Russia has come under renewed attack from human rights groups in the case of a Jehovah’s Witness in Russian-occupied Crimea, ordered by Russian authorities to prove he has renounced his faith or transferred to another religion deemed acceptable by the state or be drafted into the Russian Army.
One of the central tenets held by Jehovah’s Witnesses is opposition to serving in the military, and before Russia banned the religion in April 2017, members were allowed to participate in alternative civilian service. Since the justice ministry liquidated all 395 local religious chapters and rendered the faith “illegal,” multiple reports have surfaced of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia being denied alternative civilian service.
By conscripting Crimeans into military service, Russia is also flouting international humanitarian law, according to Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. A United Nations resolution passed last December recognized Russia as an occupying force in Crimea. The Geneva Conventions states, “The Occupying Power may not compel protected persons to serve in its armed or auxiliary forces. No pressure or propaganda which aims at securing voluntary enlistment is permitted.”
In April, Russia announced that its latest spring draft campaign would continue to include Crimeans and that they would be sent to perform military service in all parts of the country. In doing so, Crimean human rights groups claim that Russia is in violation of another Geneva Convention article that prohibits “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power.”
Ukraine’s foreign affairs ministry has similarly demanded that Russia cancel military conscription in Crimea.
