Members of the Security and Defense Committee participated today in the Seminar “Priorities and Responsibilities in Fostering Police Integrity in Montenegro”, held in Podgorica.

In the introductory part of the event, participants were addressed by the Chairperson of the Committee Mevludin Nuhodžić who pointed out that building and developing police integrity, its promotion and exchange of experiences in this field represented an imperative at the present time, especially having in mind the specificity and the role of the security sector in every society, reform process that is actively taking place, and the context of European and Euro-Atlantic integration, and implementation of the planned activities in that terms.

Chairperson Nuhodžić pointed out that the Parliament of Montenegro and the Security and Defense Committee continued, in terms of their competence and powers, to be active in the field of co-ordination and directing the actions of the competent authorities and institutions in order to strengthen the transparency, accountability and improvement of established platforms for developing police integrity.  

“Respecting the rights and freedoms of all members of the security sector, i.e. building, both individual and institutional integrity, is the best prevention and guarantee for respecting the rights and freedoms of every citizen”, concluded Nuhodžić.

In addition to the Chairperson of the Committee, who was one of the speakers in the final discussion as well, the opening of the meeting was addressed by the Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro Ambassador Janina Hrebičkova, Minister of the Interior Raško Konjević, and Head of the Police Program in DCAF for South Eastern Europe Paulo Costa.

The seminar, among other things, was focused on strategic priorities for strengthening police integrity, operating mechanisms for its security, and the achievements and challenges in public oversight of police.

The topic "Importance of democratic oversight in fostering police integrity" was addressed by the member of the Security and DefenseCommittee Radivoje Nikčević, who emphasized that proper legal framework and mechanisms for parliamentary oversight need to be first established in order to provide full contribution to strengthening and preserving the police integrity, while promoting transparency and open dialogue about the problems and challenges in this field, and free access to information and current events in a given field.

MP Nikčević presented the experience of the Security and Defense Committee in respect of the established mechanisms of cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Police Administration, with special emphasis on the implementation of the Law on Parliamentary Oversight of Security and Defense Sector, and in the context of building, developing and maintaining the integrity in mentioned field.  

Seminar was organized by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, in cooperation with the Parliament of Montenegro, Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Institute "Alternativa".