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21 Cal. W. Int'l L.J. 31 (1990-1991)
The Recognition of Conscientious Objection to Military Service as an International Human Right

handle is hein.journals/calwi21 and id is 37 raw text is: THE RECOGNITION OF CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION TO MILITARY SERVICE AS AN INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHT MATTHEW LIPPMAN* INTRODUCTION Since the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948,1 numerous international instruments have expanded and refined the rights enumerated in the declaration.' The recognition of a right to conscientious objection to military service is a conspic- uous omission from the list of internationally guaranteed human rights. Briefly stated, conscientious objection is the refusal to par- ticipate in the armed services based upon opposition to war. This opposition may rest upon reasons of religious belief, philosophy, morality or political ideology.3 The failure to recognize a right to conscientious objection to mili- tary service is explicable by the fact that, as noted in 1977 by the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, there are few areas in which respect for human rights conflicts as sharply with the interests of the state as in the matter of conscientious objection to military service.' The * Ph.D. Northwestern, J.D. American, LL.M. Harvard; Associate Professor, Depart- ment of Criminal Justice, University of Illinois at Chicago. 1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217(111), U.N. Doc. A/810, at 7 (1948). 2. UNITED NATIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS: A COMPILATION OF INTERNATIONAL INSTRU- MENTS, U.N. Doc. ST/HR/i/Rev. 2, U.N. Sales No. E.83.XIV.1 (1983). 3. Conscientious objectors have been classified into three groups: religious, ethical and political objectors. The religious objector finds support for their views in biblical texts and may belong to a church which preaches pacifism as a religious obligation. The ethical objec- tor bases their opposition to military service on a personal moral code; while the political objector usually opposes participation in a particular war on the grounds of international and domestic law and policy. Individuals within these three broad categories of conscientious objectors adhere to differing views towards military service. Some are willing to perform non- combatant military service. Others object to any form of military service, but are willing to serve in a civilian capacity. A third group refuses to submit to any form of secular authority or to the policies of a particular regime. States differ as to their treatment of these various categories of objectors. See generally Smith & Bell, The Conscientious-Objector Pro- gram-A Search for Sincerity, 19 U. PITT. L. REV. 695 (1958); Russell, Development of Conscientious Objector Recognition in the United States, 20 GEO. WASH. L. REv. 409 (1952). 4. Report on the Right of Conscientious Objection to Military Service, Eur. Parl. Ass., 29th Sess., Doc. No. 4027, at 19 (1977) [hereinafter 1977 European Report on Consci-

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