The Serbian Military Union cautioned that the number of requests for termination of professional military service has increased “due to a grave violation of employment rights” and “unplanned and illegal hiring” of professional members of the military.

The Union called on the Defense Minister and on the Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces (SAF) General Staff to “immediately issue the necessary orders that will reduce the work hours and engagement of military personnel to that prescribed by law,” and to enable them to exercise their right to annual leave.

“Neither a state of emergency nor a state of war has been declared in Serbia, colleagues from the police are in a regular mode of work, so it is unclear why members of the Serbian Armed Forces have often been in a state of raised combat readiness, for almost two years now,” said the Union.

It noted that the “some commanders’ lack of care and arrogance and complete absence of empathy for the needs of the subordinates” was the main reason of the “dissatisfaction and lack of motivation among professional members of the military, and one of the main reasons why they decide to quit the military.”

The Union said the other reason is the “slave-owning relationship of the state as an employer towards professional members of the military, the lack, reduction and non-recognition of certain rights from the employment relationship, compensation and benefits that are implied in all modern world militaries, except for the Serbian Armed Forces.”