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Press Release:
Draft Law on Internal Affairs opens up space for misuse of the police
The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) warns the public that the Draft Law on Internal Affairs contains numerous provisions that, if left unchanged, will jeopardize citizens' guaranteed rights and security, and despite cosmetic changes, preserve political influence on the police work. Therefore, BCSP asks the Ministry of Interior to consider the comments received from organizations in the public debate and prevent potential damage resulting from the Draft's adoption.
Many provisions of the Draft Law on Internal Affairs present a step backwards compared to the existing legislation. The existing principle of transparency in the work of the police and the obligation to publish quarterly reports on the work of the Ministry of the Interior has been removed from its provisions. Articles regulating data processing systems, as well as surveillance in public places, would endanger citizens’ privacy rights and introduce total surveillance without any control by the judiciary, which is entirely contradictory with European standards and the Law on Personal Data Protection. In the domain of human resources management, employment without competition becomes a rule rather than an exception, and nepotism is legalized, which opens up a lot of space for misuse.
The biggest shortcoming of the Draft is political influence on the operational work of the police, preserved through additional powers given to the Minister. The paradigm is that the Draft envisages that in addition to the term “Police” being used by the Ministry of the Interior, trade unions operating within it, and the Ministry of Defense, the Minister may grant the right to use this term to other entities. In practice, this could mean that if the Minister wants to declare an organized group for violent suppression of protests to be the police, he can do so without any restrictions.
All abovementioned could have been avoided if the drafting process had not been carried out under a veil of secrecy, if numerous expert organizations had been consulted, and if enough time had been left for a comprehensive public discussion. The question is whether the Ministry wanted to hide these disputable provisions and ensure the already existing political influence on the work of the police. BCSP therefore appeals to the legislator to show a sincere intention to work with interested parties to ensure that Serbia gets a police tailored to its citizens’ needs, not politicians in power.
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