URGENT ACTION!

FOR A CONSCIENTOUS OBJECTOR IN COLOMBIA

LUIS GABRIEL CALDAS LEON, 18 years old, with identification number 79'821.730, from Bogota, Colombia, has presented himself to the Colombian military as a conscientious objector. He has offered to serve in an alternative civil service position, which is permitted by the 1993 law #99, article #102 which is regulated by the 1994 decree #1743. The government did not give him this option. Instead, through a military court martial, he was processed and condemned as a deserter, regardless of the fact that he had never been incorporated into the army. On Saturday, June 10, 1995, LUIS GABRIEL CALDAS LEON was captured by the police and put in jail, where he is obliged to serve an unjust sentence.

PLEASE SEND LETTERS OR FAXED RESPONSES,
MENTIONING IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER,
THE FOLLOWING POINTS:

  • 1. Luis Gabriel had never joined the armed forces. Therefore, how can he be tried as a deserter?

  • 2. Colombia voted in favor of the 1987 resolution #E/CN.4/1987/L73, of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, which recommended that countries who are members of the United Nations recognize conscientious objection as an alternative to serving in the military.

  • 3. The 1991 Constitution of Colombia, in article 18 which is about freedom of conscience, a fundamental human right, says: "No one has to be obliged to act against his or her conscience." However, the judges have placed more importance on the article from the constitution that obliges each young man to serve in the military, than this fundamental human right of the freedom to act according to one's conscience.

  • 4. The 1993 law of the Republic #99 allows a young man to serve his military term doing environmental (ecological) service. This service is then directed by the Education and Environment Departments of the country. Luis Gabriel offered to do this service. Ignoring this offer, the armed forces are planning to obligate him to serve in the National Police Service.

  • 5. The National Constitution establishes legal protection, called Tutela, for the person who feels that his or her rights are being violated. The Eighteenth Court for Family Concerns in Bogota, however, denied defense petitions which tried to protect the rights due Luis Gabriel.

  • 6. Colombian President ERNESTO SAMPER PIZANO has expressed his promise to protect the human rights of Colombian citizens, but he has refused to legally recognize the right of conscientious objectors to refuse to serve in the military.

  • 7. From the moment in which LUIS GABRIEL declared himself a conscientious objector, he has received support from the following entities and organizations: The Collective for Conscientious Objection to Obligatory Military Service (Colectivo por la Objecion de Conciencia al Servicio Militar Obligatorio), the Christian Center for Justice, Peace and Nonviolent Action JUSTAPAZ (Centro Cristiano por la Justicia, la Paz, y la Accion No-violenta), the People's Defender (la Defensoria del Pueblo)--a state organization which acts as an ombudsman, the Colombian Mennonite Church, the Colombian Youth Worker JTC (Juventud Trabajadora Colombiana), the Christian Youth Association ACJ-YMCA (Asociacion Cristiana de Jovenes), the Latin American Institute for Alternative Legal Services ILSA (Instituto Latinoamericano de Servicios Legales Alternativas), the Center for Popular Investigation and Education CINEP (Centro de Investigacion y Educacion Popular), the Jesuit Peace Program (Programa por la Paz de la Compania de Jesus), the weekly magazine Colombia Today (Colombia Hoy), the International Work Group for Human Rights in Colombia (Grupo de Trabajo Internacional de Derechos Humanos en Colombia), Interdisciplinary Work Association ATI (Asociacion de Trabajo Interdisciplinario).

  • 8. Conscientious objection as an alternative for peace needs your help to be legally recognized in Colombia.
    • PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS OR FAXES TO:

    Excelentisimo Senor Presidente de la Republica
    ERNESTO SAMPER PIZANO
    Palacio de Narino
    Carrera 8 #7-40
    Santafe de Bogota, D.C.
    COLOMBIA

    Fax: (571-1) 286-7434

    Fraternally,

    COLECTIVO POR LA OBJECION DE CONCIENCIA Y JUSTAPAZ
    FAX: (571-1) 287-3660, or (571-1) 285-6315
    TEL.: (571-1) 287-3968, or (571-1) 285-3208

    Santafe de Bogota, Colombia

    Written 10:09 pm Jun 12, 1995
    From: War Resisters International
    To: Moviment d'Objecció de Consciència de la ciutat de València
    Subject: Colombian objector jailed as deserter