Geneva Centre for the
Democratic Control of Armed Forces
United Nations Development Programme
Security Sector Governance
and
Parliamentary Oversight
in the Arab Region
Beirut (Lebanon)
12-14 May 2006
SUMMARY REPORT
The UNDP Parliamentary Development Initiative in the Arab Region1 and the Geneva
Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) jointly organized a three-day
workshop under the title “Security Sector Governance2 and Parliamentary Oversight in
the Arab Region”. The some 50 participants included parliamentarians from Algeria,
Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine, as well as national, regional and
international security practitioners and experts. Parliamentary participation involved
primarily heads, deputy heads and members of committees dealing with defense and
security issues, finance, and foreign affairs.
1
A joint initiative of the Programme on Governance in the Arab Region (POGAR) and the Global
Programme for Parliamentary Strengthening (GPPS)
2
‘Security Sector’ refers not only to the armed forces, the police and the intelligence services, but also to the
constitutional and political institutions that should guide, control and oversee them.
The workshop was divided into 10 sessions. The three topical sessions on the first day
addressed basic issues in relation to parliamentary oversight: (1) analyzing the legal and
institutional framework of security sector governance; (2) defining the role and
functioning of parliamentary committees in security policy formulation, budgeting and
procurement; (3) understanding changes and challenges in security sector governance
in the Arab region. These topical sessions set the theme for the six following sessions
which discussed national practices, difficulties and challenges on a country basis. In the
last session, participants discussed possible action to strengthen the parliamentary role
in security sector governance in their respective countries.
During the three days of the workshop, security sector governance was discussed not
from a theoretical and normative point of view, but from a very practical perspective. The
objective of the workshop was, on the one hand, to provide a comparative overview of
the different roles Arab parliaments play in security sector governance, and on the other
hand, to compare these roles against best practice in emerging democracies in other
regions. The intended outcome of the workshop was to familiarize Arab parliamentarians
with different interpretations of parliamentary roles in overseeing activities of the defense
and security apparatus and to expand the range of tools and techniques they can
choose from in their own activities.
Workshop participants discussed very openly not only their own experiences and
challenges, but also the shortcomings and weaknesses that cause underperformance in
parliamentary oversight. As in many emerging democracies, parliaments and
parliamentary committees in Arab countries often lack expertise on security and defense
issues, undermining their oversight and decision-making functions. In several Arab
countries, where security sector governance is considered a prerogative of the executive,
parliamentarians struggle to play an effective oversight role, as they still have limited
access to information and lack the capacity to grasp the intricacies of security and
defense budgets. Parliamentarians showed acute awareness that Arab citizens seek
more and better security and that security decisions involve important trade-offs which
are too important to be left to government alone. Parliamentarians stressed the need to
place parliamentary oversight of the security apparatus in the wider context of political
reform in the Arab region. They also emphasized Arab citizen’s rights to enjoy security
alongside democracy, which would entail more transparency, accountability and
inclusiveness in the management of the defense and security sector.
Workshop participants invited DCAF and UNDP to set up a permanent network of
reform-minded parliamentarians that would facilitate the exchange of knowledge and
experiences, connect them with regional and international experts and provide technical
support and advisory services. They also suggested a series of concrete practical
measures that should help enhance parliamentary capabilities in initiating oversight
legislation, monitoring and controlling defense and security budgets, and organizing the
activities of various committees involved in oversight.
As a follow up to this first workshop, UNDP and DCAF plan to organize another
workshop in early 2007.