Saturday, July 12, 1997

Here is some news I just got from Bethel. Thought you would like to know.

Athens GREEK News - Friday, June 6, 1997

Parliament passed a law allowing alternative community service for conscientious objectors for the first time.

The Christian Jehovah's Witnesses of Greece, 400 members of whom are currently in military prisons for refusing to undertake national service, are wary of making any comments on the new law. However, acceptance of the alternative social service would appear to depend on precisely what kind of service the government has in mind.

"As Jehovah's Witnesses, we are strictly neutral on the decisions the government takes in making laws, especially on the issue of alternative service - which is a matter of personal conscience," Stefanos Halvatzis, a spokesman for Christian Jehovah's Witnesses of Greece told the Athens News. It depends on each Jehovah's Witness personally to decide whether he will accept the alternative service or not. I'd say this is clearly a matter of personal conscience. One might accept this but another might not."

Jehovah's Witnesses form the overwhelming majority of people who have refused to undertake military service, with a total of about 3,000 having been jailed for this in often very rough conditions.

The new law's articles regarding alternative service are scheduled to come into effect by Jan. 1, 1998.

Amnesty International, the global human rights watchdog, describes the new law as a step forward but is guarded about how its stipulations will be put into practice. The organization criticised the bill a few weeks ago for making the alternative social service double the regular 18 months, desrcibing it as punishment.

"The key issues are the duration of the service and the process that will be applied in choosing who is eligible. The third issue is how this mechanism for service will be set up. It is very difficult for it to be completely outside the military." Costas Papaioannou, chairman of the Greek section of Amnesty International, said yesterday.

"The original bill is pointed in the right direction, but we will have to see this in practice. If there is a committee that will keep rejecting all applications, this will be a step backwards. In fact it will be even worse, because people will have the impression that the problem of conscientious objectors has been solved"