On Monday July 6 the CTIVD welcomed the Council for Civilian Supervision (CCS) from North Macedonia. The CCS was established in February 2026 to handle complaints regarding the interception of communications. Throughout the day, several workshops and presentations were held on complaint handling by the CTIVD, complaint handling by the National Ombudsman, complaint handling by the MIVD, and the CTIVD’s oversight of the interception of communications.
The initiative for this meeting came from the DCAF Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance. DCAF is a foundation that supports governments and civil society organizations worldwide in making their security policies transparent, democratic and effective, and collaborates with, amongst others, the United Nations and the European Union.
International cooperation is important, as the AIVD and MIVD also cooperate internationally in various ways with intelligence and security services from other countries. These partnerships between intelligence and security services are becoming increasingly innovative and close-knit. However, there is no legal basis for the supervisory bodies to conduct joint investigations. It is, however, possible for supervisory bodies to maintain regular contact, and they are permitted to share information on, for example, developments concerning relevant legislation, oversight and operational management, as well as to share lessons learnt. This strengthens the oversight of the intelligence and security services and contributes to the fulfilment of the CTIVD’s mission, namely to safeguard the balance between national security and the protection of fundamental rights.
Image: © CTIVD