Accountability, control and oversight of the private security sector were the main topics of the expert discussion held on 8-9 December in Belgrade. During the two-day discussions in a several separate working groups and sessions participants identified key elements of accountability of Private Security Companies (PSCs), which, according to the main assumption, should not be limited only to their responsibilities towards their various clients, but should extend towards the ...

Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) presents an interview with a member of the German Bundestag André Hahn which was led by BCSP Researcher Katarina Djokic.

BCSP Conference on the Oversight of Implementation of Special Investigative Measures was held with more than 60 participants, including representatives from the ruling political parties as well as opposition, security institutions, the media and experts.

Special measures for covert data collection infringe upon fundamental rights and therefore it is vital that they are implemented only under the circumstances defined by law. To this end, it is necessary to establish a comprehensive external oversight of implementation of special measures is. BCSP’s research team has now compiled a handbook to support that process.

After conducting a public competition, Belgrade Centre for Security Policy and Society Against Corruption have elected the members of the Group for strengthening civil oversight of public procurement in Serbian security sector (PRO-CURE).

BCSP researchers Katarina Djokic and Vladimir Erceg analyze the role of the Parliament in the oversight of those aspects of the security institutions’ work where the corruption risks are particularly prominent: budgeting and management of finance, public procurements, material resources management, human resources management, application of special procedures and measures for secret intelligence gathering.

General oversight mechanisms in Serbia and the need for internal and external oversight mechanisms for the police in specific were the topics on which BCSP researcher Maja Bjelos spoke at a side event during the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM), held on 24 September.

During the last couple of decades, civil society organisations have became actors in the security sector. Good governance of the security sector is not only effective exercise of the economic, political and administrative competences of government, but also requires the involvement of non-statutory actors in the control and oversight of state institutions.

There has been significant progress regarding security sector reform in the region, but there are still many challenges, such as: politicization, criminalization and not enough civilian control in practice - these are the conclusions of the round table that promoted "Almanac on Security Oversight in the Western Balkans".