Security Sector Reform: Achievements and Prospects

Introductory Remarks

Serbia has gained additional chance for quicker reform of the security sector and its state apparatuses by becoming independent. Initial conditions for reform of the local security sector, to define the mission and the tasks of the army, police, security service and Serbian Para police forces according to the highest legal and democratic standards were created with passing of the Constitutional Draft. In accordance with this, the new Law needs to regulate the position and responsibility of the growing private security sector in Serbia. All this should result in standardizing of clear procedure and instruments for effective democratic civil control and public oversight over the security sector in Serbia.

The course and the scope of the security sector reform in Serbia is ultimately determined with the fact that society has to completely overcome inherited authoritarian system while at the same time remove not only the consequences but also the causes of the recent war conflict on the territories of the former Yugoslavia. In order to avoid becoming continuous prisoner of its real and constructed characteristics, Serbia has to step out its garden and look over the fence. This will (again) demonstrate that Serbia faces the similar obstacles that the inhabitants of the past real-socialist countries in Europe overcame on their course to reform the security sector. By examining the foreign experience, Serbia is getting a chance to avoid repeating their mistakes. Also this is the chance to confirm the successful solution that others have already confirmed in their practice. The finding of the Czech Republic experts can be of significant help. It is the responsibility of the local elites to resist temptations to import or to replant foreign and completed solutions into Serbia, as they don’t exist. Though they are neither less responsible to spare Serbia of immeasurable expense that occur by “reinventing the wheel”. For this to be possible they must have reliable knowledge of the security sector reform development in the countries alike.

Having this in mind, Centre for Civil Military Relations, the civil society organisation form Belgrade, has organised in the cooperation with and with the help of the Government of the Czech Republic and Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces, two day international conference on the 30th and the 31st of October in Belgrade under the name: “Reform of the Security Sector in Serbia – Achievements and Perspectives”. Statements and authorised discussions of the participants are gathered in the Collection of Papers, and the Centre has the honour to present it to domestic and foreign expert community. The texts in this collection of papers are grouped in six chapters: reform of the Serbian military, police reform, reform of the security – intelligence services, reform of the Para police forces, reform of the security sector, and Euro-Atlantic integration of Serbia and public presentation of the collection of papers under the name of “The Public and the Military”. It was our intention that within each of the mentioned topics there is a perspective of the government representative, independent experts and foreign experts.

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