In this paper we will present the assumptions underlying the research conducted by the Centre for Civil-Military Relations team within the "Mapping and Monitoring Security Sector Reform in Serbia" project.

Private security companies (PSCs) in Serbia have been active since the early 1990s. PSCs fall under the category of non-state actors authorised to use force. It is estimated that these companies today employ between 20 and 60 thousand people in Serbia.

The changes in the military over the past eight years were strongly influenced by the political turmoil in Serbia, the post-conflict and post-authoritarian context in which the armed forces developed, and the lingering union with Montenegro. As a result it is hardly surprising that the approach of the ruling elites to the reform of the armed forces was driven by everyday political needs and interests.

Prisons should be ‘safe places’; there should be no riots and escapes, and should not be a places to plan or commit criminal offences. The situation in Serbia, however, does not meet these requirements, as will be shown below.

Since it emerged from the donor and academic communities in the 1990s, the concept of Security Sector Reform (SSR) has been through numerous transformations. SSR can be defined as "the process through which security sector actors adapt to the political and organizational demands of transformation." The aim of SSR is "the efficient and effective provision of state and human security within a framework of democratic governance."

Over the last eight years (2000-2008) we have seen important and positive changes in the security sector of the Republic of Serbia. Those changes are one of the main products of Serbia’s gradual, sometimes laborious, yet ongoing democratization and liberalisation.

There are three organisations in Serbia with these responsibilities; the Security-Information Agency (SIA), the Military Security Agency (MSA) and the Military Intelligence Agency (MoI). The SIA is directly subordinated to the government and has the status of a special republic organisation, while both the MSA and MoI are organisational units (administrative bodies) within the Ministry of Defence (MoD) subordinated to the defence minister, and thus also to the government.

In all previous studies of corruption in Serbian police the same risks were identified, and major one among them is politicization, BCSP Researcher Sasa Djordjevic said at the press conference in the Media Center.

Although during the last two years the state has done a lot to implement the National Action Plan for implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325, little has been done to involve the civil society in this process, the pioneer of engagement in this area – this was one of the conclusions of the first gathering of women peace organizations and state institutions responsible for the implementation of NAP 1325 representatives, initiated by BCSP.