Human Rights of Armed Forces Personnel control.” In 2002, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal held that severe restrictions on the political activities of members of the Armed Forces were not unconstitutional.166 The Tribunal found that the challenged statutory provisions prohibiting membership of a political party conformed to the constitutional principles of the freedom of creating and functioning of political parties, proportionality, equality, freedom of association and equal access to the public service, as well as to Article 22 of the ICCPR and Articles 11 and 17 of the ECHR. The Tribunal stated that: “The neutrality of the armed forces in political matters (Art. 26.2 of the Constitution) has two aspects. Firstly, it means that the armed forces cannot be an autonomous entity within the state political structure, capable of influencing political decisions of state constitutional organs. This political neutrality is secured in particular through civil control, by subjecting the military to the constitutional organs of the republic. The second aspect of the neutrality of the armed forces is that they must be removed from the sphere 167 of direct influence of political parties.” Restrictions in Romania are another example of this approach (see Box 5.4). Box 5.4: Restrictions on the Armed Forces in Romania168 Constitution of Romania Article 40: (1) Citizens may freely associate into political parties, trade unions, employers’ associations and other forms of association. […] (10) […] active members of the Armed Forces [...] shall not join political parties. Article 37 (Right to be Elected): (1) Eligibility is granted to all citizens having the right to vote, who meet the requirements in Article 16(3), unless they are forbidden to join a political party, in accordance with Article 40(3). Law no. 80 of 1995 on the status of militaries: Article 28 forbids military cadres to exercise the following rights: a) to be part of political parties, formations or organizations or carry out propaganda by any means or other activities in the political parties’ favour or of an independent 86 166 Polish Constitutional Tribunal, Commissioner of Citizens Rights v. The State, 10 April 2002, Case No. K 26/00. 167 Based on an unofficial translation from the website of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, http://www. trybunal.gov.pl/eng/index.htm. 168 Response of Romania to the ODIHR-DCAF 2018 questionnaire.