GETTING AWAY WITH TOO MUCH

Transitions Online
nguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=299&N rSection=2&NrArticle=20255
Dec 12 2008
Czech Republic

Armenia has been given many chances to observe its human rights
commitments. It may be time for stronger measures.

Imagine a country that flagrantly violates some of the core principles
of an organization of which it is a member. Despite pleas from that
organization’s officials, the country continues to unjustly imprison
innocent men, solely for their religious beliefs, and a representative
of the country’s Foreign Ministry even rejects the notion that this
is a human rights issue at all. Yet the organization can do little
to press the issue and largely lacks punitive measures to force the
offending country into line, and so the situation goes unchanged.

This is not the Middle East, and this is not the United
Nations. This is Armenia, a controversial member of the Council of
Europe since 2001. Before joining, the country promised to adopt
a law on alternative service within three years and to free all
conscientious objectors from prison. Yet a report this week by Forum
18, an Oslo-based NGO that monitors religious freedom, has found that
around 80 Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objectors remain imprisoned,
with another 15 likely to face trial in the coming months. Reneging
on promises made to the Council of Europe, the Armenian government
has still not created an alternative to military service that is not
under military control.

MILITARY MANAGES ‘CIVILIAN’ SERVICE

The authorities officially registered Jehovah’s Witnesses in October
2004, another Council of Europe recommendation. Some sources cite
the Witnesses’ first appearance in Armenia 20 years ago, soon after
the then Soviet republic experienced a massive earthquake that left
large areas in ruins and 25,000 dead. Official figures have estimated
at least 4,000 members in Armenia. In addition to being harassed over
their religious beliefs – which clash with traditional Christianity –
followers have been persecuted in a number of countries for their
refusal to perform military service. In countries with compulsory
service, the problems have obviously been exacerbated.

The passage of an Armenian law on alternative service in 2004,
and two subsequent amendments, was supposed to solve all of that,
allowing conscientious objectors to avoid military service while still
serving the state in a useful capacity. Yet the Defense Ministry still
manages the supposedly "civilian" service. According to Forum 18, while
jurisdiction over the service may have technically been farmed out to
other ministries, the military still remains very much in control,
supervising where participants are assigned to work and subjecting
them to the army’s code of conduct.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have also complained that the military regularly
checks up on participants, who are entered as soldiers in military
records and must ask permission from the army to go on leave – all
requirements that defeat the purpose of creating an alternative service
for those who don’t want to be connected with the military. Refusing
to enlist in this sham "option," the conscientious objectors are now
serving prison sentences of one to three years, church members told
Forum 18.

INTERNATIONAL DISAPPROVAL

None of this has gone unnoticed by the Council of Europe. The
organization’s Parliamentary Assembly passed a resolution in 2007
criticizing the failure to introduce a civilian alternative service and
advised pardoning the conscientious objectors in the meantime. In April
2008, the council’s commissioner for human rights, Thomas Hammarberg,
repeated those calls and reaffirmed the council’s belief that Armenia
does not offer a "genuine civilian service."

Amazingly, even in the face of such criticism and more from the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an official from
the human rights department at the Armenian Foreign Ministry still
insisted to Forum 18 that the country was fulfilling its commitments
to the Council of Europe and denied that this was even a human rights
issue. More comically, the official disputed the numbers of imprisoned
conscientious objectors compiled by Forum 18, but said the ministry
itself didn’t have any figure. Over at the Justice Ministry, an
official claimed the military did not oversee the alternative service
system, which thus provided a real choice for the Jehovah’s Witnesses
and discounted their assertions about being "prisoners of conscience."

In an interview with TOL, the author of the report, Felix Corley,
explained the inaction of Armenian officials by pointing to the
powerful role of the military in government affairs. The unresolved
conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh keeps military leaders
on edge and determined to force young people to enlist, despite
worries over reports of conscripts killed during hazing episodes and
other accidents. "Some people fear that if there are these exceptions,
then everyone will use them to get out of military service and then
who will defend Armenia?" Corley said. Other officials simply feel
they have already done enough and don’t understand the continuing
problems. "They probably think, ‘we’ve changed the law three times
and they aren’t still satisfied. They probably never will be,’
" Corley said.

The debate eight years ago over inviting Armenia into the Council
of Europe revolved around consideration about whether a state that
was far from being a true democracy in any sense of the word could
be better reformed within the organization or not. Even local human
rights activists largely advocated inclusion, believing that would
foster progress and place greater pressures on the political elite
to adjust their behavior. Membership in the Council of Europe also
means that citizens of member countries can take their governments
to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which a number
of Armenian Jehovah Witnesses have done (one case was ruled partially
admissible in 2006, but remains unresolved).

Next month, the council’s Parliamentary Assembly will again debate
sanctions against Armenia over the violent suppression of political
protests in March. Add this to the latest news on the continued
imprisonment of conscientious objectors – not to mention all the
fixed elections, media pressure, and other violations since Armenia
was invited to join – and it may be time to reassess whether the
decision was a good one.

Cartoon by Andrej Graniak. Courtesy of Cartoonists Rights Network

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