Citizens in Uniform: Protecting Human Rights in the Armed Forces

"As 'citizens in uniform', armed forces personnel, whether they be conscripts or volunteers, are entitled to the same human rights and fundamental freedoms as any other citizen," says Ambassador Christian Strohal, Director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

"And when the human rights of soldiers are protected within their own national armed forces, they are more likely to respect the rights of others - soldiers and civilians - both during peacetime and armed conflict."

Setting higher standards

As part of its recently launched programme on human rights in the armed forces, the ODIHR and the Geneva-based Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) jointly organized a conference on the subject, which was hosted by the German Federal Ministry of Defence in Berlin in September.

Entitled Citizen in Uniform: Implementing Human Rights in the Armed Forces, the conference was the first in a planned series of events that will explore different approaches to ensuring the protection of human rights in the armed forces in OSCE participating States in order to develop higher common standards. Fifty-six participants from across the OSCE region attended the conference, including representatives from ministries of defence and foreign affairs, armed forces, parliamentarians, national human rights institutions, and international and non-governmental organizations.

Limits require laws

By its very nature, military life entails a certain curtailment of the liberties of armed forces personnel in order to maintain discipline and train effectively for the hardships of military action. Such restrictions should, however, be of an exceptional nature, provided for by law, and applied consistently in a manner strictly proportionate to the aim of the law. These restrictions should also comply with treaty obligations.

"In some armed forces, a lack of clarity over which rights can legitimately be curtailed, and the lack of a presumption in favour of upholding the rights and freedoms of military personnel means that those rights are sometimes abused within their own institutions," explains ODIHR human rights expert Nina Nordberg, who runs the programme.

"Typical forms of abuse include illegal punishments or a requirement to carry out non-military services. New recruits and those low down in the military hierarchy are particularly vulnerable, so it is important to ensure respect for basic rights all the way up the chain of command," she adds. The same logic can be applied when the armed forces are in action: they must carry out their military duties in line with certain international standards, whatever their rank.

In order to ensure better protection of rights, states need to integrate human rights into the "hardware" (constitution, laws, institutions and offices), as well as into the "software" (military training, culture, ethos), of their armed forces.

"Adopting laws, policies and, most importantly, a military mindset that underlines the integration between the armed forces and society helps to prevent the military from becoming a state within a state," points out Ambassador Theodor H. Winkler, Director of DCAF.

Improving leadership

Responsible leadership is one of the keys to preventing abuse within the armed forces. Leadership is about more than just rank and, especially in the military, requires wide-ranging skills. Not every officer may possess all the requisite skills, but these can be acquired through training. In particular, officers should be trained about the importance of the welfare of the individuals under their command, so as to develop in them a sense of justice, self-discipline and leadership by example.

One approach highlighted at the conference was the German concept of Innere Führung, or leadership development and civic education, which is based on the principle of human dignity, a fundamental ethical standard and training principle for armed forces personnel. The Innere Führung principle is binding on all military personnel and especially on superior officers, who should set examples of good behaviour for their subordinates.

Establishing independent protection bodies

"Clearly, there should be responsible leadership within the chain of command," says Ian Leigh, Professor of Law and Co-director of the Human Rights Centre at Durham University, who works extensively with the ODIHR on these issues.

"However, it is important to recognize that with some problems - bullying, for example - the main problem may very well lie with the individual's direct superior.

"It would therefore be very useful to have an independent complaints mechanism to deal with those kinds of issues. A highly effective way of doing this is to set up military ombudsman institutions to ensure that complaints from service personnel are dealt with by an impartial, independent expert body."

Such bodies could complement other important protection mechanisms, such as robust parliamentary oversight and independent and impartial judicial institutions.

The next roundtable in this series, to be held in Bucharest on 30-31 October 2006, will focus on another potential layer of protection: military unions and associations. The culmination of these meetings will be the publication by the ODIHR and DCAF of a handbook on human rights and fundamental freedoms in the armed forces during peacetime.

The handbook will present examples from within the OSCE region of how military structures can successfully integrate human rights and fundamental freedoms while at the same time taking into account the realities and necessities of defence and military security without compromising operational ability.