Civic Service vs Military Service

The reason that this project was created was to tackle the lack of information about the right to conscientious objection and alternative civic service amongst Greek youth who are facing conscription. Even though the right to conscientious objection has been established in Greece since 1997, the state has not been actively informing its citizens about this right whatsoever.

During school time, for example, there is a moment when every male student receives a letter from the military in order for them to subscribe into conscription. In this letter, however, there is no reference to the possibility of conscientious objection or alternative civic service. At the same time, alternative civic service is not visible on the official websites of the Greek army, as you can find it only in the lowest part of a FAQ section.

According to data coming from the Ministry of Defence, we see in Greece a significant percentage of conscripts being dismissed for psychological reasons (around 1 in every 6 conscripts !) between 2020-2025, meaning that we are facing a serious issue of psychological illness in Greece, which, of course, is not responding to reality.

Taking into consideration that some of these cases are real, there is still a good percentage of conscripts who are actually denying conscription, but choosing the silent way of pretending psychological incapability. At the same time, there are many conscripts who disagree with conscription, but are not willing to put up with the consequences of not complying with.

Even though we don’t necessarily support the mandatory nature of alternative service, we find that conscientious objection, meaning denying conscription openly and lawfully, is the only direction through which the voices of denial can be heard, become organised and support the democracy of our state.

And so, our project focuses on communicating the possibility of conscientious objection to the youth of Greece, while in the meantime, documenting and exposing the lack of awareness of this possibility.

Tο έργο αυτό υποποίηθηκε στο πλαίσιο του
“No More War: Antimilitarism in Conversation and Action” 

Actions & Results

Survey

The anonymous online survey addressed male Greek citizens above 18 years old, with the purpose of mapping their stance against military conscription and their level of awareness about alternative civic service.

Significant findings

Download the detailed analysis

Informative actions

We held a series of informative actions in order to inform Greek youth about the right to conscientious objection. In all of our events, we cooperated with the Association of Greek Conscientious Objectors, sharing:

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Technical details about the process of applying for recognition as a conscientious objector.

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Experiences from conscientious objectors who did alternative service
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The status quo of the movement and today’s struggles with the punitive conditions of alternative service
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The history of conscientious objection before and after the establishment of the right to conscientious objection in 1997

Podcasts 

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Supporters

Throughout the whole project, we have been closely cooperating with the Association of Greek Conscientious Objectors.

The association was created in 1988 and its members come from various backgrounds and places. What unites them is their refusal to join the military apparatus, a refusal that is consistently and publicly expressed.”

The project “Civic Service vs Military Service” is supported by SCI International in the framework of the project “No More War:

Antimilitarism in Conversation and Action” project, which is co-funded by the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe.