On October 14, 2009, the Constitutional Court affirmed in Sentence C-728 the right to conscientious objection to mandatory military service as a fundamental right. This sentence was issued as a result of a lawsuit filed by ACOOC, the Public Interest Law Group, and the Law Faculty of Los Andes University in Bogota, with support from Civis.
In the sentence, the Court expresses its reasons for ruling in favor of a change in the interpretation of the jurisprudence. The Court also states that: this fundamental right should be enforced immediately; in cases in which this right is violated, it should be protected by a tutela action (a legal action for the protection of Constitutional rights); and legislators should pass a law to regulate the right.
As a result of these legal developments involving the right to conscientious objection, various legislative initiatives dealing with this right have been introduced. Although some measures have already been shelved in Congress, the draft bill presented by Senator Carlos Ramiro Chavarro of the Conservative Party has advanced to the second round of debate in the Senate’s Second Committee. The content of this draft law is troubling, given that it would require objectors to present their declarations to military judges for consideration. Furthermore, among other underlying procedural flaws, the draft law establishes social service in “civilian” institutions such as the police and the prison guard force.
It is worth emphasizing that the legislative initiatives that we are aware of have been introduced by political parties and are not initiatives proposed by conscientious objector groups or individuals. This context has shown the need for conscientious objector groups to generate dialogue on the implications and practical consequences of the regulation of this right, in order to work toward agreements and make decisions together on participation in a future process of developing and influencing a draft law that would come from conscientious objectors themselves.
ACOOC has launched an effort to facilitate discussion between groups of conscientious objectors working in different parts of the country, through a series of Working Groups. As part of this effort, on May 15 and 16 representatives of the following organizations met in Bogota:
Quinto Mandamiento (Barrancabermeja), Objetarte (Cali), Paz Caribe (Sincelejo), Colectivo de Objetores del Huila (Neiva), Asojovenes (Cali), Corporación Guascaque (La Calera), Contravía (Bosa, Bogotá), Colectivo de Objetores de Usme (Bogotá), Disentir (Ciudad Bolivar, Bogotá), Click Afecta tu mundo (Cinep, Bogotá), María Teresa Salcedo (Researcher of the "Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia").
The working group’s goals were: identifying the ideological, political, and legal interests that, based on our experiences, should be taken into account for future legal actions, which would be pursued according to working groups’ analysis of specific thematic areas; and identifying elements of the groups’ internal discussions that provide feedback to the discussion and to the decision on whether or not to participate in the process of preparing a draft law.
For this discussion we worked on four thematic areas. To begin, Mariana Castrellón of the G-Dip broadly clarified the process of the unconstitutionality lawsuit that led to sentence C-728/09 and presented the sentence’s content, scope, and implications. The working groups focused on three thematic areas:
1. Justification: philosophical and political framework.
2. Investigation process: proof of conscience?
3. Alternative social service? And the “social” military ID card.
As a result of this encounter, the participants agreed to repeat and deepen the discussion in their respective collectives that they were representing. It was also clear that it would be necessary to think about mechanisms for extending the discussion to public settings reaching beyond those who have thus far been working on the issue.
The participants believe that this discussion’s importance for society as a whole makes it absolutely necessary to extend the call to participate to more interested social sectors. This would mean broadening the invitation for the next phase of work and inviting more organizations and social sectors to participate. The next meeting will take place in Bogota on June 10 and 11.
For more information please write to: objecionbogota@gmail.com
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