and participation in hostilities .. 78E. Links to the grounds set out in the 1951 Convention .. 79F. State practice .. 81G. Post-conflict situations .. 81 FinAL obseRVAtions: tHe CHALLenGe to stAtes .. 8311intRoDuCtionThis publication brings together applicable international standards and jurisprudence relating to ConsCientious objeCtion to Military Service .* It does not purport to set or establish standards. The publication also addresses the implementation of alternative Service to Military Service for those States that have established programmes of this kind.

7 As questions have often arisen as to how in practice States implement ConsCientious objeCtion to Military Service and programmes relating to alternative Service , this publication will give examples and highlight those practices that are exemplary. As ConsCientious objeCtion to Military Service can, in certain circumstances, be recognized as a basis for refugee status under international refugee law, a chapter of this publication indicates the applicable standards. This publication is intended as a guide for State officials who are responsible for implementing laws, administrative decrees or regulations relating to ConsCientious objeCtion to Military Service , as well as Members of Parliament and Government officials who may be involved in drafting laws or administrative decrees or regulations on this subject.

8 Additionally, this publication is intended to guide individuals who may be called to perform Military Service and are unsure of what their rights are in this regard, and how and when they can be exercised. The publication is also intended to help civil society, including non-governmental organizations which have been established to help defend the rights of ConsCientious objectors, as well as other elements of civil society such as the media that may wish to have a better understanding of both international standards and jurisprudence in this regard, as well as examples of national practice.

9 Although the legal focus of this publication is primarily on universal standards and jurisprudence, reference is also made to regional instruments and related action concerning ConsCientious objeCtion to Military Service and alternative * The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) would like to acknowledge the contribution of the late Kevin Boyle, who reviewed this objeCtion to Military serviCe2At least since the middle of the nineteenth century1 the words ConsCientious objeCtion have been applied intermittently to an unwillingness based on conscience to perform Military Service .

10 Conscience is defined in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (twelfth ed.) as a person s moral sense of right and wrong . Since the beginning of the twentieth century, in the English language, the phrase ConsCientious objeCtion has been used almost exclusively in the context of refusal to perform Military Service , to the extent that to Military Service is implied, unless specific reference is made to some other form of objeCtion . Many ConsCientious objectors have been, and continue to be, prepared to suffer for their convictions, undergoing repeated imprisonment and even death rather than forgo their principles.