| Disability |
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Although people with disabilities are generally exempt from military service, [1] conscription of people with disabilities has occurred on various occasions historically.
| Disability |
|---|
Although people with disabilities are generally exempt from military service, [1] conscription of people with disabilities has occurred on various occasions historically.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, more than 480 people with intellectual disabilities were conscripted into the military of Imperial Japan. [2]
Project 100,000 was a disability draft under the Johnson Administration. Men who had previously been rejected from military service due to physical or mental disabilities were re-classified and sent to the frontlines in the Vietnam War. [3]
Numerous Ukrainians with disabilities have been drafted over the course of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [4] [5] [6] The Ukrainian Defence Ministry amended the criteria for medical exemptions, reclassifying people with tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, thyroid disease and HIV to be fit for military service. [7] On 22 October 2024, Ukrainian president Zelenskyy sign a decree which dissolved the medical examination commissions for determining the severity of disabilities that qualified for military exemptions. [8] On 8 July 2025, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights published a report which acknowledged "systemic and documented human rights violations under martial law" which included the conscription of people with disabilities. [9]
After Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced a mass mobilization of the Bolivarian Militia of Venezuela on 18 August 2025, Venezuelans with hearing loss were reported to have turned up. [10]
The physical examination for conscription in North Korea had eased height criteria for military service, reportedly to 142 cm (4 ft 8 in) as of 2012. [11] [12]
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