Pravo prigovora savjesti
The Right to Conscientious Objection

Summary/Abstract: The Right to conscientious objection is very complex legal and ethic issue and for its more completely understanding it is necessary to take an analytic approach. In this sense, conscientious objection (or rejection because of conscience) representing legal-philosophic entirety and phenomenon is particularly analysed in presentation not only through its differentiation from other similar phenomena or similar kinds of acts (civil disobedience, for example) but mainly through its legal and ethic dimension. In this work it is our view that conscientious objection represents, primun omnium, a form of disobedience (resistance offering) of an individuum to state existing law norms (legal order) and/or to political acts of state government, if he/she takes it for moral inadmissible, because of nonspecific nature of these norms/political acts or inapplicability of norms (in moral aspect) in certain cases. To such a degree right to conscientious objection is moral human right. In distinction from civil disobedience, conscientious objection consists of the following characteristics. At first, protestant (objector) does not want to appeal by his objection to the majority social feeling for certain values. Further, in principles, protestant's objection is not public and that protestant's objection must be based mainly on his different philosophic, religious and other belief, at last. Although conscientious objection is in the sphere of law denoted as progressive achievement, even so it is, by one's own legal nature, an act contra legem because it is in opposition of legal order. Finally, one should emphasize that legally admitted conscientious objection must be, in whole or at least, partially enforced and that it must be based on protestant's moral credibility, i. e. on the protestant's belief that by his objecting he protects the highest values which make human dignity.

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