The approach enshrined in the Code of Conduct can be summarized as the “citizen in uniform” approach, according to which members of the armed forces retain their human rights and fundamental freedoms, but these are subject to certain limitations and duties imposed by military service. Though the OSCE participating States agree that armed forces personnel are entitled to enjoy universal human rights, the understanding of the concept of citizens in uniform is likely to vary from country to country, depending on its particular history, military culture, a possible recent transition from authoritarian rule to democracy, as well as experiences with war and conflict.3 For these reasons, there is no single model for protecting the human rights of armed forces personnel. Therefore, the emphasis of this handbook is on putting forward various models and best practices that can be found in participating States on how armed forces have successfully integrated human rights. Scope Human rights In this handbook, human rights are clustered into four groups: (1) civil and political rights; (2) rights related to equal opportunities and non-discrimination in the armed forces; (3) rights related to military life; and (4) procedural rights related to implementing and ensuring human rights in the barracks. While these rights are further elaborated in Chapter 5, they are addressed in each chapter with respect to issues at stake, relevant rights, policies, and specific recommendations about how to ensure that human rights are respected. Each chapter also contains several boxes that illustrate the laws, policies, and practices found in participating States. The handbook focuses specifically on the internal aspects of human rights and fundamental freedoms of armed forces personnel. It does not include external aspects, which are here understood as respect for human rights by armed forces personnel in the execution of their operations. Therefore, the impact of the conduct of armed forces personnel on civilians remains outside the scope of this handbook. Armed forces Though the OSCE Code of Conduct refers in its provisions to “military, paramilitary and security forces” (e.g., in para. 32), this handbook focuses on members of the armed forces. The reason for this is that “military, paramilitary and security forces” can quite easily be interpreted as including all elements of a state’s security sector, including the military, police, border guards, paramilitary forces, private security and military companies, internal security services, as well as foreign and military intelligence services. As these services have very different mandates, different operational procedures, and different legal regimes, the handbook has been limited to consideration of armed forces proper. While individuals do not lose their human rights when they enter the armed forces, states can limit their enjoyment of human rights due to requirements related to the particular characteristics of military life. The particularities of military life that are used to justify restrictions on the exercise of human rights in the barracks are often related to preserving order and discipline in the military; establishing the political neutrality of the armed forces; maintaining operational effectiveness; protecting classified information; obeying orders; and maintaining the hierarchical structure of the military organization. How and to what extent — if at all — these characteristics constitute a justification for restricting the enjoyment of human rights is one of the main issues discussed throughout the handbook. 3  Peter Rowe, paper presented at the conference “Citizen in Uniform: Implementing Human Rights in the Armed Forces”, jointly organized by DCAF, ODIHR, and the German Defence Ministry, Berlin, 7-8 September 2006. 18 Handbook on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Armed Forces Personnel