Conscription in Sweden

Swedish conscripts in 2008.

Sweden had mandatory military service (Swedish: värnplikt) for men between 1901 and 2010.[1] Peace-time conscription was mothballed in 2010, and the law on conscription was simultaneously made gender-neutral.[2] A selective form of conscription for both men and women was introduced in 2018.

In September 2016 the Swedish government announced that it plans to reintroduce gender-neutral conscription in 2018.[3] On March 2, 2017, the Swedish government decided to reintroduce military conscription, meaning 4,000 men and women will be called up for service from 1 January 2018. Those conscripts will be chosen from a pool of about 13,000 young people born in 1999, and will serve for 12 months.[4] The Swedish Armed Forces is reportedly planning for 4,000 recruits annually in basic military training in 2018 and 2019. [5] As the relevant age cohort is about 100,000 this means that roughly 4% will be enlisted.[6] During the height of the Cold War, about 85% of Swedish men were enlisted.[7]

Non-military service

Conscientious objectors in Sweden have the right to choose alternative service (called vapenfri tjänst). After completing the alternative service the conscript is in the civilian reserve. [8]

References

  1. ↑ "Värnplikten genom åren" (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. Archived from the original on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  2. ↑ Noack, Rick (6 October 2016). "Swedes are calling up women to help fend off threats like Russia". Washington Post. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  3. ↑ "Sweden seeks to bring back conscription in 2018". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. 28 September 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  4. ↑ "Sweden brings back military conscription amid Baltic tensions". BBC. 2 March 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  5. ↑ "Sweden re-activates conscription". Government Offices of Sweden. Government of Sweden. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  6. ↑ "Population statistics". Statistics Sweden.
  7. ↑ "Sweden reintroduces military draft, this time including women". Defense News. March 2, 2017.
  8. ↑ http://www.rekryteringsmyndigheten.se/plikten-idag/vapenfri/ (in Swedish)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.