ARMENIA AND DEMOCRATIC CONTROL OF THE ARMED FORCES ANALYSIS AND PERSPECTIVES "Views, comments and conclusions expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the OSCE or OSCE Office in Yerevan" ISBN 978-92-9235-886-0 Printed by “Asoghik” printing house FOREWORD The thematic unity of the articles collected in this publication is the OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security which is one of the main OSCE`s mechanisms to address global security challenges. Negotiated in the Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC) and adopted at the 1994 Budapest Summit, it still remains a unique document aimed at regulating the role of armed forces in democratic societies. The Code reiterates and deepens the main principles of the Helsinki Final Act developing the “rule of a game” between participating States, basically concerning the non-use of force. However, the Code furthers beyond the logic of the Helsinki Final Act defining important norms and “behavioral standards” of politico-military aspects at intra-state level. From perspective of democratic control over armed forces the sections VII and VIII explicitly describe commitments by participating States to develop a comprehensive mechanism of civilian control over their armed forces, including military, paramilitary and security forces, intelligence services and the police. Without effective democratic civilian control and governance of security sector institutions, there will be no substantial progress in terms of overall security, which will also have adverse influence on economic and human dimensions of security. Therefore democratic civilian control of armed forces, which logically implies inclusion of both conventional military forces and internal security services within a clearly defined constitutional and legal framework, is currently accepted as an important tool of conflict prevention and international confidence building. The Republic of Armenia as all the OSCE member states has full commitments on implementing the Code and OSCE Office in Yerevan is providing comprehensive support to the relevant authorities in overall security sector reforms. This publication is a result of a close cooperation between our Office and the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, particularly the National Strategic Research Centre after Drastamat Kanayan. I hope that the articles collected in this publication which are devoted to the history of the Code, Armenia’s and international experience in implementation of the Code`s provisions will raise practical interest among civil society, academicians and policy makers. Ambassador Sergey Kapinos Head of OSCE Office in Yerevan 3 FOREWORD OSCE Office in Yerevan implements its mission aimed at supporting in the establishment of democratic system of values and institutions and peace and stability in the region through multilateral cooperation with governmental and non-governmental structures. This publication is also a product of such cooperation. It became possible due to joint efforts of the OSCE Office in Yerevan and the RA MoD National Strategic Research Centre after Drastamat Kanayan. I believe that from the perspective of public administration principle and human rights priorities it is a quite valuable scientific-analytical material of public democratic control over the armed forces, which contains practical recommendations. This publication will really contribute to constructive cooperation between the OSCE Office in Yerevan and RA Ministry of Defence. H.S Kotanjan Major-General, Head of RA MoD National Strategic Research Centre after Drastamat Kanayan, Advisor to the Minister of Defence, Doctor of Political Sciences 4 Contents Negotiating the code: A Polish view(1996)....................................................................................6 Political Context of the Code: An Introduction...............................................................................6 The system of oversight and control over the defense sector management in the republic of armenia........................................................................................................................................13 1. Transparency and accountability as prerequisites for an effective control over the defense sector management, and their regulation by law.........................................................................14 1.1. Transparency and Accountability, Their Role and Significance ........................................14 1.1.1 Transparency ..............................................................................................................14 1.1.2 Accountability Before the Public ............................................................................19 1.2. Democratic Control Over the Armed Forces as a Means to Ensure Lawfulness: Stipulation by the RA Legislation ...................................................................................................22 2. Oversight bodies in the defense sector as a means to ensure lawfulness ..........................28 2.1. The RA MOD Military Police as a Means to Ensure Lawfulness .....................................28 2.2. The RA Military Prosecutor’s Office as a Means to Ensure Lawfulness..........................33 2.3. Internal System of Oversight over the Armed Forces Management.................................33 3. System of control over the defense sector management.....................................................35 3.1. The RA National Assembly as a Democratic Control Body ...............................................35 3.2. The RA Control Chamber as a Democratic Control Body..................................................39 3.3. The RA Judiciary as a Democratic Control Body ................................................................40 3.4. The Human Rights Defender as a Democratic Control Mechanism.................................41 3.5. Public Control as a Democratic Control Mechanism...........................................................43 Civil control of armed forces in US and its diffusion on post-communist region................................................................................................................................45 Civil control of armed forces in US .......................................................................................49 Introduction of civil control of armed forces in post communist region after cold war..........54 Some issues related to perfection of the ra defence sphere management system......................61 Financial control of the republic of armenia defense sector as an integral part of democratic control..........................................................................................................................................68 The republic of armenia human rights defender as an institute of civilian control over the armed forces................................................................................................................................72 Special civil service as a means of democratic control over the armed forces............................81 Issues of criminal liability for crimes against military service procedures in the republic of armenia........................................................................................................................................89 5 NEGOTIATING THE CODE: A POLISH VIEW (1996) ADAM KOBIERACKI 1 Note from the OiY: Irrespective of 15 years which have passed after publication of this article many ideas and considerations of its content are still valid in mid 90. There was ongoing process in the OSCE towards the creation of a security model for Europe for the 21st Century. It will be intellectually worth reading the content and context of this article in the framework of the ongoing discussion in the OSCE called the Corfu Process. The Office expresses its gratitude to the Author for the Copy Rights Grzegorz Michalski Politico – Military Officer 2009-2011 Political Context of the Code: An Introduction The Code of Conduct contains a set of principles, provisions, norms, and rules of responsible and cooperative behaviour in the field of security. Commitments embodied in the Code affect responsibilities of states towards each other and of governments towards their people. The very idea of the Code emerged at the Helsinki Follow-up Meeting in 1992 and was included in the mandate of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation established there. Depending on the perspective, there may be different explanations concerning the origins of this idea. First, the political context of the Code will be discussed. From the perspective of the EU, the Code was extremely important, representing the first comprehensive expression of a common foreign and security policy. Thus, the Code was viewed as a set of norms relating to European security and, first of all, its politico-military aspects. It was intended to reflect the EU’s role in and understanding of the European security system. These political and, to a certain extent, prestigious motives are probably the reason that the EU states felt so attached to their draft of the Code that it was almost impossible to persuade them to change any part of it. Therefore, though apparently it was not the only reason, time for compromise-oriented negotiating with the EU came only at the very last stage of the negotiations. One could add that internal mechanisms for consultation within the EU were only just being developed at that time, a fact which did