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Manifestations of police corruption may be different and they are varying from those with less harmless consequences to those considered as criminal offences under the law. Successful prevention and suppression of corruption requires the establishment of police service control mechanisms and identification of corruption risks. In Serbia, the coherent system of internal oversight of the police is not functioning and this system together with the institutions for external oversight and control ensures that the police act according to the set rules and at the same time increases the accountability and integrity of police officers. This situation leads to increased opportunities for corruption. Consequently, the citizens’ confidence in the police is lower. Additionally, there is no clear list of corruption risks in the police. Therefore, the aim of the policy study is to fill this gap. First of all, the paper identifies the importance of external and internal oversight of the police in preventing and suppressing police corruption. Internal and external controllers play a significant role in eliminating corruption risks which are addressed in the second part of the paper based on typology of police corruption risks drafted by Transparency International. However, for a successful fight against police corruption it is necessary to eliminate deficiencies in the police internal control authorities and in external oversight institutions, which will be presented in the third and the fourth part of the paper. Finally, the paper presents guidelines for improving the fight against police corruption.
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Keywords: Law on Defence; Law on the Serbian Armed Forces
We have identified some positive trends as well as some missed opportunities and inadequacies concerning the latest provisions to amend the Laws on Defence and on the Serbian Armed Forces. The strengthening of the role of the Defence Inspectorate is certainly commendable. On the other hand, an opportunity has been missed to properly regulate the rights of defence sector unions and the relationship between the military and civil society. There is also room for improvement in provisions governing logistical support, documents pertaining transfers and also disciplinary offences. One of the goals of the forthcoming session of the National Assembly of Serbia will be the amendment of the Law on Defence (henceforth LD) and the Law on the Serbian Armed Forces (LSAF). Even though a new government is yet to be formed, the Ministry of Defence has organised a public consultation on draft amendments of the two laws. We hope to use this opportunity to present and discuss some significant changes the amendments will introduce but also to highlight provisions the legislature has failed to introduce in spite of several years of pressure from the expert community.
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Keywords: Defence Policy; White Paper (2008); National Security; NATO; EU
In August 2007, thirteen year after the publication of the last White Paper on Defence, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy set up a Committee whose mission was to draft a new White Paper on Defence and National Security. The goal of such a document is to define the objectives of French defence and security policies for the next years and structure the spending decisions. After a year of consultations the new White Paper on Defence and National Security was finally published on June 17th 2008. In a more unstable and unpredictable world than in 1994, many questions and events have become interlinked and put people in a situation of greater vulnerability while making borders between internal and external challenges fade away. The drastic acceleration of good, services, persons and information exchanges has changed the economic, social and political environment.
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Keywords: NATO; EU; defence; Military Spending Cuts
Since the beginning of the global economic crisis NATO and EU countries have been called to reassess (and significantly cut down) their defence spending. With the public debt and Eurozone crisis, and economic growth projected to stagnate, pressure on decision makers has increased. So far, their first course of action has been to consider layoffs and termination of contracts, programmes and operations, risking credibility of their forces. In this analysis we consider some of the measures implemented so far, and think of possible alternatives.
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Keywords: NATO’s Smart Defence; EU’s Pooling and Sharing; European Defence Cooperation
It is hardly rocket science, achieve more by pooling and sharing resources that are already available within many different parts of a complex system. To put it into a perspective, maximum utilization has been one of the mainstays of any production cycle since early days of organised human life. However, for two of the world premier security actors, this presents a daunting paradigm shift. Two ambitious initiatives – NATO’s Smart Defence (SD), and European Union’s Pooling and Sharing (P&S) now face same old issues that have kept European defence cooperation lagging behind other policies for years. Europe’s persistent inability – to live up to its ambitions when it comes to projection of power abroad – has been much lamented before. Strategic “disablers” of EU’s defence are well known. First, policy it is supposed to grow from is not supranational; it is highly dependent on accommodation of diverse and often conflicting national interests. Second, a genuine leap forward in defence capabilities would come at a price exceeding many of members’ abilities, now more than ever.
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Keywords: security sector; gender studies; police; military; Serbia; defence
Worldwide, the security sector is dominated by men, and Serbia is no exception to this. Recent times have seen some changes to this situation, with the quota system being among the factors responsible for this. Quotas are provisional measures which set a minimum proportion of women in security sector institutions. In the Serbian security sector, a quota system is used for the enrolment of women in police or military schools or in training for police or military jobs. Are quotas suitable for resolving the problem of inequality between women and men? Do they constrict or encourage the recruitment and promotion of women in traditional security institutions? Do they alter the prevailing perception of the role of women in the security sector, or do they reinforce existing preconceptions? This paper focusses primarily on analysing the way in which the quota system has been applied in the Serbian police and military. Based on this, recommendations are made for security and defence system institutions. In addition, the paper attempts to identify the origin of quotas and to outline the advantages and shortcomings of their application in the security sector.
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Keywords: prEUnup; the European Commision; international relations; migration policy; Human rights; regional issues; EU
“prEUnup” (ser. prEUgovor) is the first coalition of civil society organizations formed in order to monitor implementation of policies related to the Accession Negotiations between Serbia and EU, with an emphasis on Chapters 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security). “prEUnup” is formed on the initiative of Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) with the mission to propose measures to improve the condition in the fields relevant for the negotiation process. In doing so, the coalition aims to use the process of EU integration to help accomplish substantial progress in further democratization of Serbian society.
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Keywords: PrEUgovor; prEUnup; European Union; Serbia; international relations; EU integration
“prEUgovor” (Eng. prEUnup) is the first coalition of civil society organizations formed in order to monitor implementation of policies related to the Accession Negotiations between Serbia and EU, with an emphasis on Chapters 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security). PrEUgovor is formed on the initiative of Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) with the mission to propose measures to improve the condition in the fields relevant for the negotiation process. In doing so, the coalition aims to use the process of EU integration to help accomplish substantial progress in further democratization of Serbian society.The platform “prEUgovor” gathering seven expert organizations has been monitoring areas related to obligations contained in political criteria and chapters 23 and 24. Findings in these reports are a result of scrupulous monitoring of the progress made in these areas, both in terms of legislative changes and the implementation of adopted legislation. Political dynamics and reforms in Serbia in this reporting period were marked by elections and formation of new Government. Proclaimed political will to tackle the key issues needs to be followed by a strong impetus to build and strengthen institutions. The monitoring report which follows covers developments from September 2013 to April 2014 and its main aim is to draw attention to major concerns related to targeted areas. A number of newly introduced laws and strategies (Strategy for Reform of Judiciary, Anti-Corruption Strategy, Public Administration Strategy Reform, etc.) are just at the beginning of being implemented, and need to be followed by numerous laws and bylaws and significant capacity building measures for institutions in charge of implementation and their true effects remain to be seen. Drafting of Action plans for Chapters 23 and 24 of the negotiation with the EU is going to be particularly important. Revision of the already adopted action plans and setting of clear measurable indicators of success as well as benchmarks and substantive financial resources dedicated to implementation will be of a paramount importance for further progress to be made in these areas.
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Keywords: PrEUgovor; . prEUnup; European Union; Serbia; international relations; EU integrations
Over the past six months, the coalition PrEUgovor has been monitoring the state of play regarding the key policy areas in the process of Serbia’s accession to the EU. These areas include the political criteria and policies covered under chapters 23 and 24 of the European acquis in the negotiation process. The monitored period was marked by two key events: the release of Screening Reports for chapters 23 and 24 by the European Commission, and drafting of the Action Plans for these two chapters. Additionally, the Progress Report for Serbia for 2014 was released by the EC in October, so this report is envisaged as a commentary and an update to this document. This report presents concrete case studies, well researched and documented by the coalition’s members, in order to illustrate problems in the areas covered. Lastly, it also contains comments on the Action Plan draft for chapter 23. Generally, the progress in the areas covered by the PrEUgovor report can best be described as uneven and erratic. When it comes to normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo no progress was achieved, mostly due to elections and the inability to form the government in Pristina. Although there was change in legislation regarding civilian oversight of the security sector, the opportunity to systematically regulate this area was missed. The area of the fight against corruption witnessed partial progress with the adoption of new regulations, although the opportunity was missed to fulfil anti-corruption goals to a greater extent. In the area of the protection of women from gender-based violence, protection of children and protection of the victims of violence there was no further progress. In the migration and asylum policy areas no substantial progress was achieved. The same goes for the fight against human trafficking where there still exist numerous obstacles on the path towards full harmonization of domestic legal system with the European standards.
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Keywords: European Union; EU accession; Serbia; international relations
With a view to preparing the next meeting of the Accession Conference with Serbia, the Working Party on Enlargement and Countries Negotiating Accession to the EU has reached agreement on a draft European Union common position on Judiciary and fundamental rights. In this light, and in line with the internal arrangements for the negotiations with Serbia (doc. 17977/13), the Permanent Representatives' Committee is invited to adopt the common position as set out in the Annex. Following adoption by the Permanent Representatives' Committee, the EU common position will be made available to Serbia before the next meeting of the Accession Conference.
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Keywords: European Union; EU accession; Serbia; international relations
This position of the European Union is based on its general position for the Accession Conference with Serbia (CONF-RS 1/14), and is subject to the negotiating principles endorsed therein, in particular: any view expressed by either Serbia or the EU on a specific chapter of the negotiations will in no way prejudge the position which may be taken on other chapters; agreements reached in the course of negotiations on specific chapters, even partial ones, may not be considered as final until an overall agreement has been reached for all chapters; as well as to the requirements set out in points 23, 24, 28, 42, 43, 44 and 48 of the Negotiating Framework. The EU encourages Serbia to continue the process of alignment with the acquis and its effective implementation and enforcement, and in general to develop already before accession, policies and instruments as close as possible to those of the European Union. The EU notes that Serbia, in its negotiating position (CONF-RS 3/16) accepts the acquis under chapter 24 as in force on 1 January 2016 and that it will be ready to implement it by the date of its accession to the European Union.
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Keywords: Serbia; Egypt; security; security sector reform
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Keywords: Special investigative measures; security; Security Information Agency; BIA; Military Security Agency; MSA
Special investigative measures (SIM) are measures covertly applied by state institutions (foremost security institutions), which inherently constrict the degree to which citizens enjoy their constitutionally guaranteed rights. These fundamental traits of SIM mean that uncontrolled implementation may lead to undue violation of human rights, abuse of power, and it may unnecessarily cost taxpayers significant amounts of money. These risks are not purely “theoretical”. In recent years, there were several scandals in Serbia involving the use of SIM. In 2012 and 2013 the public was shaken by media reports of phone tapping of high state officials. In early 2014, former deputy head of the Police unit responsible for SIM implementation was arrested for having leaked information to an organised criminal group on measures implemented against its members. Apart from these scandals, there are also indications that SIM are amply implemented by institutions. For instance, one mobile operator reported that public institutions made 270,000 accesses to retained electronic data of its customers within one year.1 All of this suggests there is a need for strengthening external oversight, which is essential for increasing the accountability of state actors implementing SIM. Strengthening external oversight is also in the best interest of security institutions, as it helps demystify their work and enhance public trust towards these institutions.
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Keywords: Albania; civilian capacitites;
For more than two decades, Albania is building its own (civilian and military) capacities for the core state functions. Since 1996, it has contributed with military troops abroad, but there is no such contribution with civilian capacities so far. Capacity building (either military or civilian) in Albania looks better regulated vis-à-vis NATO, while concerning EU and UN there is no progress. Currently there are no plans in Albania for contributions with civilian capacities abroad, even though some of these capacities exist or are being created. They are mostly focused on strategic macroeconomic planning, security planning, health, education, human rights, law enforcement, etc. Being built anew they might be better suited (contextually seen) in helping conflict affected countries, which struggle to develop their own capacities. In this case, due to Albania’s limited resources, it is necessary to gain support from 3 rd party countries. Due to ethnic and cultural links, Albania’s contribution to Kosovo capacity development looks more feasible. In this case, working “shoulder to shoulder”, a term that has a strong emotional effect in population of both countries, can produce fast and tangible effects. Given the actual situation, it is necessary for the Government of Albania to take concrete actions in assessing the capacities in place and the ones which are more reasonable to be built, supported by the adequate implementation measures, with the right level of comprehensiveness, in partnership with private initiatives. Part of these efforts should be asking for support from third party countries/international institutions.
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Keywords: Civilian Capacities; Serbian; civilian peace operations
This policy brief provides an overview of the Serbia’s capacities to participate in civilian peace operations abroad. It analyzes the legislative framework that regulates international cooperation and contribution to peace operations of the Serbian defense forces and, based on interviews with representatives of state institutions, it identifies the key practical challenges these institutions are facing in order to create a more conducive environment for a more proactive civilian contribution. The roles of relevant stakeholders, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the Serbian Armed Forces and the Police are examined, including an initial overview of the untapped civilian resources from other branches of the Government. In addition to this, potential pools of experts for civilian mission are identified in the civil society sector and among the staff of the international organizations operating in Serbia. The main finding is that there is a vast, untapped potential in Serbia for a more proactive involvement of its civilian capacities1 in missions abroad; yet, the lack of clear foreign policy goals, coupled with the lack of initiative and coordinating efforts on the part of MoFA, impedes their adequate usage. Lastly, recommendations for increasing existing training capacities and establishing two potential rosters of experts are provided.
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Keywords: Croatia; Civil Capacities; civilian peace operations
This policy brief provides an overview of the current Croatian policies as well as a legal and institutional framework related to the deployment of civilians in peace mission and operations. It aims to explore the challenges and opportunities for the further development of an existing framework to support the current political interest for civilian capacities that exists in Croatia. Challenges in the mind set of decision and policy makers in understanding Croatia more as a security provider, rather than security receiver and questions to what extent, or how fast, the post-co nflict state may be transformed into an important player in the peace building arena, are discussed. The challenges are analysed through state implementation of international development cooperation as a foreign policy tool.
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Keywords: Serbia; Kosovo; public institutions; corruption
This overview is one of the outputs of the regional project “Western Balkans Security Barometer” (WBSB), led by the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS) in partnership with the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) in Serbia. Bearing in mind the complexities and the ongoing political dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia that could potentially lead to resolution, the project was initiated by launching the first regional survey targeting both countries. This edition of the WBSB presents the findings of this survey conducted simultaneously in Kosovo and Serbia in SeptemberOctober 2020. Both organisations, KCSS and BCSP, have published their respective country reports , in which data on the following issues: i) trust in security, justice, central and local institutions in Kosovo and Serbia, ii) frequency of respondents’ direct contact with principal security and justice institutions in Kosovo and Serbia, and iii) respondents’ perceptions on the pervasiveness of corruption in key institutions in Kosovo and Serbia, are analysed and quantitatively interpreted. This comparative policy brief is intended as an overview of the key findings of both country reports, and serves as a tool to compare Kosovar and Serbian respondents’ perceptions on public institutions. The key findings in terms of trust, perception of corruption and frequency of contact in public institutions by citizens of both countries respectively, are as follow: Overall, in Kosovo the security institutions seem to enjoy the highest levels of public trust followed by municipalities while in Serbia it is the central institutions followed by security institutions that resulted the most trusted.
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Keywords: PrEUgovor; prEUnup; European Union; Serbia; internatioanl relations; EU integration
This report contains the prEUgovor coalition’s assessment of the political criteria for the EU accession process and the fulfilment of criteria for selected policy areas from Chapters 23 and 24 for the period October 2018 – March 2019. The key finding is that recent developments can hardly be assessed as positive; moreover, it seems that the overall tendencies in the monitored fields show worrying and in some cases alarming signals. The government continued the practice of abuse of public resources during the election periods, while the executive and the ruling majority continuously deprived the Parliament of its legitimate functions. Another worrying fact is the increasing number of laws that are being passed by urgent procedure and in most cases without any public debate. These practices have led to an alarming consequence – namely, the opposition has left the Parliament. Besides the above, the authorities keep undermining the work of independent control institutions by systematically ignoring their recommendations. Once again, we have an atmosphere in which non-governmental organisations are declared enemies and traitors; they are left out of all the dialogues and are not welcome in the solving of social problems. At the same time, the government is creating its own NGOs (GONGOs). Relations with the neighbouring countries have deteriorated, while the people in Serbia are not provided with relevant information about the status of the solution to the issue of Kosovo. Moreover, they are often confused with contradictory statements made by key state officials. Not only is there no progress in the dialogue or bilateral relations, but the current narrative is actually more reminiscent of that which was used in the turbulent decades of the past than the constructive political dialogue of the 21st century. The fight against corruption is at a very low level, threatening to become a mere simulation that is activated only periodically so that the authorities can easily score some cheap political points. Furthermore, there is a real danger that the very same mechanism (Law on Investigation of Property Origin) could be used against the opposition. Also, there are enormous problems with the potential consequences of the proposed constitutional amendments related to the judiciary, as well as a series of laws that are about to enter parliamentary procedure. Generally speaking, the commitments made in the existing Action Plans for Chapters 23 and 24 are fulfilled inconsistently, while the deadlines are postponed on a regular basis. Well-known problems with the non-implementation of the existing acts and laws are still present. Having in mind the fact that two crucial EU issues to be addressed are the Rule of Law and the fight against corruption, lack of concrete results in these two areas is still a major alarming obstacle in Serbia’s process of integration. The majority of the key findings expressed in this report coincide with the lowered ratings that were given to Serbia by various international actors (Freedom House, for instance), thus confirming the alarming developments in the areas covered by Chapters 23 and 24.
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