MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Colombia
Index
The specific responsibilities of the armed forces and
National
Police are detailed in a series of articles in the
Constitution.
This series of articles is entitled "The Public Force."
Under
Article 165, all Colombians are required to perform
military
service and have an obligation to bear arms to defend the
nation.
The length of service and terms of exemption from service
are to be
determined by law. As amended by presidential decree in
1968,
Article 166 provides for the organization of a standing
army to
guarantee national defense. It also specifies that details
relating
to the army--including the number of troops, the
regulation of
promotions, and the definition of the rights and duties of
military
personnel--are matters to be decided according to
legislation. The
organization of a national militia and National Police,
also to be
established according to specific laws, is authorized
under Article
167.
Article 168 establishes the basis for a nonpartisan,
apolitical
military. The article restricts the military's right of
assembly,
"except by order of legitimate authority," as well as its
right to
petition the government, except on "matters that relate to
the good
service and morale of the army, and in accordance with its
laws."
In addition, the article stipulates that military and
police
personnel are ineligible to vote while on active duty and
are not
permitted to be candidates for elective office.
Articles 169 and 170, in turn, represent the
restoration of
several privileges to which members of the armed forces
had been
entitled during the colonial era. As specified in Article
169,
military personnel may not be deprived arbitrarily of
ranks,
honors, or pensions; such action may only be carried out
in
specific cases and in the manner determined by law.
Article 170
makes active-duty military personnel immune from civil
legal
prosecution, providing them the right to trial by their
peers under
courts martial or military tribunals for crimes specified
under the
Military Penal Justice Code.
Data as of December 1988
|
|