Azerbaijan will not adopt law on alternative service

Azerbaijan will not fulfill one of the commitments undertaken at the Council of Europe – adoption of law on alternative service because of non-solution of Nagorno Karabakh problem, the government source said.

Azerbaijan is at war and therefore it doesn’t intend to adopt this document.

Member of the parliament’s security and defense committee Zahid Oruc said that while Azerbaijan was ratifying the European Convention on Human Rights ten years ago, one of the key points of this document was about the right for alternative service to extend freedoms of citizens.

“According to this point, if religious views of the citizen demand it, he can realize it not fulfilling military service in the frontline. This practice is implemented in a number of countries, but not all of European countries have ratified this document. This point was included in the Constitution of Azerbaijan during 2002 referendum and then it became one of the Council of Europe commitments. Today it is understandable that Azerbaijan's position is so careful.”.

Oruc said there were some persons who tried to avoid the frontline service because their faith and to fulfill logistic services. “This is a negative factor for the army-building process. The factor of war has an important role in this situation. I don’t expect that Azerbaijan will adopt this law while peace talks are going in such condition, despite that this project was sent to examination of the Venice Commission”.


/APA/