On 14 November, at the National Assembly House, a roundtable on ”The Democratic Oversight over the Use of Special Powers” was held, organised by the OSCE Mission to Serbia. Representatives of the Committee on Defence and Security and security services participated in its work.

Opening the roundtable, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr Oliver Dulic, emphasised that democracy is always put to the test and that establishing satisfactory relations between respecting human rights and ensuring security is one of the main challenges that Serbia’s young democracy faces. Speaking of the possibilities of overseeing the organs applying special measures, powers and authorisations in the name of security, Dulic deemed it necessary to educate the public who, according to him, should be the “fourth branch of government” and control the controller.

He reminded all present of the existence of a Committee on Defence and Security at the National Assembly, authorised to conduct civil control of police and security services’ activities and should efficiently control these organs so at to avoid bringing the rights and freedoms of the citizens into question, but not endanger the country’s security either. According to him, parliamentary control of the special powers and authorities wielded by the police and security services is not at an optimal level and activities strengthening the capacities of all Assembly Committees controlling the work of executive organs are yet to come.

In the introductory speech, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Hans Ola Urstad, said that combating organised crime must not be realised to the detriment of human rights and freedoms stressing that the security services in democratic societies must be under the control of civil authorities. In the recently published report, the European Commission noted an improvement in the civil control of security services in Serbia, but also warned that protection of personal data of the citizens must be ensured. OSCE supports the Serbian Assembly in its control of security services’ activities and establishing a dialogue with them, Urstad stated adding that the organisation supported the Draft Bill on Security Services that entered Assembly procedure.