'Free the Regiment deserters'

FRIDAY, OCT. 19: An amnesty should be granted to prisoners doing time for failing to turn up for Bermuda Regiment duty, a barrister and human rights activist said yesterday.

Rod Attride-Stirling – who won a long-running battle to get out of military service on conscience grounds in the 1990s – was speaking after Premier Paula Cox signalled an end to conscription in a keynote speech to the party faithful on Thursday night.

He said: “Every year in Bermuda, we send young black men to prison for failing to serve in the Bermuda Regiment.

“They are sitting off with major drug dealers, murderers and rapists and they are learning to be real criminals.

“Getting rid of conscription is a social positive and I hope the Government will follow up on their announcement by immediately releasing from prison all of these young men who are still there now for failing to serve.”

Mr Attride-Stirling in 1995 won a ruling from the Court of Appeal that his pacifist principles and opposition to enforced military service exempted him from military duty. The Court of Appeal overturned an earlier Supreme Court decision that he should serve, although in a non-combat role. Mr Attride-Stirling said: “Having conscription in Bermuda was always considered by many people to be ridiculous – including people in the British Army.

“The Bermuda Regiment is a regiment of the British Army and the proposal from the UK for many years has been to get rid of conscription and have a smaller, professional army. The only reason it was kept on was local politics.”

Mr Attride-Stirling stressed: “Although I am frequently very critical of the Regiment, I have the greatest respect for the officers of the Regiment who volunteer. But the vast majority are conscripts who don’t want to be there and who would be wholly unreliable in the event of a riot, for example.”

Civil disturbances

Mr Attride-Stirling added that all the major civil disturbances in Bermuda had had a strong racial element – and that a force with a disproportionate number of young black men would be reluctant to take up a public order role.

He said: “People will be concerned that by diluting the Regiment we will be diluting our security, which is not the case.

“If you look at the purpose of the Bermuda Regiment, they are quite limited in their role – security and national emergencies. In terms of security, their principal role is to support the police and they also have a ceremonial role.”

Mr Attride-Stirling added that the Regiment was also said to be “ a great social integrator.”

But he added: “That’s also a fallacy because if you look at the demographics of the Regiment, certainly in relation to private soldiers, they are almost all black come from the same demographic.”

He added: “Although there will be examples where the discipline acts as a positive influence, for most it will make no difference. The money should be spent in dealing with problems at a younger age than 18 or 19, where it could make a difference.”

The Bermuda Regiment referred requests for comment to its Commander-in-Chief, Governor George Fergusson, who said: “Conscription is a matter for Bermuda legislation. It involves judgments which go beyond just defence. It is right that the principle of conscription should be determined by elected politicians.

“If the decision is made to move away from conscription, I would look forward to working with the elected Government to make sure that we had good arrangements in place to keep the Regiment effective into the future.”

Editor’s note: Bermuda Sun reporter Raymond Hainey is a serving soldier in the Bermuda Regiment.