conscription

The newly elected Bermudian Government is planning to end military conscription, a government official revealed at a speech last month.

Speaking on behalf of the new Progressive Labour Party government, Governor John Rankin said: “The Government will amend the Defence Act 1965 in consultation with the Governor to officially end conscription to the Royal Bermuda Regiment within this legislative session.”

The Royal Bermuda Regiment has not used conscription for two years and relied on volunteers instead after the previous One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) government suspended mandatory call-ups.

However, it didn't mean total abolishment of conscription in the country. The Defence Amendment Bill, issued by the previous OBA government in 2015, still allowed mandatory call-ups “when voluntary enlistment leaves a shortfall in the required number of members”.

Plans for an alternative 'Social Action Service' have been announced by the Bolivian Ministry of Defence. An amendment to the Military Service Law will be proposed to the President this month. Currently, no substitute to military service exists.

In other changes announced in May, a new military service law sanctioned the recruitment of 17 year olds - a kind of 'voluntary' conscription, open to those who give their consent, and also have the consent of parents or guardians. This follows the 2016 Constitutional Court decision which declared a previous attempt at lowering the recruitment age to 17 'unconstitutional'.

At the same time, they extended voluntary conscription to women. Incidentally, Bolivia remain the only State in Latin America to admit trans* people to the military.

Conscientious objector Atalia Ben-Abba has been exempted from military service after spending 110 days in military prison for her refusal to join army. Ben-Abba's release was on grounds of unsuitability, after her request to be recognized as a conscientious objector was rejected.

In her statement following her release, Ben-Abba said “The army can call the waiver [from mandatory conscription] whatever it wants, but the fact of the matter remains that it gave me a waiver as a result of my simple refusal to participate in a system that uses violent means to oppress another people, which has imposed an occupation upon it for 50 years, and is imposing a siege, the consequences of which are yet to be seen.”

Conscientious objector Atalia Ben-Abba, 19, has been imprisoned for the fourth time for her refusal to serve in the IDF. With this final sentence, Atalia will spend 30 more days behind bars, adding to the 80 days she has already served in military prison.

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Atalia's declaration

In her declaration Atalia states:

My social responsibility as a stakeholder in our society is important to me. The people living here are important to me, all of the people living here, and it's my responsibility and the responsibility of all of us to act for a better life here. My refusal to be drafted doesn't come out of a renunciation of this responsibility, but out of the understanding that our present reality needs to be changed, and that my refusal is my way to change it.