AUSTRIA AND GEORGIA ⸻ VIOLATIONS OF THE RIGHT TO CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION TO MILITARY SERVICE
Zaira Zafarana (Connection e.V.) ⸻ on July 24th, 2025
The session will take place in November 2025 at the UN in Geneva; the three months before the actual session are vital for advocacy efforts aimed to inform about current violations in the countries under review and suggest specific recommendations that member states can address during the formal session to encourage and pressure those states to fully implement human rights.
Civil society plays an important role in the UPR process; It can provide direct information from the ground and give voice to local human rights defenders and victims of violations of human rights, ensuring, thus, that the actual situation in the country under review is fully reported at the Human Rights Council an that constructive and specific recommendations are duly addressed during the UPR.
In Austria the alternative civilian service is punitive in its nature, for instance, and there is the concerning issue of juvenile recruitment.
Connection e.V. suggests the following recommendations to Austria:
⸻ reduce the length of alternative civilian service in order to comply with the Human Rights Committee’s recommendations;
⸻ provide all conscientious objectors with an alternative to military service that is not punitive or discriminatory in terms of its nature, cost or duration;
⸻ revise Article 1(2) of the Civilian Service Act establishing a time limit on the submission of applications for recognition of conscientious objector status, so that conscripts and volunteers are able to object before the commencement of military service, or at any stage during or after military service;
⸻ eliminate all automatically disqualifying conditions concerning applicants for alternative civilian service, such as the one about previous crimes, in order to comply with international human rights standards about conscientious objection to military service and the right to change one’s beliefs;
⸻ increase the wage provided to both conscripts and conscientious objectors to military service performing military and alternative civilian service respectively;
⸻ amend the legal framework to allow for serving members of the armed forces to apply for early release for reasons of conscience;
⸻ raise the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into the military to 18 years of age, according to the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Human Rights Committee and previous UPR recommendations.
The report about Georgia describes similar violations to those highlighted in Austria as to the punitive alternative service, the lack of provisions for professional members of the army and juvenile recruitment. Additionally, in Georgia underage students undergo military trainings with the use of firearms in open violation of the Treaty on the rights of the child; the report address as well other violations related to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
Connection e.V. suggests the following recommendations to Georgia:
⸻ reduce the length of alternative service for conscientious objectors so that it is the same length as the military service;
⸻ provide all conscientious objectors with an alternative to military service that is not punitive or discriminatory in terms of its nature, cost or duration;
⸻ introduce specific provisions to explicitly allow for professional members of the armed forces to apply for early release for reasons of conscience; any requests should be reviewed by an independent and impartial authority;
⸻ take measures to ensure that students below the age of 18 years at higher military educational institutions are exempt from military training that involves the handling of firearms and military discipline, according to the recommendation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child;
⸻ amend the Criminal Code by explicitly criminalizing the recruitment and use in hostilities of children below the age of 18 years by the armed forces and non-State armed groups, according to the recommendation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
You can read the full report on Austria here: C:UsersofficeDocuments51st UPR Austria - Connection.pdf
You can read the full report on Georgia here: C:UsersofficeDocuments51st UPR Georgia - Connection.pdf
You can read more about the UPR process here. [add hyperlink to https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/basic-facts]
Keywords: ⇒ Conscientious Objection ⇒ Georgia