Youth NGOs propose draft on alternative service

A number of Belarusian youth organizations, including ‘Civil Forum’, ‘Young Democrats’, ‘Movement of Future’, ‘Young Front’, as well as several human rights groups (‘Center for Legal Transformation’, and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee), have developed a draft bill on alternative service, an option provided by Article 57 of the Constitution, but not applied in reality as yet, the Young Front press-service reports.

A law on alternative service was to be passed ten years ago, after a respective resolution by the Constitutional Court. However, the process has since been at a standstill, until a few youth activists faced criminal charges for demand of civil service.