Venice Commission supports conscientious objection to military service

On March 18, 2025, the Venice Commission published an opinion on the issue of alternative non-military service in Ukraine at the request of the Constitutional Court. According to the published information, conscientious objection to military service cannot be prosecuted even in time of war. This is reported by the website of the Venice Commission.

Thus, by letter dated December 4, 2024, the then acting head of the CCU Viktor Kryvenko addressed the Venice Commission with a request for an amicus curiae (opinion) on alternative (non-military) service on religious grounds.

The questions raised by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine before the Venice Commission arose in connection with a constitutional complaint on charges of evasion of military service by a person who refuses it for reasons of conscience. The applicant is a long-time member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a religious organization whose doctrine does not allow the use of weapons or even participation in military service without weapons.

The courts ruled that Ukrainian law does not provide for a substitute for military service during mobilization, and that the right to manifest one’s religion or beliefs is not absolute and is subject to the constitutional obligation to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state from foreign aggression.

The Venice Commission referred to the data of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection, which indicates that since the beginning of the full-scale aggression on February 24, 2022, Ukraine has ceased to recognize the right to conscientious objection. As part of the current mobilization, not a single application for alternative service has been granted.

“The Venice Commission considers that the very nature of conscientious objection means that it cannot be completely excluded even in wartime, although States have a limited margin of appreciation, especially in the context of general mobilization. However, the Venice Commission believes that under no circumstances should a conscientious objector be forced to carry or use weapons, even in self-defense,” — the Commission said in a statement.

Earlier, we reported that the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience published a list of criteria according to which religious leaders may be granted a deferral from mobilization. According to the list, clergymen of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will not be able to be exempted from mobilization, as the UOC falls under the anti-church law No. 3894.