Legislation related to participation of civilians in peacekeeping missions was in focus of the panel discussion “The capacity of Bosnia and Herzegovina for civilian participation in peacekeeping missions” held in Sarajevo on 12 May 2015. One of the speakers at the event was researcher from the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy Marko Milosevic. 

BCSP Researcher presented the legislation in Serbia, especially provisions of the Law on Military and the proposed amendments to the new Law on Police, as well as the bylaws which define the rights and obligations of participants in peacekeeping operations.

“Serbia legally enables the participation of civilians from the state government, as well as from private and nongovernmental sectors. So far, only the Ministry of Interior has its members in the three UN mission in Cyprus, Liberia and Haiti, “said Milosevic.

Secretary General of the Centre for Security Studies from Sarajevo Denis Hadzovic emphasized that it is necessary to look at the legislation in Bosnia and Hercegovina related to the referral of civilians, state officials, military and police in international peace missions. He reminded that the law has been in force since 2004 and stressed that, so far, only the military and police have participated in peacekeeping missions.

Gordan Bosanac from the Center for Peace Studies from Croatia, stressed that peace missions don’t necessarily invlove just soldiers, because, as today's security situations, as he pointed out, demand also engagement of civilians, people who are doctors, or experts in construction business, or protection of human rights.

The working part of the meeting was dedicated to reviewing the best practices in the region in terms of laws and regulations, and was attended by John Karlsrud from NUPI and Lisa Kirkengen from Norwegian Resource Bank for Democracy and Human Rights NORDEM. She presented the practice of “Roster” that is created and maintained within the organization. The meeting was attended also by representatives of the Expert Team of the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were presented with the working version of the “Road Map” for increasing the participation of civilians in peacekeeping operations.

Meeting in Sarajevo is organized in the framework of the research project “Building Civilian Capacities from the Western Balkans in Peace Support Operations”, which is financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.