almanac on security sector oversight in the Western Balkans

Macedonia
Even though the SAO issued several recommendations aimed to improve MoD work,
it has not followed up on these recommendations. 87 Once certain irregularities are
identified, the SAO has the right to address these by informing competent authorities,
including the prosecutor. The SAO submitted such a case to the prosecutor for some
irregularities identified in the 2006 final report for MoD. The prosecutor, however,
has not initiated proceedings because of (what the prosecutor’s office finds) lack of
evidence.
3.5. Ombudsman
The Ombudsman of the Republic of Macedonia is another control mechanism mandated
to oversee the Armed Forces. Because there is no specialised army ombudsman,
these tasks were included within the general competences of the Macedonian Ombudsman.
The annual reports of the Ombudsman reveal the number of complaints
regarding the Armed Forces is low, ranging between two to five complaints. 88 The
yearly reports also list complaints the Ombudsman has not acted upon. In most cases,
the Ombudsman has not initiated an investigation or has halted the ongoing one. 89
So far the Ombudsman has only acted upon one human rights complaint concerning
an Armed Forces member. He found elements suggesting torture and the prosecutor
initiated a criminal procedure against a high ranking army official. (Pirovska, 2011)
4 . Oversight and control – Police 90
The police have been scrutinised by domestic and international actors. Many reforms
have been launched to make the police more citizen-oriented, such as establishing
community policing, an initiative supported by the OSCE. Presence of police in daily
life and in sizeable numbers throughout the country has increased the likelihood
of human rights abuses. Increased accountability mechanisms have contributed to
greater scrutiny of police work. Despite increased involvement of the international
community in MoI work, which led to increased openness towards citizens, performance
of the oversight institutions does not necessarily show that MoI has performed
exceptionally well in improving transparency and accountability towards citizens and
state institutions.
87 Since 2009 the State Audit Office implements a new methodology which includes issuing follow-up
sections in all of their final audit reports on the status of the recommendations that were given to the
respective body the previous time when the audit was performed.
88 For a full list of the Ombudsperson’s annual reports please refer to the following link: http://www.
ombudsman.mk/ombudsman/MK/odnosi_so_javnost/godishni_izveshtai.aspx
89 Please refer to the section for the Ombudsman’s work with the police for an explanation about
why the Ombudsperson failed to initiate/complete these investigations. These to a great extent apply
for the Armed Forces as well.
90 For an analysis of the work of the Directorate for Security and Counterintelligence please refer to
the next section dealing with Intelligence Services.
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Almanac on Security Sector Oversight in the Western Balkans