THE BILL on draft dodging will go before parliament for a vote by the end of this month, said Defence Minister Costas Papacostas yesterday.
Speaking during a visit at Larnaca training camp for new recruits, Papacostas said the latest wave of new recruits this month went well, with more answering the call for military service than expected.
Papacostas was accompanied by the National Guard (NG) chief Lieutenant General Petros Tsalikides.
“Everything is going well. We expected less and got more. The exemptions and deferments were also very few. This is very encouraging,” said Papacostas.
Asked to comment on the six-month delay in bringing a bill to tackle draft dodging to parliament, the minister rejected the accusation by parents of conscripts that the House Defence Committee was “sleeping on duty”.
“I wouldn’t say that. It is unfair to the Defence Committee. In a meeting (on Thursday) Committee Chairman Yiannakis Omirou said that within 15 days the bill should be put before parliament for a vote. Now, if they can meet that or not I cannot guarantee, as it is a short period of time,” said Papacostas.
“There were delays, some unjustifiable. Six months have passed but a good job has been done. Different views were heard, useful suggestions were made and we improved the text of the bill on the National Guard,” he added.
The minister said if the bill was not ready within a fortnight, then it should by the end of January be ready to be tabled before parliament for a vote.
It’s estimated that every year some 20 per cent of new conscripts manage to dodge the draft on psychological grounds.
Last summer, the Defence Ministry maintained it saw a drop in draft dodgers, attributing the decrease in the drop-out rate to pressure exerted on doctors not to rubberstamp conscripts’ claims that they are mentally or physically unfit to do their stint.
The ministry has pinned hopes on the new National Guard bill to deliver a huge blow to the phenomenon.
The bill is a radical revision of the 1964 National Guard law. The draft bill as it stood before the latest changes were made provided some drastic measures against those trying to get out of military service by citing psychological problems.
It provides for the option of alternative service that would be eight months longer – a total of 32 months – and sets a variety of restrictions on those who avoided doing their service.
Parents’ pressure groups wanted the law passed before last summer’s draft, but are now waiting to see whether it will be in place before the 2011 July draft.
