Civiva threatens referendum against more difficult approval
Published: Friday, Mar 1st 2024, 15:10
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The Swiss Civilian Service Association Civiva wants to fight the Federal Council's proposal to make it more difficult to join the civilian service "if necessary" with a referendum. This is because the measures "fundamentally" endanger the civilian service.
Civiva announced on Friday that civilian service is a service to society and that not only young service personnel benefit from it, but everyone. The army must solve current "attractiveness problems" internally and not at the expense of civilian service.
Weakening the civilian service would make important services such as deployments during the coronavirus pandemic or caring for Ukrainian refugees partially impossible. And that would be a great loss for Switzerland.
In addition, there are fundamental and human rights problems with several of the proposed measures. For example, the demand for a minimum number of 150 days of civilian service contradicts the principle of proportionality and equal treatment between military and civilian service deployments.
It would lead to "a massive disadvantage" for all conscripts with up to 100 days of remaining military service. The abolition of deployments that require a degree in human, dental or veterinary medicine violates the principle of legal equality. This is because discrimination against a specific profession is arbitrary.
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