As in many emerging democracies, parliaments and parliamentary committees in the Arab countries often lack expertise on security and defense issues, undermining their oversight and decision-making functions. In several Arab parliaments, parliamentarians often struggle to play an effective oversight role as they have limited access to information or to the concerned officials, and lack the capacity to grasp the intricacies of security and defense budgets.

In partnership with the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), a working group composed of parliamentarians, researchers and representatives of the security sector apparatus was launched in May 2006 to review the current international and regional experiences in security sector reform. Particular attention was devoted to countries where the parliament plays a more influential role, mainly through sound legislation and effective oversight mechanisms based on the principles of democracy, transparency and accountability, and human rights.

This working group served as a forum for in-depth learning and information exchange, aiming at empowering the parliamentarians with the necessary knowledge and tools to enable them to participate more actively in parliament, both as individual MPs and as key members of the relevant parliamentary committees. A large selection of reading materials was made available to the participants and further research, tailored according to the specificities of the region, was produced throughout the process.