Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 - Slovakia

Slovak Republic

Covers the period from April 2001 to March 2004.

Population: 5.4 million (1.2 million under 18)
Government armed forces: 22,000 (estimate)
Compulsory recruitment age: 18 (conscription being phased out)
Voluntary recruitment age: 18
Voting age: 18
Optional Protocol: signed 30 November 2001
Other treaties ratified (see glossary): CRC, GC AP I and II, ICC, ILO 138, ILO 182

There were no reports of under-18s serving in the armed forces, and the government introduced legislation to exclude the possibility.

Context

There were reports of torture and ill-treatment of Roma by police officers and in July 2001 a Roma man died in custody in suspicious circumstances.¹ Human rights groups expressed concerns about the supply of weapons from Slovakia to regions marked by gross human rights abuses and the use of child soldiers, for example Liberia in 2000 and 2001. In 2004 Slovakia was reported to have taken important steps to control its arms trading, but still needed to make fundamental legal and regulatory reforms to halt the flow of arms to governments and groups that recruited child soldiers.² On 29 March 2004 Slovakia became a member of NATO.³

Government

National recruitment legislation and practice

The 1992 constitution states that "The defence of the Slovak Republic is a matter of honour for each citizen.... No one must be forced to perform military service if this runs counter to his conscience or religious belief " (Article 25).⁴

The two acts regulating military service are the Conscription Act, No. 351/97 Coll. of 21 November 1997, and the Act on Military Service, No. 370/97 Coll. of 21 November 1997. Recruits were liable to military service from the age of 18 until 55. However, conscription was being phased out and a draft law was in preparation that would end it by 1 January 2007. In 2002 the government introduced the Act on Conscription, No. 320/2002 Coll., which set the minimum age for compulsory and voluntary recruitment at 18. The Act excludes the possibility of under-18s serving in the armed forces.⁵ Previously, 16 year olds had been able to enlist from 1 January of the year in which they turned 17, with parental consent.⁶

Military training and military schools

The military education system of secondary schools and academies was being overhauled as part of the modernization of the armed forces. Students may enter military secondary schools at 15 but are not considered members of the armed forces until they perform military service upon reaching the age of 18.⁷ In 2003 the military academies of Liptovsky Mikulas and Kosice were merged to form the Defence Academy of the Slovak Republic, and it was planned to close the two secondary schools attached to them. Professionalization of the armed forces included a revision of recruitment policy, the intention being to draw most new professional soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers from civilian high schools and universities, and to employ them on fixed-term contracts.⁸

International standards

Following Slovakia's signature of the Optional Protocol, the government stated that the process of ratifying it was under way.⁹

1 Amnesty International Reports 2002 and 2004, http://web.amnesty.org/library/engindex.

2 Human Rights Watch, Stemming Slovakia's arms trade with human rights abusers, February 2004, http://www.hrw.org.

3 NATO update, Seven new members join NATO, 29 March 2004, http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2004/03-march/e0329a.htm.

4 Constitution, at International Constitutional Law, http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/index.html.

5 Communication from Ministry of Defence, 2 June 2004.

6 Initial report of Slovakia to UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, UN Doc. CRC/C/11/Add.17, 17 August 1998, http://www.ohchr.org.

7 Communication from Ministry of Defence, op. cit.

8 Slovak Army Review, "Conscription could be shortened", Spring 2002, http://www.mod.gov. sk/e-ziny/sar/2002_spring/flash.html.

9 Communication from Ministry of Defence, op. cit.