almanac on security sector oversight in the Western Balkans

Box 2: EC Progress report, 9 November 2010
“The Ombudsman’s activities are currently mainly related to the functioning of the
judiciary. The number of measures taken on his own initiative is low (below 2.3%)
and he is not sufficiently involved in improving the legal framework regulating
human rights. Despite recent improvements, awareness of the Ombudsman’s role
needs to be further strengthened, in particular at local level. Cooperation of the
Ombudsman with NGOs on monitoring respect of fundamental rights and freedoms
and improving the legal framework is still weak.”
“…The State Audit Institution (SAI) of Montenegro is making progress with institutional
reform, but does not yet fully comply with international standards. Montenegro
has established an Audit Authority (AA) for the control of EU funds, as a body
within the SAI. This jeopardises the operational independence of the SAI in exercising
its role as external auditor of the executive (of which the Audit Authority is a
part).” (European Commission, 2010, pp.24ff)
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3.3. Internal control mechanisms
Since the beginning of the transition period there has been noticeable progress in the
establishment of internal control mechanisms and executive control over state security
actors. More or less, all security providers have internal control mechanisms in place
and functioning. Their powers include the possibility to give recommendations and
suggest corrective measures. Still, it is questionable how effective and efficient these
bodies can be, considering the highly politicised and divided nature of Montenegrin
society. It is common for parts of state administrations to be divided according to pre-
or post-election agreement. 103 If misunderstandings occur between political parties, it
is the institutions disputed which suffer the consequences. This has happened on a few
occasions, notably over the internal controlling mechanism of the police. For example,
by the end of 2009, a dispute arose over whether the Unit for Internal Control of Police
should be organisationally placed within the Ministry of Interior or the police. The
lasting dispute caused the internal controls to be inoperable for a period of time. The
Law on Police was amended in December 2009, and the Unit for Internal Control met
all the conditions to function in February 2011. Such examples represent a significant
step backwards for the process of reform and an impediment for future progress.
A similar misunderstanding occurred between the Internal Control Unit (within the
Ministry of Interior, controlled by the SDP) and the Police Director (affiliated with the
DPS). According to Ministry of Interior officials, DPS refused to give the Internal Control
Unit access to a database of the police (Lakic, 2011). The deadlock was resolved
103 A pre-referendum division among those in favour of independence and those against it is still
visible in everyday political life and is reflected in all aspects of daily life. For example, the adoption
of the Montenegrin Constitution led to political deadlock over issues like the name of the language in
official use, etc.