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Submission to the 104th Session of the Human Rights Committee: March 2012
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Conscientious objection to military service and related issues
Submission updated December 2011
In its concluding observations on the combined Third and Fourth Periodic Report of the Dominican Republic, the Human Rights Committee took note “of the fact that the law makes no provision for the status of conscientious objector to military service, which may legitimately be claimed under article 18 of the Covenant.” and recommended “The State party should ensure that persons liable for military service may claim the status of conscientious objector and perform alternative service without discrimination.”[1]
In its detailed written responses, the Government of the Dominican Republic stated, “Dominican legislation does not provide for compulsory military service, as the Committee appears to assume on using the term “conscientious objector”. In accordance with the Presidential Decree of 3 March 2001, military service in the Dominican Republic is voluntary, hence by its very essence permits any conscientious objector not to participate.”[2]
In fact, there is no indication the Dominican Republic has ever implemented conscription except under the “Compulsory Military Training Act” which was in force from 1947 to 1961.[3] There is however still provision in the current Ley Organica de las Fuerzas Armadas (Armed Forces Act) for the possible imposition of conscription in “times of war or serious public disorder”,[4] and it may have come to the attention of the Committee in 2001 that this Act contains no provisions regarding the situation of possible conscientious objection to military service in such circumstances. It must however be conceded that there is no evidence that this lack has ever impinged on an individual case, either of conscription or of a regular member of the armed forces developing a conscientious objection.
The Dominican Republic maintains armed forces of some 24,500; 15,000 in the army, 4,000 in the navy and 5,500 in the air force. There is also a paramilitary National Police Force some 15,000 strong.[5] The minimum age for membership of the armed forces according to the Armed Forces Act is 16 years.[6] However, the Dominican Republic reported to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2007 that the minimum age of voluntary recruitment was 18.[7] Neither in the discussion nor in its concluding observations did the Committee on the Rights of the Child ask about this discrepancy, simply encouraging “the State party to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, signed on 9 May 2002.”[8] This ratification, let alone the preparation of an initial report under the Optional Protocol, which would enable the Committee on the Rights of the Child to investigate military recruitment legislation and practice in detail, has still not at the time of writing taken place.
2
[1] CCPR/CO/71/DOM (26 April 2001), para.21:
[2] CCPR/CO/71/DOM Add.1, (28th May 2002), para 74.
[3] Prasad , D. & Smythe, T., Conscription -a world survey: compulsory military service and resistance to it, War Resisters International, London, 1968, p.33.
[4] Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 (London, 2008), p.130.
[5] The Military Balance 2011 (International Institute for Security Studies, London), pp 370-1.
[6] Ibid
[7] CRC/C/DOM2, 16th July, 2007, para 320.
[8] CRC/C/DOM/CO2, 11th February, 2008, para 88.