© 2020. PHOTO BY Jean-Daniel Francoeur
On October 21, 2022, the RA Government’s draft resolution on “Establishing procedure of implementing pre-conscription preparation at public schools, primary (craftsmanship) and secondary vocational education institutions” was published on the joint website of the Ministry of Justice where drafts of legal acts are published.
The following points were defined according to the draft decision:
- the goals of implementing pre-conscription preparation at public schools and institutions of primary and secondary vocational education to prepare citizens for military service;
- the conditions and material-technical base of the conduct of pre-conscription education and practical (shooting) trainings;
- cooperation frameworks of competent state bodies in the process of pre-conscription education.
Peace Dialogue NGO believes that one of the goals of the implementation of the pre-conscription courses should be raising young people’s awareness on the mechanisms of human rights protection during the military service. Therefore, we recommend adding a subsection with the following formulation to the 2nd part of defined list of the offered annex on “Establishing procedure of implementing pre-conscription preparation at public schools, primary (craftsmanship) and secondary vocational educational institutions:”
“Raise pre-conscription age young people’s awareness on protection of their rights during military service, and in case of the human rights violation, form knowledge and capacities on restoration mechanisms.”
According to the Peace Dialogue, the following points should be also considered as important in the pre-conscription preparation:
- intolerance towards the criminal subculture among military age youth;
- development of communication skills with future fellow servicemen.
The application of the latter will contribute to the establishment of the atmosphere of tolerance towards each other in the army, as well as to the reduction of cases of crimes and deaths caused by non-statutory relations, which simultaneously will have an impact on the army’s combat capability.
In the process of organizing pre-conscription preparation, it should be assured that conscripts are aware of the below-mentioned rights and mechanisms and will apply them when needed:
- rights of conscripts during conscription period;
- appealing mechanisms against the decisions of the medical commission;
- right to receive a proper medical care during the military service;
- mechanisms to record and report cases of torture, inhuman or degrading treatments;
- awareness of rights and appealing mechanisms among conscripts who are subject to disciplinary penalties;
- conscripts’ rights while getting into contact with the law enforcement agencies during the military service.
