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On June 9, 2018, HCA Vanadzor’s series of trainings for people subject to military enlistment, servicemen and their relatives commenced in Yerevan. This was followed by trainings in Goris on June 17, in Yeghegnadzor on June 18, in Armavir on June 21 and in Sevan on July 4.

Armine Sadikyan, Coordinator of Peacebuilding Projects of HCA Vanadzor, presented to the training participants the Booklet “On the Rights and Obligations of People Subject to Military Enlistment, Conscripts and Servicemen in the RA”, which presents in an accessible manner the legislation regulating military enlistment, conscription and military service.

The training participants became familiar with the procedure for the enlistment of persons of pre-conscription age, the rights and obligations of conscripts during call-ups, the procedure for medical examinations applied, the grounds, time-limits and a number of other regulations for deferment of/exemption from compulsory military service, the types of leaves, the procedures and time-limits for their provision, the information on rewards and disciplinary actions and the recent legislative changes.

The issues that are common in practice and the opportunities for solving them were also presented to the participants.

HCA Vanadzor lawyer Syuzanna Soghomonyan presented the information regarding the mechanisms and time-limits for appealing decisions rendered on fitness for military service and provided legal advice to some of the participants.

The participants had the opportunity to receive answers to the questions that they were concerned about as well as to personally present the existing documents on the examinations of their state of health to the specialists of the Organization in order to receive consultation from the expert doctor. With regard to separate cases, the Organization undertook to protect the rights of 7 people who had turned to the Organization: 4 conscripts, 1 serviceman and 2 servicemen who had been granted an early discharge. On the spot, legal advice was provided to all the 7 people.

The training participants were mainly interested in the information on fitness for military service in the case of health issues, the legitimacy of rendered decisions, the methods of appealing them, the procedure for the provision of medical documents on their state of health and the opportunity to be granted a deferment of compulsory military service in order to continue education.

Apart from that, the participants were interested in the procedure for undergoing a medical and social examination in the case of being discharged early and in the mechanisms of appealing decisions made after that examination.

The servicemen’s relatives mostly touched upon the timeframes of leaves provided to servicemen and compliance with those timeframes, as they mainly mentioned that the ten-day timeframe provided for a leave includes the time spent on the road; thus, in fact, servicemen spend 8 days on leave.

The list of noteworthy issues includes showing up before committees for a medical examination during the conscription process, failure to ensure sufficient expenses provided to servicemen to go on a leave, limitations in free medical assistance and service guaranteed by the State for servicemen and their family members, expensive surgeries in particular, which are not funded by the Government.

It should be noted that, despite the fact that the obligation to provide copies of health examination acts and decisions passed by the Central Medical Commission is regulated by the law and other legislative norms, both military commissariats and medical institutions refused to provide the training participants with copies of the documents. At the same time, the medical institutions stated that they were unaware of Decision N 405 of the RA Government, according to which the medical institution is obligated to provide the citizen or their legal representative or a person authorized by them with information on their state of health, the methods of diagnosing and treating the disease, the risk connected with them, the possible options of medical intervention, the consequences and the results of the treatment.

The issue of making conscripts wait for 4 hours and longer in order to undergo a medical examination remains unresolved; this was mentioned by numerous conscripts and their relatives.

The series of trainings aimed at raising awareness of the rights and obligations of conscripts and servicemen is to be continued in Lori, Shirak, Tavush, Aragatsotn, Kotayk and Ararat Regions in the autumn of 2018.

It should be recalled that HCA Vanadzor is implementing the trainings under the project “Human Rights Training for Conscripts”, which is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.