Round Table on Democratic Control of Armed Forces: the Role of Parliament, Academia, and the Media
Publisher: Centar za Sigurnosne Studije (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Date: May - June 2002
Volume: 81 pages, pdf
Description
When we speak of the role of parliament in democratic control we must bear in mind that Bosnia and Herzegovina is a specific country. We have a parliamentary assembly at a state level, but also the entities have their own parliaments. The key factor is how to secure parliamentary control at a state level and with that to fulfil this important condition that has been placed before our state. With the Dayton Peace Agreement the armed forces fall within the competencies of the BiH Presidency and the entities, but the current practice has been that control has also been exercised by the entity parliaments and members of the Presidency through the Standing Committee on Military Matters. However, this is not an adequate solution, because the NATO Secretary General, George Robertson, was explicit towards the placing of conditions for BiH membership in the PfP, emphasising that parliamentary control of the armed forces at the state level is necessary.