Latvia

Current situation & recent developments

Feedback from the state

From the reply of the Latvian Ministry of Defence to EBCO’s questionnaire 2023:

Military recruitment and conscription: On April 5th 2023 the Latvian Parliament (Saeima) approved the national Defence Service Law, thereby reintroducing conscription. In accordance with the Law, all Latvian male citizens born after 2004 are subject to military service one year after reaching 18 years of age, or one year after completing secondary education, but not later than reaching 24 years of age. All Latvian male and female citizens between the ages of 18 and 27 can also apply for the National Defence Service on a voluntary basis. Based on the operational needs of the Latvian armed forces the defence minister each year approves the number of conscripted persons. If a sufficient number of volunteers do not apply for the service, then a mandatory conscription is implemented, during which the conscripts are randomly selected from the list of those subject to conscription. The Law also provides the right for conscientious objectors to replace military service by serving in the National Defence Civil Service (alternative service). The duration of both the military and the alternative service is 11 months. Meanwhile, all Latvian citizens are able voluntarily to join professional military service (ages 18 to 40) or the National Guard (ages 18 to 60). Currently a general conscription is not implemented.

The first two rounds of recruitment for the National Defence Force took place in July 2023 (253 recruits) and January 2024 (125 recruits); all recruits in both rounds were volunteers. The third group will begin their service in July 2024 and will consist of an anticipated 330 volunteers, plus the first 150 conscripts to be obligatorily enlisted, making a total of 480. In January 2024, two females volunteered for the National Defence Service, otherwise all recruits hitherto have been male, the majority aged 18 or 19 years old. As the first group of recruits are still completing their service, there is not yet any data on the proportion who will choose to continue a career in the armed forces after finishing the service, but a small number have already indicated an interest in doing so.

Conscientious objections: As stated above, according to the National Defence Service Law, citizens who cannot perform national defence military service due to their thoughts, conscience, or religious beliefs, may replace it with an alternative service. To do this, the citizen must submit an application to the Ministry of Defence stating the reasons why it is not possible for the person to perform military service. After the submission of the application, a special commission will evaluate the compliance of each candidate with the alternative service. The commission consists of members from the chaplain service, the psychological service, the Latvian Consultative Council on Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Health and the Latvian Student Union. In the event of a positive decision, the citizen will have to perform his service in one of the subordinated civilian institutions (logistics, property management, cartography, war museum etc) of the Ministry of Defence for 11 months.^[1] The citizen each month will receive a monetary compensation of €400 and if needed childcare benefits for each child. Because of greater work environment hazards, conscripts receive more benefits (health assurance, accommodation and catering) than citizens who perform alternative service. As initial recruitments to National Defence Service were entirely of volunteers, there have not yet been any applications for alternative service, but it is probable that this will change in the future. National Defence Service soldiers who develop a conscientious objection during their military service cannot withdraw from the service before finishing their term, but no such applications have been registered.

Secondary education: From September 2024, all Latvian secondary education curricula will include a mandatory national defence course, hitherto included by decision of the individual institution. The main goal of the course is to strengthen the resilience of society in various crises and teach vital skills for national defence. (Fuller details, given in the replies to the previous year’s questionnaire, are printed in the EBCO Report 2022/3.) Considering the content of the course, it also will serve as a basic introduction to the Latvian National Armed Forces and to military service. The Latvian Ministry of Defence also organises informative lectures about various defence topics in secondary schools, which include information about the national defence service. Detailed information about the service is also freely available on the internet resources of the Ministry of Defence, and through a special recruitment hotline.

Some additional information from media reports: Latvia plans to increase the amount of conscripts in military service every year, up to 7,500 new soldiers per year in 2028, as part of a proposed doubling of the manpower of the armed forces.^[2]

Public opinion in Latvia is clearly divided about the new conscription law. According to a poll in May 2022, 45% of Latvians were in favour and 42% opposed to conscription.^[3]

EBCO concerns

EBCO would question whether the “alternative service” available under the new National Defence Service Act is at all civilian either in nature or control as not only is the system administered by the Ministry of Defence, but all the placements are in agencies of that Ministry.

Regarding the role of “national defence” within the secondary education system, of which fuller details are given in the 2022/23 Report, we would consider this a most unwelcome militarisation of education.