Mandatory national service for all Bermudians — male and female — has been mooted after a poll revealed almost three quarters of residents support the current male-only military draft.

Both Defence Administrator Larry Burchall and Independent MP Jamahl Simmons believe people would back community work for everyone — although neither suggested this should be military in nature. Mr. Simmons, who opposes military conscription, pointed to the example of the voluntary AmeriCorps network that sees more than 70,000 Americans serve each year in the arenas of education, public safety, health and the environment.

Suggesting this kind of service should be enforced on the Island, he said: “No Bermudian should be exempt from serving his or her country in some capacity. This would also address the issue of women being exempt from the draft and also could be a valuable resource for the community.”

Defence Administrator Larry Burchall — who is responsible for the random ballot that selects young men aged 18-23 for military service — also gave his thoughts on this topic.

“Why not poll and find out how much support there is for ‘compulsory national service’? You might get a surprise,” he said when asked for his reaction to the latest poll on the Regiment draft.

Asked if he believed young women should be called up for military service he declined to give his personal view on that topic, commenting: “I didn’t say military service. The concept of enforced service by young people finds broad support in the community,” adding that the topic has been floated in Bermuda for decades.

At present, the Bermuda Defence Act provides that there shall be compulsory Regiment service where voluntary enlistment is inadequate to provide soldiers. The Regiment participates in community work and disaster relief as well as providing a security presence on the Island.

This law is subject to a legal challenge launched by the campaign group Bermudians Against the Draft in December.

Two separate sets of court papers issued by 14 young men from the group argue that the draft is gender-biased and a breach of human rights because only men are picked, not women. It also alleges that reasonable efforts have not been made to recruit sufficient volunteers before resorting to conscription.

Spokesman Larry Marshall Sr. expressed outrage at the notion that all young people should be subjected to national service — saying B.A.D is fighting to see all forms of mandatory service outlawed for good.

“Our position is that any form of forced labour is tantamount to 21st century slavery. We are not going to replace one corrupt system with another. We want to abolish it because it’s wrong,” said Mr. Marshall.

The latest survey conducted by Research Innovations asked 404 people “do you agree with conscription to the Bermuda Regiment?”

A total of 74 percent said they did, with 23 percent answering no and three percent unsure. Research Innovations split the responses, which encompassed both Bermudians and non-Bermudians, along gender lines. This showed that 76 percent of men backed the draft , compared to 73 percent of women. It did not poll on whether women should have to serve.

Responding to the statistics, Mr. Marshall claimed the majority of the public supported the retention of capital punishment and a majority also opposed the decriminalisation of homosexuality. He also cited other recent polls on this newspaper’s website, the website Limey in Bermuda and one conducted on the streets by the Youth Talk programme as showing less support for conscription than the Research Innovations figure.

He went on to claim that just one percent of those who join the Regiment each year are volunteers out of a potential pool of thousands.

“If in fact 64 percent of males support conscription you would have no problems with volunteerism,” he said.

Responding to news of the survey, Minister of Public Safety and Housing David Burch said: “The results of the poll are not surprising and they confirm what we have always believed — that clearly there is overwhelming support in the community regarding mandatory service in the Bermuda Regiment.”

Sen. Burch did not respond to a further request for comment on the idea of both sexes completing some form of national service.

The phone survey was carried out by Research Innovations from March 15 to March 18. It has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.