Freedom of religion in military service

Introduction

Military service in the Republic of Armenia is mandatory. At the same time, the Republic of Armenia has undertaken the obligation to dismiss from military service or offer alternative military service options.

According to international standards, members of the armed forces are considered "citizens in uniform", i.e. servicemen on duty preserve civil and political rights, taking into account the specifics of military service.

According to international documents, the fundamental rights and freedoms of a member of the armed forces include freedom of thought, conscience and religion.   

Military service is a constitutional obligation, and freedom of religion is a constitutional right. Constitutional rights and obligations must be combined in such a way that neither of them are violated.

The Republic of Armenia must ensure the proper recruitment of personnel serving in the Armed Forces, the legislative enshrinement of the rights and responsibilities of the Armed Forces personnel.

 As it was mentioned, the fundamental rights and freedoms of servicemen of the Armed Forces include freedom of thought, conscience and religion. However, due to the specifics of military service, some rights of an Armed Forces serviceman are limited by law.

Such restrictions aim to ensure the normal course of military service, taking into account military discipline, rank, and the need to obey orders.

Freedom of religion and legislative regulations on military service

Relations connected to military service in the Republic of Armenia are mainly regulated by the RA Law on Military Service and the Status of Servicemen, which entered into force on 16.12.2017.

Military service in the Armed Forces and other troops is a type of state service, and the person performing that state service is considered a serviceman (Article 3).

The main type of military service is terminable military service. Terminable military service, in turn, consists of compulsory or contract military service. Compulsory military service is the main means of fulfilling the constitutional obligation to participate in the defense of the Republic of Armenia (Article 5) (Article 14).

One of the important principles of military service is the priority of the rights and freedoms of servicemen, respect for the honor and dignity of servicemen and the prohibition of discrimination (Article 4).

The fundamental rights and freedoms of a serviceman of the Armed Forces include freedom of thought, conscience and religion. However, due to the specifics of military service, some rights of armed forces servicemen are restricted by law.

 Such restrictions include the formation of religious associations, and in the case of being a member of a religious association, carrying out propaganda activities during military service and among fellow servicemen, using official positions for the benefit of religious organizations and activities thereof (Article 8).

 These restrictions are not directed against religious freedom and there is no discriminatory approach. In particular, similar restrictions are applied to other rights of the individual, which, taken as a whole, make it clear that the purpose of the restrictions is to maintain military discipline and to ensure the normal course of military service.   

Forming a religious association while in military service or using official positions for the benefit of religious organizations and their activities is incompatible with the nature of military service, however, the ban on religious propaganda is problematic because it is very abstract. The law does not define what constitutes propaganda, and such legal uncertainty can lead to arbitrariness.  

At the same time, the command staff has an obligation to understand the attitude of the servicemen towards religion and show an individual approach, which is enshrined by Articles 98, 136 and 146 of the RA Law on the Approval of the RA Armed Forces Internal Service Code.

In particular:

  • The Deputy Commander of the Regiment in terms of work with the personnel is obliged to:

- organize and conduct educational work with the personnel, taking into account the national-psychological peculiarities of each serviceman, their level of education and attitude towards religion, to instill in them loyalty to the Motherland, military duty and the military oath, and other high military and moral-psychological qualities of a soldier-citizen.

  • The Deputy Commander of the Battalion in terms of work with the personnel is obliged to:

- organize and conduct educational work with the staff of the subdivision taking into account the national-psychological peculiarities of each serviceman, their level of education and attitude towards religion, to instill in them loyalty to the Motherland, military duty and the military oath, and other high military and moral-psychological qualities of a soldier-citizen.

  • The Deputy Commander of the Squad in terms of work with the personnel is obliged to:

- participate in compiling the training schedule, organize and conduct educational work with the personnel of the subdivision, taking into account the national-psychological peculiarities of each serviceman, their level of education and attitude towards religion, to instill in them loyalty to the Motherland, military duty and the military oath, and other high military and moral-psychological qualities of a soldier-citizen.

Regulations on religious items

A number of rights to exercise religious freedom are not defined by legal acts. In particular, it is not defined whether servicemen can possess religious literature, objects of worship, wear a cross, etc. The absence of restrictions in legal acts should be interpreted as the absence of a prohibition and be interpreted in the context of religious freedom.

Regulations on refusal to take the military oath

Article 3, Clause 3 of the RA Law on Military Service and the Status of Servicemen stipulates the obligation to take a military oath for a citizen undergoing military service for the first time.

The text of the military oath is defined by the Law on Approval of the Internal Service Code of the RA Armed Forces.

THE OATH
OF SERVICEMEN OF THE RA ARMED FORCES

 I, _____________________________________________________,

 by joining the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, swear to serve the Motherland, the Republic of Armenia selflessly and sacrifice my life for it, abide by the Constitution and the laws of the Republic of Armenia, strictly and immediately execute orders, keep military secrets. And if I break my oath, let me be punished with the full force of the law.

When defining the text of the oath, it was not taken into account that swearing might contradict a person's religious beliefs. Carrying, possessing, keeping or using a weapon may not contradict a person's religious beliefs, but swearing may be unacceptable to them. This issue needs to be regulated by law; an alternative version of the text should be defined by law for those whose religious views are against swearing.

Regulations on the military service of the spiritual servants of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church

According to Article 15 of the RA Law on Defense, the establishment of religious organizations in the Armed Forces and other troops, as well as religious propaganda in military units, military organizations, military educational institutions, is prohibited, and the activities of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the Armed Forces are regulated by law.

The, which came into force on July 6, 1991, establishes the monopoly right of the Armenian Apostolic Church to have a permanent spiritual representative in military units (Article 17).

The cooperation of the Armed Forces and the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church in the Republic of Armenia had its first documentation in 1997, when a memorandum of mutual consent was signed between the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and the Ministry of Defense of RA, which established the sphere of activity of the spiritual servants of the army, the structure, tasks and goals of the spiritual leadership of the RA Armed Forces.

The right to spiritual service of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church in the Armed Forces was reaffirmed by the RA law on the Relations of the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, which entered into force on 07.04.2007 (Article 10).

At present, the spiritual servants of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church – celibate and married priests and deacons – perform spiritual service in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia.

Conscripts who have completed the deferral period and are spiritual servants of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin are conscripted to compulsory military service in accordance with the established procedure and are appointed to positions of regiment deacons and assistant regiment deacons in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, performing the function of spiritual service within the framework of their official duties. They are considered servicemen of the RA Armed Forces and are subject to the rights and responsibilities defined by the RA Law on Military Service and the Status of Servicemen.

The military service of spiritual servants conscripted into the RA Armed Forces is regulated by the relevant orders of the RA Minister of Defense.

At the same time, the command staff of the Armed Forces should be careful about the relationship between the spiritual servants of the Armenian Apostolic Church and members of other religious organizations serving in the Armed Forces. The Armenian Apostolic Church mainly views other religious organizations as "sectarian", which can cause various problems for servicemen who are members of other religious organizations. In particular, the servants of the Armenian Apostolic Church must refrain from activities of "converting" or "directing" servicemen of other religious views and influencing their beliefs, which is prohibited by Article 8 of the RA Law on Military Service and the Status of Servicemen.

The command staff of the Armed Forces must be vigilant in dealing with such cases and, in order to comply with the law, it must not allow such actions to be carried out by any serviceman, including ones that are servants of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Such cases may give rise to disciplinary action (Article 8).

Religious organizations and armed forces

According to the RA Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations, religious organizations have the right to hold religious events in military units at the request of citizens who are members of their organization (Article 7).

Therefore, it is necessary for the religious organization and the serviceman who is a member of the organization to apply to the commander of the relevant military unit for permission to conduct a religious event with their participation in the territory of the military unit.

Alternative service

The obligation of states to provide alternative service derives from Article 18 of the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in the clarification of which the UN Human Rights Committee has stated that the use of lethal weapons may seriously conflict with the right to freedom of religion or conscience. The mentioned obligation is reflected in Part 3 of Article 41 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, according to which every citizen whose military service or beliefs contradict the military service, has the right to replace it with alternative service in accordance with the law.

Thus, alternative service is allowed in the Republic of Armenia, which is regulated by the RA Law on Alternative Service, which was adopted on 17.12.2003 and entered into force on 01.07.2004.

Alternative service is a substitute service for compulsory military service (Article 2․1).

It is worth to mention that military or alternative service can in no way be considered compulsory or forced labor (Article 57).

A citizen of the Republic of Armenia, whose religious denomination or beliefs contradict only to carrying, possessing, keeping or using a weapon, may enter alternative military service, which is carried out in the Armed Forces, under military subordination and supervision, but is not related to combat duty, carrying, possessing, keeping or using a weapon (Article 2, Article 3).

A citizen of the Republic of Armenia whose religious denomination or beliefs are generally opposed to military service may be transferred to alternative labor service, which is carried out in civilian institutions outside of the Armed Forces (Article 2, Article 3).

In fact, the purpose of the alternative service is to ensure the fulfillment of the civic duty before the Motherland and the society and can in no way have the nature of punishment, humiliation of the honor and dignity of the person (Article 2).

The term of alternative military service is 30 months, and the term of alternative labor service is 36 months (Article 5).

The law stipulates that in case of choosing any type of service, the citizen cannot replace it with another type in the future (Article 3). Such an approach is worrying, as it excludes the possibility of the serviceman to exercise his fundamental right to change his religious beliefs during his service.

This is contrary to Clause 43 of the Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)4 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which states that applications by members of armed forces for leaving the armed forces on religious grounds must be considered within a reasonable time. While their applications are being considered, they should be transferred to non-combat service, if possible.

In order to enter alternative service, before June 1 or November 1 prior to the next conscription, a person must submit an application for replacement of compulsory military service with alternative service to the Territorial Military Commissariat where the person is enlisted, indicating the preferred type of alternative service, and the reasons for not entering compulsory military service. These justifications should reflect the serious and weighty contradiction of the applicant's duty to serve in the army to his conscience or deep and genuine religious or other beliefs, as well as sufficient justification, seriousness, consistency and importance of his belief.

The military commissariat shall send the applicant's personal file within the established period to the Republican Commission, which is a permanent acting body composed of one representative of each of the public administration bodies authorized by the RA Government of of the following spheres: territorial administration, justice, health, labor and social affairs, education and science, police and defense, as well as the subdivision of the Prime Minister's Office coordinating the spheres of religion of national minorities.

 The Republican Commission discusses the submitted application in a separate session, the time and place of which are notified in advance to the applicant, who has the right to participate in the session of the Republican Commission. At the request of the Republican Commission, the applicant's participation in the Commission’s sitting is mandatory.

Religious scholars, psychologists and other specialists, representatives of alternative service institutions, religious and other non-governmental organizations and other persons may be invited to the sitting of the Republican Commission.

The Republican Commission makes a conclusion within a month based on the application

  • on rejecting the application,
  • on sending the applicant to alternative labor service,
  • on sending the applicant to alternative military service.

The decision to reject the application shall list the grounds for rejecting the application.

The conclusion on sending the applicant to alternative labor service shall indicate the type and nature of the work to be performed by the applicant during the alternative labor service as indicated in the list established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

The conclusion on sending the applicant to alternative labor service shall be submitted to the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia within three working days for making a decision to send the citizen to alternative labor service, and the conclusion on sending the citizen to alternative military service shall be submitted to the Minister of Defense within three working days for making a decision to send the citizen to alternative military service.

Within three working days after receiving the conclusions of the Republican Commission (on rejecting or satisfying the application), the RA Minister of Defense or the Minister of Justice, taking into account the conclusions of the Republican Commission, shall issue an order to send the citizen to the relevant alternative service or reject the citizen's application.

The conclusions of the adopted order and the Republican Commission shall be sent within five working days to the applicant and the Territorial Military Commissariat where the applicant is enlisted, the Republican Commission, the public administration body authorized by the Government of the Republic of Armenia in the field of finance.

The order of the Minister of Defense or Justice of the Republic of Armenia to reject the application may be appealed in court, in which case the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia shall act as the respondent in court.

Sample forms

Sample application form for holding a religious event in a military unit (military serviceman)

Sample application form for holding a religious event in a military unit (Religious organization)

Sample application form for alternative military service

Sample application form for alternative labor service