“The issue of a military ombudsman in a country that has been at war for 10 years is overdue and overdue. There is no doubt that the military should have a representative of their rights and interests. But it is not only about rights, this issue is also political, because it demonstrates the attitude of the state to the million-strong army of defenders.ā, ā write: www.pravda.com.ua
The issue of a military ombudsman in a country that has been at war for 10 years is overdue and overdue. There is no doubt that the military should have a representative of their rights and interests. But it is not only about rights, this issue is also political, because it demonstrates the attitude of the state to the million-strong army of defenders. At first, the situation seems similar to the story with the Department of Veterans Affairs. All its functions can be performed by the Ministry of Social Policy, but the state creates a separate ministry, demonstrating a special attitude to veterans and the priority of veteran policy. The Ministry of Veterans Affairs does not duplicate anyone’s functions and has the authority to formulate and implement veteran policy.
Who now protects the rights of military personnelWith the protection of the rights of military personnel, the situation is somewhat more complicated than the case of the Ministry of Defense, since the legislation has already empowered a number of institutions to protect the rights and interests of military personnel. In particular, the Ministry of Defense, which includes the Central Department for the Protection of Servicemen’s Rights and the relevant Deputy Minister, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Commissioner for Human Rights, the Military Prosecutor’s Office and the relevant Deputy Prosecutor General, the Military Law and Order Service and commanders directly. In addition, there is a law “On social and legal protection of military personnel and members of their families” which defines the principles of state policy in this area and establishes a unified system of social and legal protection.
That is, we already have a de facto system of state institutions that must deal with the protection of the rights and interests of military personnel. So the key question is: how to integrate the military ombudsman into this system in the legal field, in order to avoid duplication of functions and for him to have real powers to fulfill the tasks set before him. Duplication of functions not only complicates work and creates corruption risks, but also burdens the budget, as the cost of performing a state function doubles, or even triples. For example, when the protection of the rights of servicemen will be handled simultaneously by three institutions – the Central Administration of the Ministry of Defense, the office of the Commissioner of the VRU for human rights and the office of the military ombudsman.
A position with a “portfolio” or without?However, a key factor in the effectiveness of a military ombudsman is authority. After all, he will have to interact not only with the Armed Forces, but also with other security and defense forces, with the Cabinet of Ministers, with the Parliament, etc. Therefore, as they say, the “portfolio of powers” matters.
For example, part of the violated rights of servicemen can be restored within the system of the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces, and other security and defense forces. But for this, the military ombudsman must be endowed with appropriate powers, which will give him the right to demand actions from the General Staff, units of the Ministry of Defense and other components of the security and defense forces. That is, the powers of the military ombudsman must definitely go beyond the Ministry of Defense, as they will extend to all power structures that fall under the law “On social and legal protection of servicemen and members of their families.”
Another group of violated rights will be restored with the help of law enforcement agencies and courts. Everything is simpler here. It is decided by representation.
But there are also such problems of protecting the rights of military personnel, the solution of which requires amendments to the legislation. Therefore, if the task of the state is to systematically approach the protection of the rights of our soldiers, then it is necessary to reduce the administrative distance between the military ombudsman and the Parliament as much as possible. Because even the initiatives of the ministries regarding changes to legislation, from writing a draft to voting in the session hall, require at least six months, if nothing else is to be done except promoting the draft law.
That is, the military ombudsman should be given real powers that will enable him to effectively and systematically protect the rights of our military. As an option, it can be a position with the status of the Cabinet of Ministers authorized for the rights of military personnel or another formula within the Cabinet that will make it possible to create a full-fledged institution with powers and staff.
Who will be the leader? The military ombudsman must be a universal platform for all directions and levels of work on the protection of the rights of military personnel. On the other hand, today it will be extremely difficult to implement, since the functions of the military ombudsman are partially already performed by other authorities. There are two ways out of this situation. Either take away from everyone the authority to protect the rights of servicemen and create a strong structure of the military ombudsman, or normalize the system of bodies and institutions that will deal with the protection of the rights of our soldiers, with a clear definition of the hierarchy and elimination of duplication of functions.
But in any case, the military ombudsman must have the authority to be able to implement the following tasks:
- assistance in restoring the violated rights of specific servicemen;
- identification and elimination of systemic deficiencies in legislation and practice in the sphere of implementation of the rights of military personnel;
- coordination of work to protect the rights of servicemen of all security and defense forces;
- formation of a culture of respect for the rights of military personnel both in military teams and in society;
- to generate new state approaches to the realization and protection of the rights of military personnel.
Without powerful powers, this institution, which is extremely important for the military, will not work, and the military ombudsman will turn into a wedding general.
Anna Painter