How much fine do you have to pay for refusing conscription in Paraguay?

1. Compulsory service exists on paper but the penalties are not spelled out in the sources

Paraguayan law requires military service for males at age 18 and reduced the period of service to 12 months under the 1992 constitution, indicating a framework of compulsory service that could imply legal consequences for refusal ^{[1] [3]}. The reporting assembled here, however, focuses on service length, age and the administration of conscription rather than on a specific monetary sanction for refusal, and therefore contains no explicit citation that establishes a statutory fine amount for refusing conscription ^{[1] [4]}.

2. Conscientious objection is recognized but regulatory gaps matter more than a simple fine

Multiple sources note that Paraguay has legal provisions or recognition for conscientious objection but lacks an implemented regulatory framework or accepted alternative-service system—Paraguayan authorities and civil-society groups debated bills and policies, and the Senate archived a regulating bill in 2003 ^[2]. That gap means many objectors’ responses were managed administratively or politically rather than through a clear criminal-penalty schedule in publicly cited reports, which helps explain why no standardized fine amount appears in these overviews ^[2].

3. Human-rights reporting emphasizes recruitment practices and abuses, not fine schedules

Human-rights organizations and historical investigations cited here concentrate on forced recruitment of minors, deaths and mistreatment of conscripts, and the absence of military accountability—issues that drive public attention away from technical penalty amounts and toward structural reform and remedies ^{[2] [5] [6]}. These organizations’ agendas—pressing for alternative service and accountability—may implicitly deprioritize cataloguing low-level administrative sanctions like fines in favor of documenting abuses and systemic failings ^{[2] [5]}.

4. Secondary sources on service obligations confirm conscription but vary and do not supply fine figures

Reference compilations and country profiles consistently report the age of obligation and service lengths—IndexMundi and GlobalSecurity note 18 as the typical conscription age and service-length distinctions among branches—yet none of these overviews include a statutory fine amount for refusal ^{[4] [7]}. Databases such as World Factbook-style compilations likewise summarize obligations and enforcement status but do not enumerate monetary penalties in the materials provided ^[8].

5. What remains to be done to find a precise fine amount

Determining a concrete fine would require consulting Paraguayan primary law sources—current military code articles, penal code provisions on evasion of military service, implementing regulations for conscientious objection, or official Ministry of Defense guidance—which are not present in the supplied reporting and therefore cannot be quoted here (no source). Absent those texts, any numeric claim would be speculative; the responsible course is to locate the up-to-date Paraguayan statutes or an official government publication or legal database.

6. Competing narratives and implicit agendas to watch for

Civil-society sources emphasize abuses and demand alternatives to service, potentially underreporting administrative penalties that could discourage refusal ^{[2] [5]}, while government or military summaries stress legal obligation and order without publicly detailing enforcement mechanisms in these secondary compilations ^{[1] [7]}. Both perspectives are present in the reporting provided and neither supplies a direct answer on a monetary fine, underscoring the need for primary legal texts to resolve the factual gap ^{[2] [1]}.