More Prisoners of Conscience for Finland
I've covered this in my resent posts but now it's official. On the 27th of February 2019, the Finnish parliament voted 153-27 to end the special exception from military service given to Jehovah's Witnesses. This means the current status quo in which total objectors are not convicted is coming to an end. This is of course not a surprise but it's still depressing to see how little our legislators seem to care about human rights.
So, what happens next? Well, next the bill has to be signed by the president. Theoretically, the president could just veto it which he wont do, because president Sauli Niinistö (side note: not related to minister of defense Jussi Niinistö) is very much a conscription supporter. Even if he did, the veto would only act as a delay as the parliament can override a presidential veto by voting on a bill a second time. It's been speculated that the bill will take effect as early as the 1st of April or by latest the 1st of May. Until then the status quo remains, meaning total objectors are not given jail sentences. Actually, just one day after the vote two total objectors were released by a court.
What happens when the bill actually takes effect? Well first of all, like I said in my previous post total objector who have already been released by courts should be fine. They will receive new call ups and a new refusal to serve will lead to another police report filed against them but this shouldn't lead to anything due to past legal precedent. People who have refused service but are going to court after this takes effect should also be fine since, although not officially banned, the Finnish legal system generally doesn't allow ex post facto laws. In other words, since the practice of jailing total objectors was in practice abolished when they refused service they shouldn't be sentenced after the law changed.
So what about Jehovah's Witnesses? Well, or course they are now required to serve just like everybody else, with the same punishments for refusing service. The thing is, witnesses have changed their stance on the issue: they ban their members from serving in the military and in the past they've also banned civil service as they see it just as another aspect of national defense, which they don't want to take a part in. However, since then they've changed their views and now allow their members to choose civil service, considering it a "matter of conscience" of the individual member. As a result, the government is assuming that most witnesses would choose civil service over going to jail. Seems pretty straight forward. The thing is, while they nay be permitted to choose civil service, Finnish witnesses are still generally against it as they still see it to be too closely affiliated with national defense. Good example of this is JW spokesperson Veikko Leinonen who in an interview said that removing the exemption would mean returning to the time witnesses went to jail. This interview was done in 2017, when the court case which started this whole process originally began. In other words, it's pretty clear that a large portion of witnesses would choose jail time over civil service, which could lead to the number of total objectors to increase pretty dramatically.
Then there's an issue with the bill itself. Like I mentioned in a previous post, the original proposal from the government included a transition period during which the witnesses that have started the exemption process could apply for that final exemption. The constitutional committee however found that transition period to be problematic and as a result that part was removed from the final bill. As a result, all those JW's who already started the exemption process are now forced into service. In one article I read, an official from the ministry of defense claimed the number of these people is around 700. So the question is, how many of these people will actually choose civil service and how many will choose jail time? Let's say theoretically half of these people would become total objectors: that would mean over 300 people going to jail for total objection. In contrast, the number of total objectors in 2017 was 33. So theoretically, we could see the number of total objectors temporarily increase by tenfold. Now since the exemption will soon be removed this of course won't last for long and the numbers will come down from there. But still, what about the future? The number of JW's that have applied for exemption has been around 100 in recent years, so how many of these will choose total objection over civil service?
Also something to think about: since the JW's who already applied for the exemption are now required to serve, isn't this technically applying a law retroactively? I'm by no means a legal expert, but just think about this: these people have obeyed the law. They have provided the right authorities with the right paperwork in order to apply for the exemption and they have been dealt with accordingly. Then the law is suddenly changed and the process they have gone through up to this point suddenly doesn't mean anything. Is this really fair? Again, I'm by no means a legal expert, but I think this could end up being a massive headache for the Finnish justice system.
So in summary, by passing this bill the Finnish parliament went against what international human rights bodies have told Finland to do. Instead of listening to criticism they've decided the current system has some intrinsic value and that's why it has to be kept in place. However, like I've said previously this will delay the inevitable. The number of total objectors will most likely increase. Total objectors have already filed complaints of their sentences to the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee and new one's will be made after the sentences start again. There's also the Asepalvelus2020 campaign which started recently, with the goal of ending the jail sentences for total objectors and having military service apply to people equally. The campaign of course has my full support. The fight is just beginning.
So, what happens next? Well, next the bill has to be signed by the president. Theoretically, the president could just veto it which he wont do, because president Sauli Niinistö (side note: not related to minister of defense Jussi Niinistö) is very much a conscription supporter. Even if he did, the veto would only act as a delay as the parliament can override a presidential veto by voting on a bill a second time. It's been speculated that the bill will take effect as early as the 1st of April or by latest the 1st of May. Until then the status quo remains, meaning total objectors are not given jail sentences. Actually, just one day after the vote two total objectors were released by a court.
What happens when the bill actually takes effect? Well first of all, like I said in my previous post total objector who have already been released by courts should be fine. They will receive new call ups and a new refusal to serve will lead to another police report filed against them but this shouldn't lead to anything due to past legal precedent. People who have refused service but are going to court after this takes effect should also be fine since, although not officially banned, the Finnish legal system generally doesn't allow ex post facto laws. In other words, since the practice of jailing total objectors was in practice abolished when they refused service they shouldn't be sentenced after the law changed.
So what about Jehovah's Witnesses? Well, or course they are now required to serve just like everybody else, with the same punishments for refusing service. The thing is, witnesses have changed their stance on the issue: they ban their members from serving in the military and in the past they've also banned civil service as they see it just as another aspect of national defense, which they don't want to take a part in. However, since then they've changed their views and now allow their members to choose civil service, considering it a "matter of conscience" of the individual member. As a result, the government is assuming that most witnesses would choose civil service over going to jail. Seems pretty straight forward. The thing is, while they nay be permitted to choose civil service, Finnish witnesses are still generally against it as they still see it to be too closely affiliated with national defense. Good example of this is JW spokesperson Veikko Leinonen who in an interview said that removing the exemption would mean returning to the time witnesses went to jail. This interview was done in 2017, when the court case which started this whole process originally began. In other words, it's pretty clear that a large portion of witnesses would choose jail time over civil service, which could lead to the number of total objectors to increase pretty dramatically.
Then there's an issue with the bill itself. Like I mentioned in a previous post, the original proposal from the government included a transition period during which the witnesses that have started the exemption process could apply for that final exemption. The constitutional committee however found that transition period to be problematic and as a result that part was removed from the final bill. As a result, all those JW's who already started the exemption process are now forced into service. In one article I read, an official from the ministry of defense claimed the number of these people is around 700. So the question is, how many of these people will actually choose civil service and how many will choose jail time? Let's say theoretically half of these people would become total objectors: that would mean over 300 people going to jail for total objection. In contrast, the number of total objectors in 2017 was 33. So theoretically, we could see the number of total objectors temporarily increase by tenfold. Now since the exemption will soon be removed this of course won't last for long and the numbers will come down from there. But still, what about the future? The number of JW's that have applied for exemption has been around 100 in recent years, so how many of these will choose total objection over civil service?
Also something to think about: since the JW's who already applied for the exemption are now required to serve, isn't this technically applying a law retroactively? I'm by no means a legal expert, but just think about this: these people have obeyed the law. They have provided the right authorities with the right paperwork in order to apply for the exemption and they have been dealt with accordingly. Then the law is suddenly changed and the process they have gone through up to this point suddenly doesn't mean anything. Is this really fair? Again, I'm by no means a legal expert, but I think this could end up being a massive headache for the Finnish justice system.
So in summary, by passing this bill the Finnish parliament went against what international human rights bodies have told Finland to do. Instead of listening to criticism they've decided the current system has some intrinsic value and that's why it has to be kept in place. However, like I've said previously this will delay the inevitable. The number of total objectors will most likely increase. Total objectors have already filed complaints of their sentences to the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee and new one's will be made after the sentences start again. There's also the Asepalvelus2020 campaign which started recently, with the goal of ending the jail sentences for total objectors and having military service apply to people equally. The campaign of course has my full support. The fight is just beginning.
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