Venice Commission: Believers cannot be forced into military service

A meeting of the Venice Commission. Photo: BBC

The Venice Commission has issued an opinion that in Ukraine people cannot be forced to carry or use weapons if they refuse military service for reasons of conscience, writes the Judicial and Legal Newspaper.

The Venice Commission issued this verdict at the request of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, which considered the case of the mobilization of a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In a letter dated December 4, 2024, the then acting chairman of the Constitutional Court, Viktor Krivenko, addressed the Venice Commission with an amicus curiae request (conclusion) regarding alternative (non-military) service.

Ukrainian courts have ruled that national legislation does not provide for a substitute for military service during mobilization, and that the right to manifest one's religion or beliefs is not absolute and is subject to the constitutional duty to defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state from foreign aggression.

The Venice Commission analysed international and European legislation and concluded that conscientious objection to military service cannot be completely excluded even in wartime and that under no circumstances can a conscientious objector be forced to carry or use arms even for the self-defence of the country.

Let us recall that earlier the Supreme Court of Ukraine ruled that religious beliefs cannot give a person the right to a deferment from mobilization.

Earlier, the Union of Unions of Journalistswrote that the Venice Commission would consider the issue of alternative service in Ukraine.

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