A/HRC/35/4 IV. Remaining challenges A. Lack of recognition or implementation of the right to conscientious objection to military service and alternative service; repeated trial or punishment 35. In its concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of Azerbaijan, adopted in November 2016, the Human Rights Committee recommended that Azerbaijan adopt without delay the legislation necessary to give effect in practice to the constitutionally recognized right to conscientious objection to military service, without limitation on the category of conscientiously held beliefs, and that it provide for alternative service of a civilian nature for conscientious objectors and repeal all sanctions against them. 49 36. Since there is no alternative civilian service in the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the Human Rights Committee recommended, in its concluding observations of October 2013, that the State promulgate legal provisions that recognize the right to conscientious objection to military service and establish an alternative to military service that is accessible to all conscientious objectors and is not punitive or discriminatory in terms of its nature, cost or duration.50 37. In November 2016, the same Committee welcomed the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Colombia in which the Court concluded that the practice of indiscriminate round-ups with the aim of identifying young persons who had failed to resolve their military status and taking them to assembly points entailed carrying out arbitrary arrests (judgments No. C-879 of 2011 and No. T-455 of 2014). While Colombia had asserted that the practice did not take place, the Committee was concerned by reports of recent round-ups and recommended that Colombia adopt stronger measures to ensure that no one is detained arbitrarily, particularly for the purpose of military recruitment, by, inter alia, improving the training provided to members of the security forces; that all allegations of arbitrary detention are investigated promptly, thoroughly and impartially; and that the perpetrators are prosecuted and punished.51 38. In its concluding observations of February 2015 on the fourth and fifth periodic reports of Eritrea, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women urged the State party to discontinue the indefinite period of national service and the forced enrolment at the Sawa Military Training Centre, reduce the national service obligation to the original 18 months, legally recognize the right to conscientious objection and ensure that women who have completed their service are immediately demobilized. 52 In its report published in May 2016, the commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea noted that the military/national service programme had an open-ended and arbitrary duration, which routinely exceeded the 18 months provided for in a decree issued in 1995, frequently by more than a decade, which was not justified in the commission’s view.53 39. In July 2013, the Human Rights Committee reiterated its concerns to Finland that the preferential treatment accorded to Jehovah’s Witnesses had not been extended to other groups of conscientious objectors and recommended that Finland fully acknowledge the right to conscientious objection. 54 49 50 51 52 53 54 10 See CCPR/C/AZE/CO/4, para. 35. See CCPR/C/BOL/CO/3, para. 21. See also the contribution from the Ombudsman’s Office of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. See CCPR/C/COL/CO/7, paras. 34-35. See also the contributions from Colombia and the Ombudsman’s Office of Colombia. See CEDAW/C/ERI/CO/5, para. 9. See A/HRC/32/47, paras. 35 and 67. See also the contribution from the Office of the General Counsel of Jehovah’s Witnesses. See CCPR/C/FIN/CO/6, para. 14. See also the contribution from the Finnish Union of Conscientious Objectors.