• Home /
• Statewatch Database /
• SPAIN: Campaign against military service (1)

SPAIN: Campaign against military service (1)

01 January 1991

SPAIN: Campaign against military service
artdoc March=1995

Between 29 October and 21 November there was a hunger strike of
50 `Insumisos'(`unsubmissives') in different Spanish prisons (46
of them in Euskadi) demanding an immediate end to compulsory
military service. `Insumisos' (`unsubmissives') are objectors who
refuse military service and community/substitute service. There
is a big solidarity movement in support of this action,
especially in the Basque country where there have been large
demonstrations and student strikes. The movement unites those
young people who declare themselves conscientious objectors under
the Law on Conscientious Objection and the `Insumisos' who reject
this law and want an end to compulsory military service. There
is widespread backing for the protests, in the Basque country the
Basque Parliament and the Foral Parliament of Navarre have passed
motions of support.
In 1985 the number of objectors to compulsory military service
was 12,170, by 1993 it was 68,209 - a figure already surpassed
by October this year. In October the number of `Insumisos' was
9,300. The movement is strongest in the Basque country were 58%
of those called to do military have refused, compared with 40%
in the rest of the country. In addition, there is a massive
backlog of 200,000 who want to do community service.
The government still supports the imprisonment of the
`Insumisos', there are currently 182 in prison, but is faced with
the impossibility of imprisoning thousands of young people (the
usual sentence is 2 years, 4 months and 1 day). It is now
planning alternative sanctions removing the threat of prison
sentences and replacing them with a kind of `Berufsverbot' (ban)
on jobs in public administration and prohibition on getting a
driving licence.

Kontrola Kontrolpean, Donostia, Euskadi (State of Spain).

Statewatch, Vol 4 no 6, November-December 1994