24.06.2019.

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Civil Society Participation in the Security Sector Reform: Lessons from Slovakia

Lessons learned from Slovak security sector reform, country's priorities during OSCE chairmanship, its cyber security and fighting disinformation practices were some of the topics discussed during the study trip to Slovakia organized by OSCE Mission to Serbia and GlobSec for Serbian civil society organizations dealing with security issues from 10 ...

Lessons learned from Slovak security sector reform, country's priorities during OSCE chairmanship, its cyber security and fighting disinformation practices were some of the topics discussed during the study trip to Slovakia organized by OSCE Mission to Serbia and GlobSec for Serbian civil society organizations dealing with security issues from 10 to 14 June 2019.

BCSP researcher Jelena Pejicand Intern Marina Radovanovic were among civil society representatives who participated in the study trip to Bratislava. The program consisted of visits to Slovak Parliament, Government, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, as well as Bratislava-based think tank Globsec and International Visegrad Fund.

„The most interesting visits were to different parliamentary committees in charge of oversight of security and foreign policies. There is a committee for each of the two security services – one military and one civilian – with chairs coming from the opposition. It was impressive to see young, energetic and communicative chairpersons of these committees, who emphasized the important role of civil society in promoting reforms and maintaining living democracy,“ said Pejic.

BCSP Intern Marina Radovanovic also pointed out the importance of involvement of civil society actors in the security sector reform.

“Civil society and authorities working together towards a common interest of achieving security sector reform goals left the biggest impression on me. The essence of a successful security sector reform is the inclusion of all interested actors,” Radovanovic said.

For the BCSP Intern this visit was also an important learning experience.

“The visit to institutions such as the Parliament and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, as well as the GlobSec headquarters enabled me to see a wider picture and understand the good practices of the security sector reform in Slovakia,” highlighted Radovanovic.

The study visit included 15 civil society representatives from different parts of Serbia who are active in the area of security.

Tags: &ldquo, civil, civil society, foreign, globsec, intern, lessons, participation, radovanović, reform, sector, security, slovakia, society, study

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