Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-13-Speech-1-109"
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"en.20030113.6.1-109"2
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"Mr President, in drafting her report, my colleague, Mrs Joke Swiebel, has chosen a very exacting working method. She levels her criticisms regarding failures in the area of human rights directly at countries that are mentioned by name. The method provides a specific context for any evaluation of the human rights situation in Europe but anyone who employs such a method has an enormous responsibility for ensuring that the picture presented is an accurate one. Unfortunately, this has not entirely been the case here.
Item 27 gives the reader the idea that there is no viable alternative to military service in Finland. In it, Finland and Greece are called on to recognise the right of conscientious objection to military service without restriction and without reference to any religious grounds. There has been such a right in existence in Finland, however, since 1931. Under the law at present anyone obliged to do military service can in practice choose a non-military form of service. Every year approximately 2 500 people exercise this right, which is 7% of those liable. Around 80% do their military service and a little over 10% are excused.
The concern expressed in the report presumably refers to the fact that in Finland the period of time spent doing alternative, non-military service is twice as long as the minimum period of service. There is also concern regarding the fact that there is a total of 20 people in prison who refuse and are unwilling to fulfil their civic duties in any way. The reason why in Finland the period of time spent doing non-military service is longer is that those concerned are obliged to work eight hours a day, during a normal working week, whilst those doing military service are on duty 24 hours a day. I think that in the future it will be the task of the Finnish Parliament to get the balance right.
The fact that the vast majority of young men in Finland do military service is not because there are no alternatives to it. In Finland we still remember all too well how important a conscripted army is for the country’s independence. During the Second World War, apart from London and Moscow, Helsinki was the only capital city of a country at war that was not occupied."@en1
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