Conscription of persons with health problems is a degrading treatment
12:44, July 23, 2013 | Press Release | Rights of Soldiers/Recruits | Armed Forces
A press conference on “The situation of conscripts’ rights and issues recorded by HCA Vanadzor” was held at Media Center on July 19, 2013.
During the press conference Artur Sakunts, Chairman of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, presented reliable information regarding the violation of conscripts’ rights. According to him, conscription of a citizen with health problems is a degrading treatment by the state and such a practice should be stopped, drafting unhealthy young men to the Army may entail many other problems.
Armine Sadikyan, coordinator of Peacebuilding department of the same NGO notified that during the spring conscription of 2013, 13 out of the 15 draftees that applied to HCA Vanadzor suffered from health problems. By addressing the cases of violation of conscripts’ rights, A. Sadikyan stated, “We were informed of a case, when a citizen with health problems was drafted to the army and 2 days later he was moved to the military hospital.”
The fact that transportation and food costs along with other expenses of conscripts are not refunded due to which they don’t afford to travel to Yerevan and undergo a comprehensive medical examination was singled out. It was highlighted that a number of diseases that conscripts suffer from, such as sleepwalking or “Yerevan disease”( Familial Mediterranean Fever) aren’t detected during the 3 or 7 days at the medical institution, whereas, the referral defines a term of 30 days, during which the health issues will already be visible. As a result of improper and incomprehensive medical examination, conscripts are declared as fit for military service and sent to military service.
By addressing the recent legislative amendments, military-medical expert Artur Minasyan noted that the latter didn’t achieve any tangible results and persons with serious health issues are still taken to the army. He listed several methods, which allow revealing whether or not the conscripts’ rights have been violated. He singled out the case, when a person suffering from chronic and terminal illness received a deferment one time, whereas, next time his diagnosis was changed and he was conscripted to the army. Another method is that there is a difference between the diagnoses of the 2 medical institutions, which have examined the conscript and the Central Medical Committee considers the diagnosis, whereby, the conscript was declared as fit for service as grounds. A. Minasyan also added the diagnoses provided by public medical establishments are not taken into account.
The corruption risks existing in the RA Armed Forces and the drop in the rate of conscripts were also addressed.
It should also be noted that HCA Vanadzor receives alerts on regular basis and sends out reports to the RA Ministry of Defense regarding the cases of violations and gaps existing in the field, but the latter remain unanswered. Besides, a legislative package was sent to the RA Ministry of Defense by HCA Vanadzor 2 years ago, which would ensure avoiding of numerous violations, but it was rejected by the Ministry of Defense.