almost all functions and environments since 1989, the only exception being service on board submarines, and even that restriction was lifted in 2001.250 However, one has to take into account that the formal opening of all positions does not necessarily imply that women are working in every position. In Denmark and Norway, for example, all functions are open to women, but no woman has as yet served as a para-ranger, a marine commando, or a fighter pilot.251 In some cases, women have gained full access to all positions only after a court ruling. This is the case, for example, in Germany. Tanja Kreil, who had been trained in electronics, applied in 1996 to serve in the Federal Armed Forces as a volunteer, requesting a role in electronic maintenance of weapons, a combat support role. Even so, her application was rejected by the Federal Armed Forces recruitment centre on the grounds that women could serve in medical and musical services only, and not in positions involving the use of arms.252 Having exhausted judicial avenues within Germany, she appealed to the European Court of Justice, which ruled that gender could not be a reason to categorically deny women access to any position within the armed forces.253 Box 13.5 sums up the main points of the ruling. It is important that the Court declared that the EU Council directive on equal opportunities for men and women was applicable to the armed forces, thereby adding a European dimension to the participation of women in armed forces. 254 Box 13.5 Landmark Case: European Court of Justice Rules Out the Total Exclusion of Women from Jobs Involving Firearms254 • EU Council Directive 76/207/EEC of 1976 on equal job opportunities for men and women applies to employment in armed forces; • The Directive cannot justify greater protection for women against risks to which men and women are equally exposed; • Though national authorities have a certain amount of discretion in derogating from the principle of the individual right to equal treatment of men and women for the sake of protecting public security, the total exclusion of women from all military posts involving the use of arms cannot be justified; • With respect to the nature of armed forces, the fact that persons serving those forces might be called upon to use arms could not, in itself, justify the exclusion of women from access to military posts. After this ruling, the German Government opened up combat units to women.255 Since January 2001, women have been eligible to enter all classifications, provided they meet the criteria for the position they are applying for.256 In another case concerning a British servicewoman, however, the European Court of Justice ruled that women can be ex250  Vicki Nielsen, “Women in uniform”, NATO Review, Vol. 49, No. 2, Summer 2001, available at <http:// www.nato.int/docu/review/2001/0102-09.htm>. 251  Ibid. 252  Article 3a of the Regulation on Soldiers’ Careers. 253  Kreil v. Bundesrepublik Deutschland, European Court of Justice, Case C-285/98, 11 January 2000, available on the Court’s website at <http://curia.europa.eu>. 254  Ibid. 255  According to German experts present at the ODIHR-DCAF expert review meeting in Warsaw in December 2006, not all posts in the Federal Armed Forces are open to women, e.g., women are not allowed to serve in special intervention units. 256  G. Kümmel, “Complete Access: Women in the Bundeswehr and Male Ambivalence”, Armed Forces & Society, Vol. 28, No. 4, Summer 2002, pp. 555-573. 122 Handbook on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Armed Forces Personnel