How does corruption affect the defence sector employees?

Lately there is an increase in media reports about people who left the Serbian Armed Forces or the Ministry of Defense after years of service, dissatisfied with working conditions. In addition to financial reasons, corruption has emerged as one of the causes of this trend. The exchange of knowledge on potential forms of corruption in human resource management in the defense system necessary for effective oversight in this area and getting acquainted with the best practices from the UK was the focus of a workshop organized by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) on May 17, 2019 in Belgrade.

Damir Ahmetović from the Centre for Integrity in the Defence Sector of the Norwegian Ministry of Defence shared with participants what areas of human resource management are especially vulnerable to corruption and how corruption affects employees as well as the entire defence system.

Adequate human resource management can strengthen integrity in the defense system if employment is done on the basis of expertise, if ethics are rewarded, and if there are clear boundaries of conflicts of interest and that violating those will be punished, Ahmetović stressed.

Special attention was paid to the forms of corruption that arise in the situations of recruitment and promotion, especially when it comes to “sensitive” positions in the defense system, and the participants discussed possible solutions to these problems.

Great Britain is one of the countries that are successfully managing human resources in defence, which puts it on top of the list of countries with high integrity in the defense system within the Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index. Britain's Defence Attaché to Serbia, Nick Ilic, presented mechanisms for fighting the corruption in human resource management, as well as  protecting the whistleblowers in the UK defense system.

Ilic emphasized that for the success of the army, it is crucial to have people with the right knowledge, skills and experience at the right time and in the right place. However, it is equally important to take into account their career aspirations and to match those to the potentials they possess.

The workshop was attended by representatives of the Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, the Anti-Corruption Agency, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, the Ombudsman, journalists and civil society organisations.

The workshop was organised within the framework of the project “Why are they leaving? – Casting light on the link between corruption and staff retention in Serbian defence sector” implemented by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) and Transparency Serbia with the support of Transparency International Defense and Security.