Struggling to have the Freedom of Conscience respected amidst civil war:
The Colombian Conscientious Objectors’ movement
By Janice GallagherThe Colombian Conscientious Objectors’ movement
Carlos Andres Hincapie, 18, had gone out to the store to buy eggs for his family’s breakfast when he ran into the military, who asked for his military identification card, certifying he had completed his military service. He told them he didn’t have one, and didn’t agree with military service. Without returning to his house, he was loaded onto the back of a military truck, and taken to the military barracks. He could not call his parents, and the next day was whisked off for “training” several hours away. Within two weeks, he was engaged in active duty military service. He signed a statement two months later certifying that he was a Conscientious Objector, and in return received harsh physical treatment at the hands of the military.
That was in August of 2006. Today, Carlos Andres remains in the military, where he has been forced to perform his military service despite his moral objections to the use of violence.
His case and hundreds of like his have inspired a youth movement in Colombia which is challenging the State’s right to force them to participate in Colombia’s bloody civil war. This May over 70 youth from all corners of Colombia, along with international supporters from 7 different countries, came together for a week-long conference in which they debated, danced, organized and educated others about the prospect of resisting military service based on a personal commitment to non-violence.
Sandra Grisales, an organizer with the Red Juvenil, or Youth Network, of Medellín explained “We are here as a group of young people imagining that a different world is possible...because we think the same way, and because we are celebrating our right to think freely. For me, injustice doesn’t help me at all, and I will not be part of continuing it.”
The reality for youth in Colombia today
In Colombia, forcibly recruiting youth to be involved in the over 40-year civil war has been regarded as just another tragic effect of the armed conflict. Over the past several years, however, an organized youth movement has emerged to challenge this aspect of the war. The movement’s premises are simple: they want the right to say no to participating in Colombia’s cycles of violence. Or, as Katedrá, a dancer with the Villarica Conscientious Objector hip hop group Soporte Klan explained “for me, liberty is the most important thing. I am awakened to do something in spite of all the difficulties we will face because today we are not free.”
Forced recruitment, or obligatory service, is carried out by every armed group within the Colombian civil war – the paramilitaries, the guerillas, and the “official” state army. While resisting recruitment by the “illegal armed actors” (the paramilitaries and guerrillas) is difficult, since by definition the groups and all of their activities are already illegal, the Conscientious Objectors have begun to seriously challenge the Colombian government’s right to obligate men over 18 to serve in the military.
Currently, all men over 18 must serve in the military unless they are displaced, indigenous, high school students, physically incapable of serving, heads of family themselves or the only child of their parents. Despite regulations guaranteeing youth the right to prove they are exempt from service, the most common form of military recruitment entails rounding up boys at places where they are likely to meet: at schools, parks, or dance and billiard halls, and whisking them off for their service without the opportunity (or, most likely, the information) to file for an exemption form service. Youth may “buy” their way out of military service for about $200, but this is not an option for many poor youth, and accordingly, poor youth make up the bulk of those that actually serve in the military.
Those who don’t succeed in obtaining the coveted libreta militar, or military service card, are denied opportunities for education and employment. Without the libreta, one cannot graduate from University or get a job with any private or public company, leaving only informal or illegal sector employment open to them.
As is true with many things in Colombia, there are written norms, regulations and laws, and then there is the way things really work. Often, youth never have a chance to prove that they are exempt. Often officials can be bribed into giving over the coveted libreta militar. And sometimes, officials decide to make an example of one person: In one case, a youth was displaced, the primary breadwinner in the family, a declared Conscientious Objector, and he was recruited illegally. He was recruited in November, and remains in the military despite numerous legal challenges on clearly valid grounds. After linking up with a local CO group to push his case, his mother has since asked that it be left alone, for fear of further repercussions against her son and her family.
Conscientious Objection in Colombia: A legal right?
There are two contradictory provisions in the 1991 Colombian Constitution: Article 18 in the section on fundamental rights guarantees that “nobody will be obligated to act against their conscience.” Article 216, in the section on the state forces, states “All Colombians are obligated to take up arms when the public interest necessitates in order to defend national independence and public institutions.” The Colombian Constitutional Court has ruled that there is no right to Conscientious Objection under Colombian law, citing Article 216. While this has obviously closed doors in the Colombian legal system, it has led the Colombian COs to look towards international law.
The UN’s Commission and Committee on Human Rights have long recognized the right of conscientious objection to military service “as part of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion enshrined in Article 18 of both the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. ” In January of 2007, however, the UN Human Rights Committee, the legal body that rules on UN human rights, more strongly affirmed this right than ever before: they decided that South Korea had violated Article 18 by not providing for conscientious objection to military service for two Jehovah’s Witnesses (in the case of Mr. Yeo-Bum Yoon and Mr. Myung-Jin Choi v Republic of Korea),
Why should Colombia listen to the UN? Well, Colombia is a “party to both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ratified 29 October 1969),” it recognizes in its constitution the legitimacy of international law over domestic law when they contradict, and it also signed something called the “First Optional Protocol” with the UN, which means individuals can bring cases directly to the UN when they feel Colombian law is contradicting international law.
Since the Colombian Constitutional Court clearly demonstrated that there are no more legal remedies in Colombia, the door is open at the Committee on Human rights to consider the Colombian case. In 2004, they already indicated what they thought about Colombia’s view of COs stating “The Committee notes with concern that the legislation of the State [Colombia] party does not allow conscientious objection to military service.
The State party should guarantee that conscientious objectors are able to opt for alternative service whose duration would not have punitive effects. ”
At this CO conference, participants discussed possible test cases to bring to the UN Human Rights Committee. In one case, a declared Conscientious Objector has been denied his diploma despite finishing his university coursework because he has not completed his military service. According to another recognized UN statute, this is discrimination based on CO status, which is illegal. The hope is that with a ruling against the Colombian CO position, Colombia would be pressured to change its legal ruling.
CO movement in Colombia:
What everyone at the conference recognized, and what officials said the next week when faced with the clear legal case for the recognition of Conscientious Objection in Colombia, was that without a strong Colombian and international lobbying effort for this right, there would not be sufficient political will to push this change. It was with this knowledge that last week’s conference participants shared their individual organizing strategies, developed ways for expanding their movement, and took to the streets on the final day to spread their message.
Conference participants told of how they were creatively spreading the idea of conscientious objection in their home communities: In Sincelejo, the CO group has succeeded in using a government education department provision requiring that students be educated about alternatives to war to attain a permanent presence in four high schools. They give weekly classes educating students about their rights in the face of recruitment, and ask them to think critically about whether to serve in the military. In Villarica, a group of young COs have come together in a hip hop group where they sing, rap and dance about their commitment to non-violence and non-participation in the armed conflict. In Barranca, I heard about their efforts to assist youth who have been recruited illegally or against their will, and their legal and political fight to have them freed from service. In Medellín they told of courageous young men who have gone to the local army Brigade, presented their declaration as Conscientious Objectors, and are putting themselves on the line in order to build a legal case and precedence for the legalization of CO status.
As a group, the COs choreographed and performed compelling street theatre on some of the busiest corners in Medellin: they first walked around freely, and then silently paired off. They joined hands with their partner and pulled opposite ways, both desperately trying to go their own way, to symbolize forced military recruitment against their will.
. They then let go of each other’s hands, both falling to the floor, demonstrating that after this recruitment against their will, everyone falls, everyone loses, and suffers. After a rapped mantra narrating the injustice of forced recruitment and the right to conscientious objection, the 70 corpses of the participants were simultaneously resuscitated, and they broke into song and dance, celebrating the life-giving power of the freedom of thought and the right to follow their conscience. They danced and sang their way down the streets of Medellin to the next metro stop, where they repeated their performance, and then publicly read their mission statement.The Conscientious Objector Movement was born in 1988 in Colombia, and has started to build steam in the past several years, hosting four national conferences, and hosting their first international conference in June 2006. They have met since to arrive at their legal strategy and to bring together the thinking of the diverse group that makes up the COs.
Their hopes as a group are diverse, but nearly all of them recognize that it will be a long struggle. Freed Molina, a declared Conscientious Objector from Sincelejo said “I knoiw the struggle will be long, but I would like for Conscientious Objection to turn into a way of life...I hope that the demilitarization we are advocating for isn’t only legal, but that it extends to all acts and creates a pacifist revolution in a person’s being.”
They have realized as a group how vital international support is to their movement, and are arranging for international trips for many of their members. The idea is to find groups of people who will support their struggle for the recognition of CO status from outside the country by applying political pressure when a youth is recruited. If you are interested, please send an email to FOR Bogota at presenciaparalapaz@yahoo.com. We are currently gathering signatures to try and get Carlos Andres Hinacapie released from his unwilling military service.
