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A press conference on “The state of conscription process and the rights of recruits during 2013 spring call-up” was held at “Noyan Tapan” media center on October 30, 2013.

Chairman of HCA Vanadzor Artur Sakunts first mentioned that during this call-up, which was extended by one month, 20 recruits and their family members applied to HCAV. 18 out of all recruits had health issues.

5 of the recruits, who had applied to HCA Vanadzor, were recognized as fit for combat military service, 7 of them as fit for combat service with restrictions. 2 recruits were granted with deferments   for a term of 3 years, 2 of them were recognized as fit for combat military service, but did not leave for military service being disagreement with the decisions regarding their fitness for service.

It is noteworthy that those conscripts, who had been once or several times granted with deferments during the previous call-ups over the same health problem, during this call-up were declared fit for military service although no amelioration of the health state was recorded. The human rights activist mentions that this call-up was exceptional as compared with the previous ones since # 175 order of the RA Minster of Defense dated in 2010 regulating the fitness of conscripts for military service was replaced by the new # 410 order of the RA Minster of Defense during the 2013 call-up on June 11. As a result, during the same call-up part of the recruits were conscripted by the application of # 175, while the rest were recruited based on #410 order. Moreover, this is in the event that changes of concepts related to fitness for military service have been made in the order. The type of “non-combat” military service existing in the previous #175 order of the RA MoD was eliminated and via #410 order of the RA MoD only “combat” and “combat service with restrictions” terms were defined.  Now, as before, the legal act defining the order of military service is still missing.

Artur Sakunts also singled out the existing legislative gaps. Particularly, the absence of mechanisms for appealing medical conclusion acts, the order of fitness of conscripts for military service with multiple diseases. The human rights activist recorded that the order of the RA Minister of Defense is illegal and not constitutional since the legal act restricting rights, such as #410 order of the RA MoD, should be regulated not by sub legislative order, but solely by law, which is stipulated via Article 83.5 of the RA Constitution. As Artur Sakunts notes, the approach during this call-up was to hide the actual health state and conscript recruits.  The human rights activist records that an aggravation of human rights state exists in the armed forces.

Out of the existing issues, the amount of the money allocated to conscripts for attending the republican medical examination was also pointed out, on which a person cannot reach Yerevan, stay there for several days and undergo a complex medical examination, which is one of the reasons for having soldiers with health issues in the armed forces.

Artur Sakunts singled out the fact that having solders with health problems in the armed forces entails the rise of interpersonal problems. Pursuant to the human rights activist, the state security cannot be ensured at the expense of violation of human rights.