They seek to change military service for cultural and social services

The representative to the Chamber for Antioquia Daniel Carvalho revealed that, together with the Senator Humberto de la Calle, They have been working on an idea that consists of replacing compulsory military service in the country (applied to men over 18 years of age) with environmental or social and even cultural services.

And the bill that seeks to materialize that proposal has already been filed.

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“This project consists of a progressive dismantling of compulsory military service and we propose that it be replaced by social or environmental services, as we had stipulated in the first instance, but due to a comment from the Minister of Culture, Patricia Ariza, it occurred to us that they could also be cultural services, for example in the preservation of languages, in helping in museums, in archaeological, heritage and artistic issues“, explained Carvalho to the newspaper EL TIEMPO.

The bill seeks to modify article 216 of the Political Constitution, so that it is established that “All forms of forced military recruitment are prohibited. All Colombian men and women are required to provide a National Social and Environmental Service to strengthen the sense of national belonging and the construction of democratic societies. The Law will determine the conditions that at all times exempt from the National Social and Environmental Service and the prerogatives for the provision of the same.“.

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Among the reasons for proposing the modification, the congressmen have based themselves on several points:

– That military service is inequitable and, according to studies by the Ombudsman they cite, more than 99% of the conscripts belong to socioeconomic strata 0, 1, 2 and 3.

– That military service is a latent state of risk to the lives of soldiers.

– That those who perform military service they are not paid even half the minimum wage.

(See: Carlos Hernán Rodríguez, the new comptroller: what has been his career).

And they defend that among the benefits of eliminating military service is that those who enter the Public Force will do so out of conviction, which will help to form “a professional and modern army”.

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TIME – JUSTICE AND PORTFOLIO