Reform of the rights of conscripts during the presentation of compulsory military service in compulsory military service in Colombia. Law 2384 of 2024.

Last July 19, 2024, the Congress of the Republic of Colombia issued Law 2384 “whereby some provisions of Law 1861 of 2017 are amended, the rights and duties of those who perform compulsory military service are encouraged and other provisions are enacted”, which specifies and gives scope to some recognized benefits in favor of conscripts.

From the reading of the legislative text, the progress in relation to the benefits granted to the persons who perform mandatory military service in Colombia stands out; the most representative, enshrined in Article 7, paragraph A of the mentioned Law, which provides for an increase in the monthly bonus received by the conscripts. Said increase was established in 2 stages, the first one corresponding to an increase of 70% of 1 SMLMV, which must be materialized in a period of no more than 6 months as from the entry into force of Law 2384 of 2024. The second, in the period between the sixth month and the second year after the Law comes into force, in which the necessary procedures must be carried out to guarantee and materialize that the bonus to which the conscripts are entitled is equal to 1SMLMV.

It is noteworthy that the monthly bonus recognized and paid to conscripts is stripped of salary connotations, according to the same normative provision. In this way, the possibility of integrating the basic contribution income in both benefit and social security factors is proscribed, a fact that in our legal opinion may violate fundamental rights. It must be taken into account that this emolument is received on a regular basis and as direct retribution for the personal service of regular soldiers, so it could be considered a salary. In this sense, the disregard of the salary nature may cause an impairment to the inalienable rights of all Colombian citizens, and specifically of the conscripts who, upon fulfilling the mandatory military service, meet the requirements established by the Colombian regulations, conferring them rights and guarantees inherent to any labor relationship.

While it is true that compulsory military service is a duty that falls on Colombian citizens, this fact should not eliminate the characteristics that surround it, that is, the personal service of the regular soldier, the subordination that governs the military function and in parallel the bonus paid monthly as direct remuneration, thus materializing the labor nature of the bonus received and now increased by virtue of Law 2384 of 2019. In this sense, its denaturalization as a salary violates principles of law such as reality over formalities, the unwaivability of the minimum benefits established in labor laws and the guarantee of a minimum, vital, mobile and proportional remuneration to the quantity and quality of work, and social security provided in Article 53 of the Political Charter.