Solicitation by Colombia’s Constitutional Court to participate in the constitutional control of a presidential decree

Earlier this month, ADC, together with Dejusticia (Center for the Study of Law, Justice & Society), replied to the invitation sent by Colombia’s Constitutional Court to participate in the constitutional control of presidential Decree no. 541 of 2020. Such consultation takes place within the context of Colombia’s State of Economic, Social and
Environmental Emergency, which provides the extension in three months of compulsory military service for all current draftees. We request that such decree be declared unconstitutional, due to basic interpretive issues regarding its motives and application, its violation of the principle of legality and its curtailment of the right to free development of a personality and free pursuit of one’s profession, among others. In addition, we demand safe conditions of discharge, epidemiologically speaking, to every person complying with their constitutional duty of military service.