Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

Armed forces are an integral part of a democratic state and society. Their role is not merely to defend the state and its citizens against internal and external threats but also to protect and uphold the human rights and fundamental freedoms on which democratic societies are based.

As representatives of a state structure, armed forces personnel are bound to respect human rights and international humanitarian law in the exercise of their duties.

It follows that armed forces personnel, whether professional or conscripted, are entitled to the same rights and protections as all other persons, subject to certain limitations imposed by military life. Where the human rights and fundamental freedoms of members of the armed forces are protected within their institution, those individuals will be more likely to uphold these while carrying out their duties.

OSCE commitments on the armed forces

There are provisions for the protection of persons serving in the armed forces both in the OSCE human dimension commitments as well as in the OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security.

The Code of Conduct is a normative document that regulates the military and defence policies of OSCE participating States both in peacetime and in case of armed conflict. It is a unique instrument that has no counterpart within any other international organization and is binding on all participating States. It contains important provisions on internal regulations of the armed forces related to the protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of armed forces personnel.

The ODIHR's Human Rights and Armed Forces programme aims to assist participating States with the implementation of these commitments through a range of awareness-raising activities.

The existence of proper mechanisms to protect the rights of armed forces personnel should ultimately result in decreasing the number of human rights violations in the armed forces.