The armed forces are far less open to democratic and public scrutiny than almost any other major institution, writes Symon Hill ; while Clive Barrett remembers the first world war’s conscientious objectors

It is welcome news that a growing number of MPs are calling for forces such as the SAS to be subject to parliamentary oversight (Special forces need to face scrutiny from parliament, say MPs, theguardian.com, 24 April). However, lack of scrutiny is not only a problem affecting “special forces”. The rest of the armed forces, while theoretically subject to parliamentary oversight, are far less open to democratic and public scrutiny than almost any other major institution.

The armed forces are the only organisations in the UK that are allowed to maintain their own police forces and to run their own criminal trials in their own courts. Only last month, a trial of 16 army instructors accused of abusing teenage boys collapsed because of the way the military police had handled the investigation: they admitted in court that they had made no arrests until two years after the allegations were made to them. Shortly afterwards, the Ministry of Defence largely ignored questions relating to the Guardian’s revelation that 16- and 17-year-old recruits at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate had made 50 allegations of mistreatment by instructors over a four-year period.

The culture of “support our boys” means that politicians are frightened of being seen to be even mildly critical of the armed forces. Recent developments such as the introduction of Armed Forces Day in 2009 and the doubling of state school cadet forces since 2012 have contributed to a culture of everyday militarism which is not healthy for a democracy in which public institutions must be open to criticism. Given that the armed forces are among the few institutions legally allowed to engage in violence and exempt from a raft of employment laws, they should be subject to more public scrutiny than other institutions, not less.

Symon Hill

Coordinator, Peace Pledge Union

• Your photograph of marching soldiers from Catterick Garrison (Company ... at ease!, 26 April) is significant for the building pictured in the background. Alongside the medieval keep of Richmond Castle was the cell block which housed imprisoned conscientious objectors in the first world war. Those who refused to submit to war fever 100 years ago, and ever since, need remembering and honouring too.

Clive Barrett

Chair, The Peace Museum, Bradford

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