The Government of the Republic has approved the new text of the National Defence League Act and sent it for hearing at Riigikogu. The Act regulates the activity of the National Defence League and provides its members with clearer rights and securities.
The new act will not change the essence of the National Defence League; it will continue to be a voluntary and armed national defence organisation that forms a protective cover all over Estonia.
However, compared to when the previous National Defence League Act was adopted in 1999, society, the Estonian judicial area, and the National Defence League itself have changed. Therefore, members of the National Defence League will get a new and fresh act that clearly establishes their commitments, rights, and social guarantees.
The new National Defence League Act establishes the tasks of the National Defence League, which are military protection of the country, increasing the will for defence and people’s safety, carrying out military training, guarding national defence objects, and participating in rescue missions and cyber defence.
The new act also sets the social guarantees for the members of the National Defence League in case of an injury in the line of duty, and the guarantees are equal to the ones of the regular members of the Defence Forces.
The new act also regulates the lines of command at the National Defence League and establishes the special organisations – Woman's Home Defence (Naiskodukaitse), the Young Eagles and the Home Daughters – as a part of the National Defence League more clearly.
The new National Defence League Act was prepared by a broad-based work group that consisted of the representatives of the Ministry of Defence, the National Defence League and the Defence Forces.