Public announcement
The women’s peace group Women in Black (a group for conscientious objection and antimilitarism) held a meeting of the Network of Conscientious Objectors on December 2, 2000 in Belgrade.
Participants from Serbian cities (Belgrade, Kraljevo, Kragujevac, Niš, Priboj, Ruma, Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, Vrbas, Leskovac, Pirot, Čačak, and Valjevo) and Montenegro (Cetinje, Ulcinj) confirmed their political and cultural choice to believe in a world and build relations based on the values of peace, nonviolence, solidarity, social justice and interculturalism.
In this meeting, objectors confirmed their decision to make a visible, public commitment to antimilitarism, as they have in the preceding years, despite very difficult circumstances.
The government changed, which created the possibility for more widespread change. As civil society activists, we desire changes in the political system, the economy and the culture, not merely changes in leadership. We believe that it is our right, obligation, and responsibility to increase the pressure on the government to act in peaceful and nonviolent ways.
To this end:
• We demand the implementation of THE LAW ON AMNESTY for everyone who refused to participate in their military obligation and or abandoned their unit.
• We demand the IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAW ON AMNESTY because, despite the changes in government, many men who were sentenced to jail because they abandoned their unit during the NATO military intervention in the spring of 1999 are still in jail. This was an event of massive collective punishment of men from Kruševac. In solidarity, we join with the protests planned for December 4, 2000 in Kruševac to demand amnesty for the men in jail.
• THE LAW ON AMNESTY should include people of Albanian ethnicity whose are in jail in Serbia. Most of them had rigged trials or, very often, no trial at all. This is necessary not only to build a just state, but in order to change the cultural climate, ways of thinking and relations towards others and The Different.
• We demand THE RIGHT TO CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION AND CIVILIAN MILITARY SERVICE. Conscientious objection is a basic human right. It is a political and societal problem which can be resolved exclusively on the political level.
To this end, we support the initiative of the Yugoslav Lawyers Committee for Human Rights of Belgrade to modify the clause of The Law on the Yugoslav Army which is related to the length of military service and the right to conscientious objection.
The Network of Conscientious Objectors will begin on December 10, THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF HUMAN RIGHTS to collect signatures for this initiative.
To reach our goal of demilitarizing society, especially changing patriarchal, xenophobic, militarist and nationalist ways of thinking, we pledge ourselves to the following:
• To obtaining passports without military certificates. We believe that the Yugoslav Army does not have the authority to determine freedom of movement. We believe that issuing passports is exclusively in the jurisdiction of civil, not military, authorities.
• To cancel the visa requirement for all citizens who want to come to Serbia. (Montenegro cancelled visas a long time ago.) This is primarily for citizens of the former Yugoslav republics, but also of all other countries.
• To introduce parliamentary and civil control of the military and police. As conscientious objectors, we urge parliamentary and civil control of all military and police budgets. Because that money belongs to all citizens, we demand that be spent on health, education, and culture.
We condemn the attacks of armed Albanian groups in south Serbia (in the municipalities of Medveđa, Bujanovac and Preševo) but, at the same time, we condemn the presence in those regions of infamous units (the so-called Frenkijevaca and Sajovaca units) who are known for committing war crimes in Kosovo and elsewhere and for participation in repressing citizens’ peaceful demonstrations. We urge political negotiations without ultimatums. We support the negotiations and diplomatic strides of the newly-appointed conscientious Serbian government.
December 2, 2000
Signers of the announcement:
Society for the Development of Culture – Kraljevo
Dismissed! Freedom Initiative
National Parliament - Leskovac
Educational Center – Leskovac
Women’s Active Society - Novi Sad
Citizens’ House - Cetinje
Carpet Women’s Association - Pirot
Yugoslav Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – Belgrade
Women in Black – Belgrade
Women Coming – Cacak
Labor Party - Kragujevac
