The concept of democratic control over the armed forces is a guarantee for internal stability in the country and is a tool to keep the state accountable to its citizens and predictable of its actions.

The security sector itself (Ministry of Defence and law enforcement agencies), the National Assembly (Parliament), civil society - including the Human Rights Defender's (Ombudsman) institution, non-governmental organizations and the media - all have an important role to play in the democratic oversight over the security sector in Armenia.

Parliamentary oversight

As a participating State of the OSCE Armenia has assumed a number of commitments including the Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security, which grants wide possibilities to the Armenian legislature for scrutinizing the work of the Government in the security sector. Among other things it includes passing laws regulating the security services, organizing debates over the security policy documents, adopting budgetary allocations, and conducting investigations on defence matters.

In view of the above, the OSCE Office in Yerevan has come up with an initiative to strengthen the capacity of the Parliamentary Committee to exert an effective oversight over the defence-related sector. In October 2008 the Office signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Standing Committee on Defence, National Security and Internal Affairs of the Armenian National Assembly, which established the basis for co-operation and defined the scope of the Office’s support to the Parliament.

Based on the MoU the Office provides support to the National Assembly through facilitation of parliamentary hearings (e.g. on the draft evasion law, on police accountability), working meetings on regulating private security companies, recruitment into military service, visits to call up stations, military units, etc. The Office also provides legal experts and practitioners to help with drafting, reviewing and enforcing security-sector related legislation. A number of high-level security-related seminars, forums and training courses have been organized jointly with the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and local NGOs.

The Office plans to provide further assistance in strengthening the research capacities of the Parliament staff.

Civilian oversight

Public involvement in democratic oversight is crucial to ensure accountability and transparency across the security sector.

The Office supported the establishment of acoalition of three NGOs in February 2009, which monitored the call-up procedure by studying the whole process during one year, addressing legal issues as well as problems with implementation. The concluding document provided both data and analysis on the practice of military conscription that allowed civil society organizations, the Parliament and the Ombudsman’s Office to have detailed information of the actual state of affairs. The findings were further discussed at the working meeting on Civilian Control over the Recruitment into the Military Service in Armenia organized by the Parliamentary Committee in April 2010. The discussion also focused on the gaps and shortcomings observed during the monitoring and a set of recommendations that were put forward.

The Ombudsman’s role

Apart from assisting the civil society organizations the Office has been also focused on strengthening the capacity of the Human Right Defender’s Office (HDRO) in monitoring and encouraging the rule of law and the respect for human rights within the security sector.

In October 2008 the Office signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Human Rights Defender’s Office to identify the need to prepare a report on application of disciplinary sanctions in the army. In May 2009, the Office jointly with the Ombudsman’s Office presented the ad hoc report to the public. The report, the first of its kind, was prepared by a working group of experts provided by the Office and the Ombudsman and compared the current practices of applying disciplinary sanctions with international standards and obligations. The lack of recognition of the punitive character of the sanctions and the legal guarantees that should accompany their implementation, insufficient legal knowledge among commanding officers, as well as the high level of secrecy surrounding alleged violations were mentioned among the identified problems. Following a series of discussions facilitated by the Office a task force has been set up by the Minister of Defence entrusted with revising existing disciplinary regulations. The Office also plans to support the Human Rights Defender’s Office in conducting a survey on root causes of existing non statutory relations between the servicemen.

Promoting the Code of Conduct in the Armed Forces

The Office has held a series of workshops on the OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security for senior military staff of the Ministry of Defence and the members of the Standing Committee on Defence, National Security and Internal Affairs of the Armenian National Assembly.

In 2009 at the request of the Armenian Armed Forces the OSCE organized a roundtable discussion on the implementation of the commitments of the OSCE Code of Conduct. The event brought together civilian and military officials, representatives from the Ombudman’s Office, all other actors in the field to discuss the current problems and suggest solutions.

In September 2009 the Office facilitated the establishment of a co-ordination council under the auspices of the Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence, National Security and Internal Affairs consisting of NGO representatives specialized on security sector governance. This board serves now as an effective tool for the NGOs active in the field to address their concerns regarding the draft laws, to voice violations revealed throughout the permanent civilian monitoring over the security sector and to come up with concrete suggestions and initiatives to fill in the gaps existing in legislation. The main goal of the Council is to have all the efforts undertaken by civil society institutions in this field co-ordinated by the most appropriate oversight body, the National Assembly. This initiative aims to also increase the public confidence in the functioning of the Parliament.