(PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, NOVEMBER 24, 1997)
AREAS FOR DISCUSSION AT THE ROUND TABLE:
1. In relation to admission to NATO, where one of the basic conditions for membership is democratic control of armed forces, the present political representation states that the Czech Republic meets this condition. One of significant non-formal elements of the democratic control of the military are activities of non-governmental organizations. What proved positive so far in activities of non-governmental organizations, and which possibilities are still ahead?
2. What is the present role of the military department in a dialogue with non-governmental organizations? Does the military respect heterogeneity of non-governmental organizations; is it capable to respond to their controversies? Is not the present spectrum of non-governmental organizations cooperating with the military too narrow, and by that dependent upon the army to a certain extent? Does any potential exist for enlargement of non-governmental organizations spectrum that will enter into the process of the democratic control of the military, and won´t be at the same time dependent upon the army? Does the military department consider the non-governmental organizations to be the factor, which can contribute to overcoming still existing abstraction between the military and society? What are the military department possibilities for cooperation with non-governmental organizations in this field? To which extent the supposed admission to NATO influences the overall policy of the military department towards the non-governmental organizations?
3. Are the non-governmental organizations prepared at all to enter competently into the democratic control of the military process? Do they have a potential to communicate in a satisfactory manner about issues of the democratic control of the military and with its formal holders (President, government, Parliament), and to influence possibly some of their decisions in this field?
4. How do the hottest problems of the present army - social conditions of service and personnel management - reflect in activities of the non-governmental organizations? Are non-governmental organizations informed about these problems; does the army take into account contingent proposals in this field? Are the non-governmental organizations capable of effective entering into solutions of the mentioned problems? Does the military have any system for monitoring and use of possible initiatives?
5. Are the non-governmental organizations involving into the democratic control of the military capable of using experience of their foreign partners in its implementation? Is there any interest from the part of the military department in knowledge that has been gathered by non-governmental organizations?
OPENING ADDRESS OF THE PROJECT MANAGER
Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends,
I thank the Senator for his words and I would like to use this floor to thank again for a chance to hold the first major event of our Project in one of the most beautiful halls that exist in Prague, and on the grounds of the top legislative body of the Czech Republic.
The place of this panel discussion is perhaps a little bit symbolic - being held in a palace which had the famous military leader Waldstein built, and which then he lived in. Today, we´ll discuss the topic that is strongly connected with army and its life. This topic is certainly not less interesting also for society - and in particular for those of its representatives who realize the need for the army to be organic part of our democratic country. It is indisputable that just the civil control of the military is one of the most important elements, through which credibility of the army, its institutions and representatives is being formed within the society. We have witnessed on the daily basis that this is very complicated process, where either party has learned - both army and society. And just that was also one of the main impetus for developing the international project of the "Civil Control of the Military and Officers in Democratic Societies". The researchers of the Project are very glad that support was gained from the European Union in favour of this Project. We perceive this as recognition of the fact that in a process of accession to EU; also attention is paid to the civil control of the military. Also, that the army itself is interested in preparation of soldiers and civilians not only to enable them to orient in the field of the civil control of the military but also to be able to influence considerably and in a positive way the processes connected with it.
The importance of the Project consists also in its large international scale. It is necessary here to underline the place of our German partners who play in the Project the role of those who have extensive experience with the civil control of the military, and they want to share it with their Czech, Hungarian and Slovak colleagues.
We are well aware of the fact that the topic of today´s panel discussion, the "Civil Control of the Military and Non-profit Sector" is not frequently discussed, and possibly not so much mapped yet. But from the other side, this creates a vast room for the opening of this topic, and we believe that the place where it is to happen is just our today´s meeting.
Your participation and your activity within the panel discussion should also help achieve this goal. In the first part, the topic will be opened by politicians, scientists, and representatives of non-governmental organizations and military officials who engage for a long time in the civil control of the military. After the break, in the second part, a floor debate will be opened, and that will be a chance to present both your opinions and to direct your questions to the experts present.
Participants of the Round Table have agreed upon the fact that after November 1989 a great range of organizations with ambitions to implement the civil control of the military appeared. But in an initial period, they were not clear enough about what the civil control of the military represents itself. That was also the reason for a number of conflicts between the military and these organizations - the substance of these conflicts was also a certain mutual misunderstanding over mechanisms and procedures of the civil control of the military. At that time, also the "public enlightenment" campaign of MoD (led by Antonín Rašek, Deputy Defence Minister) had a great significance because thanks to it, it was clarified successfully what the civil control of the military in fact was, and what role should be played in this process by non-governmental organizations. Several non-governmental organizations then independently have formulated their objectives in a sphere of the civil control of the military - this applied first of all to the Association of the Military Revival, the Association of Soldiers and Youth, and after 1993, also to the Association of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of ACR. These objectives were based also on orientation of individual organizations and, of course, also on a membership structure. The discussion to this point related to the past and present common groundwork for entry of non-governmental organizations into the process of the civil control of the military:
- management of organization that understands what the issues of the civil control of the military are all about
- this management is capable of formulating the scope of the non-governmental organization´s engagement into the process of the civil control of the military based on its own activities ("own intellectual potential")
- evaluate these activities subsequently, and based on them, to present concrete proposals that can affect the level of the civil control of the military
- non-governmental organization must acquire support from legislative power for its activities
- non-governmental organizations have foreign contacts, which they can use in favour of the process of the civil control of the military.
So far, these areas are being in fact filled with concrete contents only by the Association of Commissioned and Warrant Officers (SDP ACR), and the Association of Soldiers and Youth (SVM). Attending representatives of these organizations have pointed out that very solid knowledge of objectives and mechanisms of the civil control of the military, and that also in relation to concrete activities of organizations, is the premise for qualified dialogue on the given issue with bodies of executive and legislative power. The chairman of SVM in this context recalled a "legendary" seminar on position and role of conscripts held with deputies of the Defence and Security Committee of the House of Deputies of Parliament in 1993, long-lasting effort of SVM for establishment of an institute of spokespersons of the conscripts, and realization of a project for limitation of social-pathological phenomena within the army. Among others, all this reflects also importance of the conscripts in the process of the civil control of the military. The chairman of the Association of Commissioned and Warrant Officers spoke also about analytic activity of the organization - SDP developed a material that analysed a situation in individual fields of military life from the view of a non-governmental organization. Also Ministry of Defence employed itself in this material, and in a number of cases the ministry accepted suggestions and ideas included in the material. Besides, it was evidently about the first such material from the level of any non-governmental organization.
The negative is that the process of the civil control of the military is not being joined so far enough or not at all by those non-governmental organizations, whose linkage to the military is not so close, for instance, due to their membership. This fact is given by two factors:
- the military still represents a certain taboo for many non-governmental organizations ("they don´t understand the army, and the army doesn´t understand them")
- the given situation is caused also by the fact that so far the standard civic society has not yet been formed in this country
- it is possible to see also some paradox arising from the fact that soldiers rather than civilians know more about the civil control of the military.
A good number of non-governmental organizations´ representatives attending the Round Table in this context opened a question, whether effective civil control of the military could be performed by an organization, which is, by its way, but dependent upon the ministry of defence - this is possibly also the case of the roof organization "Soldiers Together" established in 1996. In the given case, it could be generally accepted that just the independence of non-governmental organization (personnel, material, etc.) is very important prerequisite for credibility of the civil control of the military. Representatives of non-governmental organizations, which exercise not enough "close linkage" to the military, highly welcomed the fact that the Project included establishment of the "Documentary, Study and Consultation Centre", which could help orientate in issues of the civil control of the military just to this type of organizations. It can also help broaden a spectrum of non-governmental organizations that will enter the process of the civil control of the military.
The participants of the Round Table addressed co-participating high-ranking military officials with a question whether it would be possible to pay more attention to cooperation with non-governmental organizations within the defence department, just because of better use of their potential in explaining issues of the military and security policy, what no doubt falls into the field of the civil control of the military. Last but not least, it relates also to cooperation in solving questions of the social policy, education, etc. There was a criticism heard at the Round Table against the Ministry of Defence that this potential has not yet been used enough.
The Ministry of Defence was also called to pay more attention to issues of cooperation with non-governmental organizations -, as it is, for instance, in the main partner country of the Project - the Federal Republic of Germany. Its Federal Ministry of Defence considers cooperation with non-governmental organizations as one of the top areas in work of public relations sector. In this context, a comment was worded that the system of cooperation suffers a great fragmentation at MoD CR, what results in limitation of effectiveness of cooperation with non-governmental organizations.
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