Defence Committee
The office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces
As far as parliamentary control of the armed
forces is concerned, mention must also be made of the Parliamentary
Commissioner for the Armed Forces, who works closely with the
Defence Committee and regularly attends its deliberations. The
Parliamentary Commissioner assists the Bundestag in exercising
parliamentary control over the armed forces. The office of
Parliamentary Commissioner is enshrined in the constitution
(Article 45b of the Basic Law). The Parliamentary Commissioner's
tasks include, above all, protecting the basic rights of service
personnel and ensuring compliance in the armed forces with the
principles of Innere Führung (a concept of internal
leadership which seeks to combine the demands of the military
mission of the armed forces with the dignity and rights of service
personnel as citizens of a democratic state). As a rule, the
Parliamentary Commissioner acts on the basis of submissions
received from service personnel. He may, however, also take up a
matter on his own initiative. Finally, the plenary of the German
Bundestag or the Defence Committee may instruct the Parliamentary
Commissioner to look into a matter. Conversely, the Defence
Committee may decide to investigate a specific matter itself; any
further action by the Parliamentary Commissioner in this case is
then ruled out.
Quelle:
http://www.bundestag.de/htdocs_e/committees/a12/aufgaben/aufg07
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