Zivildienst in Austria

Similar to the so-called construction soldiers in East Germany, a regular military service without a weapon (German: ordentlicher Präsenzdienst ohne Waffe) could be performed on request.

The compulsory alternative community service was introduced under the Kreisky II cabinet in 1975 due to pressure by pacifist groups.

Between 1 April 2002 and 30 September 2005, the Zivildienstverwaltungs GmbH, organized as an affiliated limited liability company of the Austrian Red Cross, was responsible for distributing compulsory service personnel on behalf of the then responsible Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior.

This ended after the Austrian Constitutional Court demanded this activity as part of government and its integration into the interior ministry.

In 2019, the percentage of eligible men opting for Zivildienst increased again, but the actual number decreased, due to a year with a low birth rate.

[9][10][11][12] There are severe regional differences, while in Vorarlberg (52.8%) and Vienna (53.5%) more than half of the drafted men registered for the mandatory alternative community service (as of 2014), in Carinthia only slightly more than a quarter (26.3%) of eligible male citizens become conscientious objectors.

[16][17][18] In times of crisis or during the state of emergency, the government can re-draft conscientious objectors under the age of 50, who already fulfilled their regular obligatory civil alternative service, for "Special Alternative Civilian Service" (German: Außerordentlicher Zivildienst).

[21][22][23][24][25] Due to a lack of necessity, the "Special Alternative Civilian Service" was stopped at the end of July 2020 .

Goal is to spend a year in those countries and understand the enormous complexity of the conflicts and to make a little contribution to the lasting assurance of peace.

Since 2013, it is possible to volunteer for the program of the voluntary ecological year (in German: Freiwilliges Umweltjahr / FUJ) for a minimum period of 10 months instead of the Zivildienst.

[29] Since 2016, it is possible to volunteer for a minimum of 10 months for the program of the voluntary social year (in German: Freiwilliges Sozialjahr / FSJ) as an alternative to the regular Zivildienst.

In the opinion of compulsory community service personnel, €6.00 EUR per day is insufficient to guarantee proper nutrition.

However, the law was amended in 2010 to introduce certain circumstances under which the weapon ban could be lifted to pursue a career with the police forces.