We have been unpleasantly surprised that the Government of Montenegro prepared and adopted the Bill Law on Amendments to the Law on Agency for National Security (NSA), on today’s session, without a public debate.
The development of this bill law was not foreseen in the Government’s 2014 Agenda. During its preparation, there have been no consultations with non-governmental organisations. The public does not have the information who prepared this law — was it a ministry, as prescribed by the Law on State Administration, or the National Security Agency itself.
The bill was adopted without public debate, which is not a good practice, particularly bearing in mind the importance of this Law and the fact that the operations of security services are closely related to potential human rights violations.
It is obvious that the National Security Agency has a special status in the state administration system. Furthermore, even the preparation of legal regulations governing NSA’s operations has a special status, marked by unnecessary secrecy.
Unfortunately, the text of the bill is not available on the webpage which contains all other documents from today’s government session.
We expect the Parliamentary Committee for Defence and Security to make an effort and correct the omissions of the Government — organza a debate on the draft of this law that would include civil society organisations, those dealing with security issues, as well as those dealing with human rights protection.
Stevo MUK
President of the Managing Board
