almanac on security sector oversight in the Western Balkans

meetings, regular exchange of information, consultations and so on. Although recently,
MPs have participated in trainings to become more familiar with security institutions
135 , they are still reluctant to use their powers. Currently, MPs are most interested
in the work of security services (as evident from field visits 136 ), but still there is no
annual work plan of the Committee, clear procedures for performing field visits and
reporting on them, procedures on organising hearings, or rules on submission of reports
and recommendations to parliament. Additionally, power, for the most part, is in
the hands of the executive and parliament is often used only for political legalisation
of decisions which were made earlier at the top level of parties. As a result, MPs of the
majority appear reluctant to question officials, making effective control and oversight
of the security sector difficult.
Box 2: The private security companies and state authorities with police-like powers
exempted from parliamentary control and oversight
Private security sector in Serbia remains outside parliamentary control and oversight.
A draft law to regulate this was presented to the public in 2010, but it does not contain
provisions obliging the police (or the Agency for Activities of Private Security)
to submit regular reports to a relevant committee on results of supervision of private
security companies (Petrovic et al, 2010, p.8). In addition, state authorities with
police-like powers (such as Customs Administration, Tax Police, and Administration
for Prevention of Money Laundering) are beyond parliamentary oversight. Consequently,
no one is charged with overseeing how and why they use those powers, and
the impact their operations have on constitutional rights.
190
3.3. Judicial oversight and control
Judicial oversight of the security sector is key for safeguarding the rule of law and
protection of individual liberties. It is even more critical when other, internal or cross
sector, 137 mechanisms of control and oversight fail or are inefficient. The judiciary must
be able to decide freely, impartially and in accordance with law. The current regulatory
framework mostly supports judicial independence, but its credibility will depend
on how the system plays out in practice. The biggest challenge faced by the judiciary
was the extraordinary general (re)election of judges in 2009.
135 Over the past few years, MPs and members of the professional staff of the Defence and
Security Committee participated in numerous seminars and trainings on control and oversight
of state actors in the security sector. Seminars and training sessions are usually organized by the
OSCE Mission to Serbia, USAID and the Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces
(DCAF), as well as by civil society organisations.
136 Members of the Defence and Security Committee, in past two years, performed two field visits to
security services during which they discussed ways of improving the “quality of oversight of the Defence
and Security Committee over the security services” with the representatives of these services (according
to the reports on the sessions of the Defence and Security Committees, available at: http://www.parlament.gov.rs/content/lat/aktivnosti/skupstinske_odbor_lista.asp?Id=43).
137 For example, control exercised by executive by the legislative or mixed bodies.