Parliamentary Military Commissioner of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Boško Šiljegović, Chairwoman of the Joint Commission for Defence and Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Minister of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Zekerijah Osmić, Deputy Parliamentary Military Commissioner of Germany, Mr. Fritz Günther as well as representatives  of the UNDP Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina had opening statements at the gathering.

During his presentation, member of the Committee, Mr. Obrad Mišo Stanišić, pointed out to the significance of the qualitative legal decisions as an obvious contribution for the protection of human rights. He emphasised that more than two years of implementation of the Law on Parliamentary Oversight in the field of security and defence, represented the good practice for the further development of the human rights protection system, both in the armed forces and security system, and the Committee would work on it with other subjects of our society in the following period.

“With qualitative parliamentary oversight of the armed forces, which includes the activities from budget planning up to oversight of the implementation of the planned, the legal work of the system is achieved as well as qualitative progress in the field of Euro Atlantic integration. In my opinion, in that way we strengthen integrity of each individual in that system, what narrows at the most the space for possible violation of human and other rights” Stanišić said.

In addition to the aforementioned, he emphasised that the Committee paid a special attention to the position of women in the security and defence system and to implementation of the Council of Europe Resolution on Security of the United Nation 1325. Furthermore, he invited regional parliaments, on occasion of adopting the legislative related to democratic oversight of the armed forces, in addition to their constitutional norms, to strongly call on the OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security.

During the presentation, MP Stanišić referred to good neighbourly relations of Montenegro with the regional countries, emphasising that the example of the successful regional cooperation in the defence field represented the joint departure of members of the VII contingent of Montenegrin Army and XXI Croatian Contingent in the United Nations peacekeeping mission ISAF in Afghanistan.

“I think that by the previous legal decision and our activities as well, we have clearly shown that there is a strong will of all political subjects in Montenegro, and readiness for all following steps regarding protection of human rights both in the armed forces system and defence system. Bearing in mind the Euro Atlantic integration processes where, according the assessments of relevant international subjects, Ministry of Defence and Army of Montenegro have done very well a big part of the job, we, as parliamentarians, have a task to fully respect domestic and international legislative in the field of defence and security, and to implement it successfully, i.e. with qualitative and continuous oversight to provide its implementation” Stanišić concluded.

Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms, Mr. Šućko Baković, spoke at the Conference, and he emphasised the importance of human rights protection in the defence and security system, as well as significance of mediation in the concerned system regarding individual and group complaints and appeals. .

In the continuation, representatives of the host countries Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia had presentations.

The gathering is organised by the Office of the Parliamentary Military Commissioner of Bosnia and Herzegovina in cooperation with the UNDP Office in Sarajevo, with the goal of the exchange of positive experiences and good practices in the protection of human rights and freedoms of armed forces of the participating countries.

The member of the Security and Defence Committee, Mr. Obrad Mišo Stanišić, and advisor to the Committee, Mr. Slaviša Šćekić, participated in the work of the Conference.