0 8000 12 11

On July 18 and July 20, 2017 Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor initiated trainings in Ashtarak and Gyumri, respectively, on ‘Fundamentals of human rights. Rights and duties of conscripts and servicemen; legal regulations on protection of conscripts’ rights’.

Under the training, the participants got familiar with how the call-up was prepared and held as well as with the legal acts related to military service, bases for declaring a person fit for military service, types of service and protection of servicemen’s rights during their service. Then they asked questions trainer Armine Sadikyan, HCA Vanadzor Peace-building Program Coordinator.

She noted that the conscripts’ legal awareness level grew year by year and they more often consulted HCA Vanadzor to restore their violated rights. “A few years ago, conscripts did not consult at all, they were ashamed, confused”, she said.

As for drafting of conscripts with health problems and the medical care provided to them, Armine Sadikyan emphasized that at the conscription and pre-conscription stages all types of medical examinations should be free-of-charge and the medical examinations carried out at the medical facilities not included in the RA Government’s relevant list might not be accepted as grounds but should be taken into account so that relevant examinations were conducted to confirm or deny the diseases mentioned there. The training also addressed the travel costs for conscripts traveling for their medical examination and the persons accompanying them, as well as the most frequent breaches.

The training participants asked questions on individual cases of drafting conscripts with health problems and presented similar cases known to them.

The persons present also asked questions about the limitations on the military service for servicemen with health problems. The trainer mentioned that those who were drafted to service with limitations were not clearly informed of specific limitations for diseases and like many other types of information, the competent bodies refused to provide such information under the pretext of military secret. Then she added that on that pretext they refused HCA Vanadzor’s request on getting a copy of the manual on military service limitations approved by the Decree of the Head of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces of January 15, 2014. The Organization applied to court (by the way, at the court hearing of July 20, 2017, the RA MoD representative stated that the manual was declassified and in August will be also available on arlis.am).

The training participants also asked questions about alternative service, service of persons with dual citizenship and exemption from military service based on education. In this context, A. Sadikyan mentioned that students of educational institutions covered in the RA Government’s relevant list, including students of institutions abroad as well as persons aged 18 but still studying at school were entitled to the right to deferment. Although, in case of the former, very often the right to deferment is not granted due to exceeding the planned limit.

The training participants expressed their concern over the draw during the call-ups and presented some individual cases of holding a draw in violation of law that cast doubt on its fairness.

The training participants also got familiar with the complaint mechanisms during the military service and the controversial issues related to it. A. Sadikyan mentioned that often servicemen avoided filing any complaint against their superiors.

At the end of the training, the participants received HCA Vanadzor’s brochures on the rights and duties of conscripts that are available on hcav.am website.

HCA Vanadzor provides free legal assistance to conscripts, servicemen and their family members. For legal assistance, contact HCA Vanadzor (address: 59, Tigran Mets St., Vanadzor,) on working days 9:30 am-6:30 pm or call Armine Sadikyan, HCA Vanadzor Peace-building Program Coordinator /0322/ 4 22 68 and free hotline 0 8000 12 11 or write to the e-mail: asadikyan@hcav.am .

HCA Vanadzor is willing to conduct similar trainings in other marzes (regions) of RA as well.