Africa-Press – Cape verde. Major Job Gomes emphasized this Tuesday in Praia that women are essential to national defense, contributing to the Armed Forces and integrating citizens’ efforts to protect the country’s territory, independence, and sovereignty.
Major Job Gomes was speaking on the second day of the Justice and Citizenship Forum, dedicated to the theme “Mandatory Military Service in Cape Verde: Its Relevance and Consequences of Non-Compliance.”
“Today, there is no longer a bastion for men. Everything is shared, it’s 50-50,” he stated, reinforcing that women make an indispensable contribution to national defense.
“I wouldn’t say only the defense of the country through the Armed Forces, but I would say in its broadest sense, which encompasses the need to promote the integration of all Cape Verdean citizens’ efforts to defend the country, both from the perspective of the well-being of its population and the defense of the territory, our independence, and our sovereignty,” he emphasized.
Although military service is constitutionally mandatory for all citizens between the ages of 18 and 35, female participation in the Armed Forces is voluntary due to logistical constraints that are still evolving.
Since 1967, women have contributed to the Armed Forces, including their historic participation in the Cuban Group.
Recent data, according to Major Job Gomes, points to a “huge number of non-compliances” with mandatory military service, particularly failure to appear for selection and classification tests.
These non-compliances are treated as a crime of qualified disobedience, subjecting those responsible to legal sanctions and the loss of rights related to military service.
In this sense, Job Gomes called for the mobilization of young people, parents, and guardians to fulfill this constitutional duty, reinforcing the importance of everyone’s participation in the country’s development and defense.
As he noted, military service lasts 14 months and grants recruits rights such as suspension of their employment contract without loss of employment, housing, food, medical care, uniforms, and financial compensation.
There are, however, exemptions provided for family and educational reasons, as well as the status of conscientious objector, granted judicially to those who, for religious, moral, or philosophical reasons, refuse to bear arms.
Among the training programs, the major highlighted the “Citizen Soldier” program, which has trained approximately two thousand young people since 2007, promoting professional and academic qualifications and facilitating reintegration into civilian life.
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