Draft Evaders

Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft evasion is said to have characterized every military conflict of the 20th and 21st centuries, in which at least one party of such conflict has enforced conscription. Such evasion is generally considered to be a criminal offense,Beare, Margaret E., ed. (2012). ''Encyclopedia of Transnational Crime and Justice''. Sage Publications, p. 110 ("Draft Dodging" entry). . and laws against it go back thousands of years.

There are many draft evasion practices. Those that manage to adhere to or circumvent the law, and those that do not involve taking a public stand, are sometimes referred to as draft avoidance. Draft evaders are sometimes pejoratively referred to as draft dodgers,Bell, Walter F. "Draft Dodgers". In Tucker, Spencer C. (2013). ''American Civil War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection''. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, pp. 545–546. . although in certain contexts that term has also been used non-judgmentally or as an honorific.

Practices that involve lawbreaking or taking a public stand are sometimes referred to as draft resistance. Although draft resistance is discussed below as a form of "draft evasion", draft resisters and scholars of draft resistance reject the categorization of resistance as a form of evasion or avoidance. Draft resisters argue that they seek to confront, not evade or avoid, the draft.

Draft evasion has been a significant phenomenon in nations as different as Colombia, Eritrea, Canada, France, Russia, South Korea, Syria, and the United States. Accounts by scholars and journalists, along with memoiristic writings by draft evaders, indicate that the motives and beliefs of the evaders cannot be usefully stereotyped.

Draft evasion practices

Young people have engaged in a wide variety of draft evasion practices around the world, some of which date back thousands of years.Prasad, Devi; Smythe, Tony, eds. (1968). ''Conscription: A World Survey: Compulsory Military Service and Resistance To It''. London: War Resisters' International. .Christ, Matthew R. (2006). ''The Bad Citizen in Classical Athens''. Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge Press, pp. 52–57 (from the "Draft Evasion and Compulsory Military Service" section). . This section aims to delineate a representative sampling of draft evasion practices and support activities as identified by scholars and journalists. ''Examples'' of many of these practices and activities can be found in the section on draft evasion in the nations of the world, further down this page.

Draft avoidance

One type of draft avoidance consists of attempts to follow the letter and spirit of the draft laws in order to obtain a legally valid draft deferment or exemption.Wittmann, Anna M. (2016). ''Talking Conflict: The Loaded Language of Genocide, Political Violence, Terrorism, and Warfatre''. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, pp. 115–116 ("Draft Dodgers" entry). . Sometimes these deferments and exemptions are prompted by political considerations. Another type consists of attempts to circumvent, manipulate, or surreptitiously violate the substance or spirit of the draft laws in order to obtain a deferment or exemption. Nearly all attempts at draft avoidance are private and unpublicized. Examples include:

By adhering to the law

* Claiming conscientious objector status on the basis of sincerely held religious or ethical beliefs. Gitlin, Todd (1993, orig. 1987). ''The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage''. New York: Bantam, rev. ed., pp. 291–292 (beginning of "Varieties of Antiwar Experience" section). .
* Claiming a student deferment, when one is in school primarily in order to study and learn. Kusch, Frank (2001). ''All American Boys: Draft Dodgers in Canada from the Vietnam War''. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, pp. 70–74. .
* Claiming a medical or psychological problem, if the purported health issue is genuine and serious.
* Claiming to be homosexual, when one is truly so and the military excludes homosexuals.
* Claiming economic hardship, if the hardship is genuine and the law recognizes such a claim.
* Holding a job in what the government considers to be an essential civilian occupation.
* Purchasing exemptions from military service, in nations where such payments are permitted. Duxbury, Neil (2002). ''Random Justice: On Lotteries and Legal Decision-Making''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 154–155 (citing 19th century Belgium and France, as well as America during the Civil War). .
* Not being chosen in a draft lottery, where lotteries determine the order of call to military service; Fallows, James (1977). "What Did You Do in the Class War, Daddy?" In Robbins, Mary Susannah, ed. (2007, orig. 1999). ''Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists''. London and Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 159–164. . or not being in a certain age group, where age determines the order of call.
* Not being able to afford armor or other equipment, in polities where conscripts were required to provide their own.

By circumventing the law

* Obtaining conscientious objector status by professing insincere religious or ethical beliefs.
* Obtaining a student deferment, if the student wishes to attend or remain in school largely to avoid the draft.
* Claiming a medical or psychological problem, if the purported problem is feigned, overstated, or self-inflicted.
* Finding a doctor who would certify a healthy draft-age person as medically unfit, either willingly or for pay.Baskir and Strauss (1987), p. 12.
* Falsely claiming to be homosexual, where the military excludes homosexuals.
* Claiming economic hardship, if the purported hardship is overstated.
* Deliberately failing one's military-related intelligence tests.
* Becoming pregnant primarily in order to evade the draft, in nations where women who are not mothers are drafted.
* Having someone exert personal influence on an officer in charge of the conscription process.
* Successfully bribing an officer in charge of the conscription process.

Draft resistance

Draft evasion that involves overt lawbreaking or that communicates conscious or organized resistance to government policy is sometimes referred to as draft resistance. Ferber, Michael (1998). "Why I Joined the Resistance". In Robbins, Mary Susannah, ed. (2007, orig. 1999). ''Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists''. London and Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 111–119. .Foley, Michael S. (2003). ''Confronting the War Machine: Draft Resistance During the Vietnam War''. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, pp. 6–7, 39, 49, 78. . Examples include:

Actions by resisters

* Declining to register for the draft, in nations where that is required by law.
* Declining to report for one's draft-related physical examination, or for military induction or call-up, in nations where these are required by law.
* Participating in draft card burnings or turn-ins.
* Living "underground" (e.g., living with false identification papers) and working at an unreported job after being indicted for draft evasion.
* Traveling or emigrating to another country, rather than submitting to induction or to trial.Williams, Roger N. (1971). ''The New Exiles: American War Resisters in Canada''. New York: Liveright Publishers. .
* Going to jail, rather than submitting to induction or to alternative government service.

Actions by supporters or resisters

* Organizing or participating in a peaceful street assembly or demonstration against the draft.
* Publicly encouraging, aiding, or abetting draft evaders.
* Deliberately disrupting a military draft agency's processes or procedures.
* Destroying a military draft agency's records.
* Organizing or participating in a riot against the draft.Cook, Adrian (2014, orig. 1982). ''The Armies of the Streets: The New York City Draft Riots of 1863''. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky. .
* Building an anti-war movement that treats draft resistance as a vital and integral part of it.

By country

Draft evasion is said to have characterized every military conflict of the 20th and 21st centuries. Laws against certain draft evasion practices go back at least as far as the ancient Greeks. ''Examples'' of draft evasion can be found in many nations over many time periods:

Belgium

Nineteenth century Belgium was one of the few places where most citizens accepted the practice of legally buying one's way out of the military draft, sometimes referred to as the practice of "purchasable military commutation". Even so, some Belgian politicians denounced it as a system that appeared to trade the money of the rich for the lives of the poor.

Britain

In January 1916, during World War I, the British government passed a military conscription bill. By July of that year, 30% of draftees had failed to report for service.

Canada

Canada employed a military draft during World Wars I and II, and some Canadians chose to evade it. According to Canadian historian Jack Granatstein, "no single issue has divided Canadians so sharply" as the military draft.Granatstein, J. L.; Hitsman, J. M. (2017, orig. 1977). ''Broken Promises: A History of Conscription in Canada''. Oakville, Ontario: Rock's Mills Press (orig. Toronto: Oxford University Press), p. v. . During both World Wars, political parties collapsed or were torn apart over the draft issue, and ethnicity seeped into the equation, with most French Canadians opposing conscription and a majority of English Canadians accepting it. During both wars, riots and draft evasion followed the passage of the draft laws.

World War I

Conscription had been a dividing force in Canadian politics during World War I, and those divisions led to the Conscription Crisis of 1917. Canadians objected to conscription for diverse reasons: some thought it unnecessary, some did not identify with the British, and some felt it imposed unfair burdens on economically struggling segments of society. When the first draft class (single men between 20 and 34 years of age) was called up in 1917, nearly 281,000 of the approximately 404,000 men filed for exemptions. Throughout the war, some Canadians who feared conscription left for the United States or elsewhere.

World War II

Canada introduced an innovative kind of draft law in 1940 with the National Resources Mobilization Act.Byers, David (2017). ''Zombie Army: The Canadian Army and Conscription in the Second World War''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, Part 2. . While the move was not unpopular outside French Canada, controversy arose because under the new law, conscripts were not compelled to serve outside Canada. They could choose simply to defend the country against invasion. By the middle of the war, many Canadians – not least of all, conscripts committed to overseas service – were referring to NRMA men pejoratively as "Zombies", that is, as dead-to-life or utterly useless. Following costly fighting in Italy, Normandy and the Scheldt, overseas Canadian troops were depleted, and during the Conscription Crisis of 1944 a one-time levy of approximately 17,000 NRMA men was sent to fight abroad.Granatstein, J. L.; Morton, Desmond (2003). ''Canada and the Two World Wars''. Toronto: Key Porter Books, pp. 309–311. . Many NRMA men deserted after the levy rather than fight abroad. One brigade of NRMA men declared itself on "strike" after the levy.

The number of men who actively sought to evade the World War II draft in Canada is not known. Military historian Jack Granatstein says the evasion was "widespread". In addition, in 1944 alone approximately 60,000 draftees were serving only as NRMA men, committed to border defense but not to fighting abroad.

Colombia

Colombia maintains a large and well-funded military, often focused on counter-insurgency. There is an obligatory military draft for all young men.Otis, John (13 June 2014).
Draft Evasion Is Alive and Well in Colombia
. Public Radio International, website article. Retrieved 28 December 2018. Nevertheless, according to Public Radio International, two types of draft evasion are widespread in Colombia; one is prevalent among the relatively well-off, and another is found among the poor.

Young men from the middle-to-upper classes "usually" evade the Colombian draft. They do so by obtaining college or medical deferments, or by paying bribes for a "military ID card" certifying they have served – a card that is often requested by potential employers.

Young men from poorer circumstances sometimes simply avoid showing up for the draft and attempt to function without a military ID card. Besides facing limited employment prospects, these men are vulnerable to being forced into service through periodic army sweeps of poor neighborhoods.

Eritrea

Eritrea instituted a military draft in 1995. Three years later, it became open-ended; everyone under 50 iccan be enlisted for an indefinite period of time. According to ''The Economist'', "release can depend on the arbitrary whim of a commander, and usually takes years".

It is illegal for Eritreans to leave the country without government permission. Nevertheless, in the mid-2010s around 2,000 Eritreans were leaving every month, "primarily to avoid the draft", according to ''The Economist''. Human rights groups and the United Nations have also claimed that Eritrea's draft policies are fueling the migration. Most leave for Europe or neighboring countries; in 2015, Eritreans were the fourth largest group illicitly crossing the Mediterranean for Europe.

Mothers are usually excused from the Eritrean draft. ''The Economist'' says that, as a result, pregnancies among single women – once a taboo in Eritrea – have increased.

A 2018 article in Bloomberg News reported that Eritrea was considering altering some of its military draft policies.

Finland

During World War II, there was no legal way to avoid the draft, and failure to obey was treated as insubordination and/or desertion, punished by execution or jail. Draft evaders were forced to escape to the forests and live there as outlaws, in a practice that was facetiously called serving in the ''käpykaarti'' (Pine Cone Guard) or ''metsäkaarti'' (Forest Guard).Tasala, Markku (2000) ''Metsäkaarti: Kolarin metsäkaartin jatkosota ja rauha''. Oulu, Finland: Pohjoinen. .

Approximately 1,500 men failed to show up for the draft at the start of the Continuation War (1941–1944, pitting Finland against the Soviet Union), and 32,186 cases of desertion were handled by the courts.Kulomaa, Jukka (1995). ''Käpykaartiin? 1941–1944: sotilaskarkuruus Suomen armeijassa jatkosodan aikana''. Helsinki: Painatuskeskus. . There were numerous reasons for draft evasion and desertion during this period: fear or war-weariness,Kulomaa, Jukka; Nieminen, Jarmo, toim. (2008). ''Teloitettu totuus: kesä 1944''. Helsinki: Ajatus kirjat. . objection to the war as an offensive war, ideological objections or outright support for Communism. Finnish Communists were considered dangerous and could not serve, and were subject to "protective custody" – in practice, detention in a prison for the course of the war – because earlier attempts to conscript them had ended in disaster: one battalion called ''Pärmin pataljoona'' assembled from detained Communists suffered a large-scale defection to the Soviet side.

The ''käpykaarti'' (forest-dwelling Pine Cone Guard, mentioned above) was a diverse group including draft evaders, deserters, Communists, and Soviet desants (military skydivers). They lived in small groups, sometimes even in military-style dugouts constructed from logs,Rislakki, Jukka (1986). ''Maan alla: Vakoilua, vastarintaa ja urkintaa Suomessa 1941–1944''. Helsinki: Love Kirjat. . and often maintained a rotation to guard their camps. They received support from sympathizers who could buy from the black market; failing that, they stole provisions to feed themselves. Muisti: Metsäkaartilaiset. TV1 torstaina 20.4.2017
(11 October 2015). Finnish-language website. Retrieved 10 February 2018. The Finnish Army and police actively searched for them, and if discovered, a firefight often ensued. Hitleriä vastaan sodittiin Suomessa hajanaisesti. Ajankohtainen Kakkonen
(13 February 2013). Finnish-language website. Retrieved 10 February 2018. The Finnish Communist Party was able to operate among the draft evaders. Sixty-three death sentences were handed out to deserters; however, many of them were killed in military or police raids on their camps. Deserters captured near front lines would often be simply returned to the lines, but as the military situation deteriorated towards the end of the war, punishments were harsher: 61 of the death sentences given were in 1944, mostly in June and July during the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive, where Finnish forces were forced to retreat.Julkunen, Martti. "Taistelutahto ristipaineissa". In Vehviläinen, Olli, ed. (1982). ''Jatkosodan kujanjuoksu''. Porvoo, Finland: WSOY. .

At the conclusion of the war, the Allied Control Commission immediately demanded an amnesty for draft evaders, and they were not further punished.

As of 2020, deliberate draft evasion is a rare phenomenon, since absence from a drafting event, in most cases, leads to an immediate search warrant. Evaders are taken by police officers to the draft board, or to the regional military office.

France

In France, the right of all draftees to purchase military exemption – introduced after the French Revolution – was abolished in 1870. One scholar refers to the permissible buy-out as a "bastard form of equality" that bore traces of the Ancien Régime.

Israel

There has always been a military draft in Israel.Neack, Laura (2014). ''The New Foreign Policy: Complex Interventions, Competing Interests'', 3rd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, p. 101. .Simon, Rita J.; Abdel-Moneim, Mohamed Alaa (2011). ''A Handbook of Military Conscription and Composition the World Over''. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 133–135. . It is universal for all non-Arab Israeli citizens, men and women alike, and can legally be evaded only on physical or psychological grounds or by strictly Orthodox Jews. The draft has become part of the fabric of Israeli society: according to ''Le Monde'' senior editor Sylvain Cypel, Israel is a place where military service is seen not just as a duty but a "certificate of entry into active life".

Yet by the middle of the decade of the 2000s, draft evasion (including outright draft refusal) and desertion had reached all-time highs.Hilliard, Constance (2009). ''Does Israel Have a Future? The Case for a Post-Zionist State''. Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, an imprint of University of Nebraska Press, pp. 68–69. . Fully 5% of young men and 3% of young women were supposedly failing their pre-military psychological tests, both all-time highs. Some popular entertainers, including rock star Aviv Geffen, grand-nephew of military hero Moshe Dayan, have been encouraging draft evasion (Geffen publicly said he would commit suicide if he were taken by the military). In 2007 the Israeli government initiated what some called a "shaming campaign", banning young entertainers from holding concerts and making television appearances if they failed to fulfill their military requirement. By 2008 over 3,000 high school students belonged to "Shministim" (Hebrew for twelfth graders), a group of young people claiming to be conscientiously opposed to military service. American actor Ed Asner has written a column supporting the group. Another group, New Profile, was started by Israeli peace activists to encourage draft refusal.

University of Manchester sociologist Yulia Zemilinskaya has interviewed members of New Profile and Shministim, along with members of two groups of Israeli soldiers and reservists who have expressed an unwillingness to engage in missions they disapprove of – Yesh Gvul and Courage to Refuse.Zemilinskaya, Yulia (December 2010).
Between Militarism and Pacifism: Conscientious Objection and Draft Resistance in Israel
. ''Central European Journal of International and Security Studies'', issue 2:1, pp. 9–35. Retrieved 17 February 2018. Despite commonalities, she found a difference between the draft refusers and the military selective-refusers:

The analysis of these interviews demonstrated that, in their appeal to heIsraeli public, members of Yesh Gvul and Courage to Refuse utilized symbolic meanings and codes derived from dominant militarist and nationalist discourses. In contrast, draft-resisters, members of New Profile and Shministim, refusing to manipulate nationalistic and militaristic codes, voice a much more radical and comprehensive critique of the state’s war making plans. Invoking feminist, anti-militarist and pacifist ideologies, they openly challenge and criticize dominant militarist and Zionist discourses. While the majority of members of Yesh Gvul and Courage to Refuse choose selective refusal, negotiating conditions of their reserve duty, heanti-militarist, pacifist, and feminist ideological stance of members of New Profile and Shministim leads them to absolutist refusal.

Russia / Soviet Union

According to London-based journalist Elisabeth Braw, writing in ''Foreign Affairs'', draft evasion was "endemic" in the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War, which ended in 1989.Braw, Elisabeth (9 November 2015).
Russians Dodge a Bullet: How Young Russian Men Avoid the Draft
. ''Foreign Affairs'', Web-based content. Retrieved 28 November 2017. A declassified Central Intelligence Agency report asserts that the Soviet elite routinely bribed its sons' way out of deployment to Afghanistan, or out of military service altogether.

In Russia, all men aged 18 through 27 are subject to the military draft. According to a report from the European Parliamentary Research Service, an organ of the Secretariat of the European Parliament, in the mid-2010s fully half of the 150,000 young men called up each year were thought to be evading the draft.

Invasion of Ukraine

In September, 2022 during the Russia-Ukraine war over 600,000 mobilization-eligible citizens have left the country to avoid the draft. Reportedly, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia became a primary, visa-free destination for Russians seeking to avoid president Vladimir Putin’s mobilization order.

South Korea

South Korea maintains mandatory military service. According to the ''Korea JoongAng Daily'', since the early 2000s the country has been rocked by scandals involving celebrities who try to use their fame to evade the draft or receive special treatment from the military.Eun-jee, Park (16 January 2013).
Military Service Mischief a Losing Battle
. ''Korea JoongAng Daily'' (English-language version of Seoul-based South Korean newspaper). Retrieved 29 June 2019. South Koreans are reportedly so hostile to draft evasion that one South Korean commentator says it is "almost like suicide" for celebrities to engage in it. Yoo Seung-jun

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