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Report
DEMCON-SEE
Parliamentary Workshop
GOOD GOVERNANCE OF THE SECURITY AND DEFENCE SECTOR
Location: Hotel Holiday Inn
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Date: 11-12 April 2003
Organised by: The Centre for European Security Studies (CESS), The Netherlands
The Centre for Security Studies (CSS), Bosnia and Herzegovina
Assisted by: The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
Contents:
Summary 3
Project description 4
Organisation and management 6
Proceedings 7
Evaluation 14
Upcoming DEMCON-SEE workshops 15
ANNEXES:
I. The Programme 16
II. The List of Participants 19
Summary
The third DEMCON-SEE workshop in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was considered a successful event by the organising NGO’s and the participants alike. This can be concluded due to the big turnout of participants (75) and the often intensive discussions held after the presentations.
The main subjects discussed were the progression towards state level security and financial accountability in defence spending. Both topics deserve a lot of attention. The first because BiH wants to join the PfP programme of NATO and in order to be admitted to this form of Atlantic co-operation the establishment of a state-level defence organisation is a prerequisite. The later is also a topic that needs addressing in BiH since defence expenditure is extremely high in both entities and democratic control of the defence budget is insufficient up till now. Although defence expenditure is said to be almost a quarter of the budget in FBiH and RS it is still not enough to pay all wages. This leads to rising debts since the Ministries of Defence feel of course obliged to at least make sure personnel is being paid. This brings us to another topic that was extensively discussed namely the issue of downsizing. Although both entities have already made some progress in downsizing their armed forces there still needs a lot to be done to create appropriate, acceptable and foremost affordable armed forces.
The first presentation of the workshop of Gerhard Enver Schoembgens of the OHR laid out the basic elements of what was to come to the floor in later presentations and discussions. The Senior Deputy High Representative made very clear that although some reforms have been implemented it is now important to speed up the process. Especially the fact that democratic control is still insufficient and furthermore the confusing and difficult to control situation in which defence arrangements are dealt with at entity level need desperately to be restructured. In the end it was agreed on that ‘political will’ of the BiH politicians is the key to reforming. It is questionable if the political will does suffice.
Other speakers that aroused a thorough discussion were Deputy Minister Lidija Topic who expressed the view of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Zsolt Rabai from the NATO Office of Information and Press. Rabai tried to explain about the NATO-standards and about the possibilities of BiH entering the PfP. Slavisa Sucur who is an MP in the FBiH Parliament gave a presentation in which he told exactly what is lacking in the Defence Committee in of the FBiH Parliament. It became very clear that expertise on defence and security issues is shortcoming and that the budget is only scrutinised in very general terms. The approval of the budget is often a ‘rubber-stamp’ procedure due to lacking knowledge on defence budgets by the MPs and insufficient information received by parliament.
We can look back on a successful parliamentary workshop in which legislators from seven SEE countries had the opportunity to discuss and in where issues such as financial accountability, the notion of ‘political will’, downsizing of armed forces and strengthening of state-level institutions were investigated and discussed extensively.
Project description
DEMOCRATIC CONTROL: PARLIAMENT AND PARLIAMENTARY STAFF EDUCATION PROGRAMME FOR SOUTH EAST EUROPE
Context
The Centre for European Security Studies (CESS), located at Groningen in the Netherlands, is conducting a three-year Programme for the promotion of legislative oversight of the security sector in seven states of South-East Europe. These countries are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia-Montenegro.
The purpose of the undertaking is to contribute to democracy-building in individual countries, by providing elected representatives with some of the knowledge and skills they need to exercise effective oversight. The programme should also contribute to democracy-building across the region by facilitating exchanges on security-sector affairs among legislatures and other institutions.
The venture has been endorsed by Working Table I of the Stability Pact for South-East Europe. It was in the Pact's 2000 'quick start' package, in a cluster of proposals for work with parliamentarians.
Objective
The objective of the Democratic Control Programme is to provide South-East European parliamentarians and parliamentary staff with some of the knowledge, skills and tools to enable them to perform their role in holding governments accountable in the security area (broadly defined), and to do so effectively.
This is a function vital to the democratisation process and central to good governance. Furthermore parliaments can and should not only exercise oversight diligently. They should aspire to a pro-active role in prompting governments to make appropriate military provision (defence) and appropriate arrangements for internal security (policing), while also paying attention to matters vital to security in a broader sense (such as respect for minorities, freedom of the media, and promotion of a healthy civil society).
Method
The objective is being met by a sequence of intensive ‘national’ Workshops in each of the participating countries, spread over a two-year period; and two Regional Meetings the first of which was held in September 2001. The former feature instruction by experienced teachers, contributions by practitioners, numerous opportunities for discussion plus practical sessions. While stressing general principles at the outset, these Workshops address issues and problems, and identify necessary skills, at an early stage. There is country-specific emphasis in the agenda as appropriate. Interaction among legislators and staffs from the individual nations is ensured through some representation of the other participating countries at these events.
The parliamentarians invited to share this learning experience are drawn from across the political spectrum. While striving to cover a cross-section of the legislature, obviously representatives serving – or likely in future to serve – on security and defence committees are welcomed particularly as are staffers currently working – or likely in the future to be working – in support of such specialist commissions.
Management
Overall supervision of the Programme is provided by CESS's Directing Staff and Programme Managers. Co-operation on the programme is established with institutions from seven participating countries.
The local partner-institutes involved are the following:
· Albania: Centre on Parliamentary Studies (CPS), Tirana (formerly known as Study Center on Parliamentary and Democratic Practices (SCPDP).
· Bosnia-Herzegovina: Centre for Security Studies (CSS), Sarajevo
· Bulgaria: Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS), Sofia
· Croatia: Institute for International Relations (IMO), Zagreb
· Macedonia: Institute for Sociological, Political and Juridical Research (ISPJR), Skopje
· Romania: European Institute for Risk, Security and Communication Management (EURISC), Bucharest
· Serbia-Montenegro: Institute for European Studies (IES), Belgrade
Associate partner: Centre for Regional and Security Studies (CeRS), Podgorica
Moreover, CESS is working together with OCSE missions in some participating countries.
Organisation and management
The Centre for European Security Studies (CESS) and the Centre for Security Studies (CSS) have been co-operating successfully within the DEMCON-framework for almost two years and also this third workshop in Sarajevo was a success from an organisational point of view. Next to this the OSCE Mission to BiH also played a role in this by assisting us in advising on good speakers (and delivering some themselves) and sometimes urging us to address certain topics. The deviation of work between CESS (Sander Maathuis) and CSS (Denis Hadzovic) was as follows: CESS was responsible for drafting an agenda, inviting foreign speakers, making sure Members of Parliament from other SEE countries attended and overall co-ordination while CSS took care of the folder material, local travel arrangements, invited local speakers and the legislators from BiH. Especially this last task was rather time-consuming because the organisers wanted to have MP’s from the two entity-level parliaments as well as representatives from the state-level parliament.
Although it is difficult to interest the elected representatives from the Bosnian parliament due to the turbulent political circumstances at this time CSS succeeded in attracting fourteen members of different parliaments and political parties. Meanwhile CESS and the other NGO’s that are involved in DEMCON invited and confirmed the participation of seven MP’s from the region. Some DEMCON participating countries also send staff-members (Macedonia) or young talented politicians (Serbia and Montenegro). All in all both organisers were satisfied with the number of the principal target group that attended the workshop. Next to this numerous representatives of Ministries, NGO’s Universities and the media joined in.
The speakers were carefully selected and invited. The OSCE played an assisting role in advising on the right speaker for the right subject. Also CSS contributed by inviting experienced experts to speak or in for instance making sure that during the sessions on financial accountability (second day) the three newly established Audit Offices from BiH, FbiH and RS all send a high-ranking representative to explain about their institutions.
The event was organised in the Holiday Inn which was convenient since they have good conference facilities and are located near the centre. The diners in the evening were mostly organised in restaurants in the city-centre so to give people the chance to step out of the conference environment and discuss more informaly.
Proceedings
FRIDAY 11 APRIL 2003
Opening Words – Velimir Jukic, Chairman of the House of Peoples, Parliamentary Assembly of BiH
The Chairman of the House of Peoples gave a short presentation in which he mainly focussed on the reforms that need to be implemented in BiH to eventually integrate into Euro-Atlantic structures. He said that the parliaments should play a visible and important role in the reforms. As an example Jukic spoke about the issue of downsizing the armed forces in the FBiH and the RS. Soldiers and officers that lose there position in the armed forces should be re-integrated into society. It is the duty of parliament to make sure that the legislation is provided and that the projects that are designed by the executive to assist these individuals are scrutinised so to make sure that they are both affordable and efficient. Next to these remarks the Chairman welcomed all the participants for what he thought was an important workshop in which reforms and the role of parliament take a central position. In that light Jukic stated that training of the legislature in BiH is hugely important to improve the controlling skills of MP’s and should be further enhanced in the nearby future.
Setting Security Priorities for Bosnia and Herzegovina – Gerhard Enver Schroembgens, Senior Deputy High Representative, OHR
The Senior Deputy High Representative started his presentation by naming the five targets that the SCMM presented to the Peace Implementation Council in Brussels. In this regard, especially the targets of making BiH into a secure country where people can live in peace and the target of modernising the state so to become a full-fledged member of the European family stand out. Although, in the opinion of Schoembgens BiH has achieved a lot in reforms still an enormous task is ahead of BiH; reforms should be implemented faster to make BiH work. Also the speaker went into the scandal in which BiH breached UN Security Counsel Resolutions by trading weapons to Iraq. Issues like this damage BiH’s international reputation. If BiH wants to join NATO’s PfP it has to address issues like this carefully, but foremost reforms are necessary. In this sense Schoembgens mentioned three transformations that should take place before BiH can become a PfP-member: (i) The State-level institutions should be strengthened by for instance increasing the SCMM’s budget and personnel; (ii) improvement of State-level civilian command and control of BiH’s armed forces; and (iii) the restructuring of the armed forces through the Joint Military Commission. With regard to this last transformation the issues of downsizing and the destruction of surplus weapons should be addressed appropriately as soon as possible. In the end it is not the question of weather BiH wants to reform the security-sector but how fast this is done and how soon this has been completed.
To the great surprise of both organisers and the chair (Jos Boonstra, Programme Manager, CESS) there were almost no reactions or questions about this rather provoking presentation in which the Senior Deputy High Representative urged the MPs to do more and to be involved in reforms that are implemented faster. Only one MP reacted by stating that he thought the OHR could be even more rigorous in pushing the parliament (s) to make appropriate changes in the constitution and to reform the security-sector. Schoembgens was pleasantly surprised by this remark since he for the first time heard the criticism that the OHR is not pushing hard enough.
Briefing on the Security Policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Lidija Topic, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs gave an extensive overview on the latest developments in reforming the security structures. Most important in this sense is the strengthening of the SCMM. This State institution will get its own building and to enhance their independence the SCMM will have their own budget. Just like Shoembgens of the OHR, Topic was of the opinion that, although many reforms have been implemented the speed of the reforms has to be accelerated. More state-level institutions have to be set up, such as a military training centre. Also the Defence Law and the Law on the Army in the RS need to be harmonised to the laws of the State. A positive development is the creation of a Security Policy document. In the end the goal is Euro-Atlantic integration. This brought Topic to mention what Lord Robertson of NATO said the day before in Sarajevo. BiH should focus on three things namely, lowering defence expenditure, develop military training and arresting suspected war criminals. After she explained what is being done by the MFA in this respect Topic concluded by stressing the importance of civilian control over the military and stating that the BiH MFA is closely looking at other SEE countries that are further ahead in their integration into Euro-Atlantic Structures. Lessons learned by other countries are important for BiH.