Independent state institutions in the Western Balkans are becoming more and more significant in the control of the security sector

An increasing number of people in the region addresses the independent state institutions for protection from the members of the security sector who abuse their powers The number of the recommendations of independent Institution, as well as level of their respect is increasing but common to all independent institutions is that they don’t have authority to force anyone to use their recommendation. This was told on April 17 at the promotion of  regional survey “How successful independent state institutions are in control of the security sector in the Western Balkans.”

Based on the analysis of trends in individual studies of seven organizations from the Western Balkans, a senior researcher at the Institute for Democracy and Mediation from Tirana, Arjan Dyrmishi, made ​​a “Comparative analysis of case studies of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia,” and the main findings of research were presented by Magdalena Lembovska from Analytics (Skopje), Emir Kalac from the Center for Democracy and Human rights (Podgorica), Emsad Dizdarevic of the Center for security Studies (Sarajevo), Sandro Knezovic from the Institute of international Relations (Zagreb), Mentor Vrajolli from Kosovo center for Security studies (Pristina) and BCSP associate Jelena Radoman.

The participants assessed that the monitoring of public procurement and spending money in the armed forces, police and security – intelligence agencies is no longer a “mission impossible” even though the time when this type of supervision will become a regular practice is still far away.

At the conference was told that there is a gap between legal provisions which prescribe jurisdiction of independent state institutions, and their effective implementation. This is visible when the provisions that guarantee independence of state institutions are used. In some countries, including Serbia, certain institutions remain beyond the reach of independent state institutions control.

It was also stated that independent institutions are more concerned with protecting the rights of the employees in the security sector, the protection of personal data, the balanced use of special investigative measures, anti-discrimination, and access to public information.

The experience of the Ombudsman and the Commissioner

In the second panel, which was moderated by the Chairman of the Board BCSP Miroslav Hadzic, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Rodoljub Sabic said the good news is that an increasing number of citizens are turning to independent institutions and that confirms the awareness of the citizens that they have certain rights, and the right to control government.

Sabic also said that good results are confirmed by the statistics, because there are thousands of people who turn to the Commissioner or the Ombudsman. There is as well a high percentage of successful interventions.

Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic pointed out that the role of individuals at the forefront of independent state institutions in strengthening democratic control and oversight the security sector is not insignificant, because despite the fact that these institutions have developed a lot in recent years, the impact of their work would have been called into question simply by placing the head of party members or individuals who have been discredited in public.

Regional Conference in the Balkan Hotel was attended by representatives of the international community, diplomats and researchers, national and regional media, as well as the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and independent state bodies.

Translated by BCSP intern Olga Vasic