The majority of young lesbians, homosexuals, and bisexuals from Montenegro, Albania and Bulgaria hide their sexual orientation at school because they are afraid that they might be exposed to violence because of it. Young people who belong to the LGBTI community are more often victims of abuse than other children, according to the report of the Council of Europe and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on violence to which young people are exposed in schools in 35 European countries due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. countries, including Montenegrin.
Violence in schools is, as they say, a global phenomenon. They add that every year, 246 million young people around the world are exposed to some form of violence in schools. The motives for abuse are different, and violence due to sexual orientation, gender identity... is just one of the categories. The Council of Europe and UNESCO research also states that high school students from the LGBTI community in all countries are more exposed to violence than other children. The Council of Europe and UNESCO remind us that according to a 2013 study by the non-governmental organization "Juventas", almost half of high school students showed resistance towards young people who are members of the LGBTIQ community.
Of the 1.599 high school students who participated in the survey at the time, 44,2 percent of them said that they would not hang out with someone they found out was an LGBT person. According to the results of the survey, it would be even more difficult for them to accept the fact that it is a member of their family (54 percent).
Almost 60 percent of children said that violent behavior, ridicule and humiliation are present in schools on a daily basis, about 17 percent of high school students confirm daily attacks, and 63 percent of young people said that they heard that other people were ridiculed, that they were exposed to insults, attacks and threats, just because they probably belong to the LGBT community. The same survey among high school students showed that about 24 percent of them believe that LGBT people should be helped to realize their rights, but about 42 percent of young people said that state institutions should work to suppress homosexuality.
They state that Montenegro is one of the 32 countries that participated in the research, in which discrimination based on sexual orientation is prohibited, as well as one of the 24 countries that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. They also remind that, through the Strategy for Improving the Quality of Life of LGBT Persons, Montenegro has adopted concrete measures to prevent and solve cases of violence based on sexual orientation. As an example of good practice, they cite the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montenegro, which in 2014 adopted a policy against discrimination of LGBT students and employees.
They also add that Montenegro is one of 21 countries where employees in education can further improve their skills in the field of sexual orientation and gender identity. They remind that the Ministry of Education, in cooperation with non-governmental organizations, provided training for teachers and school psychologists in 2013, but they also add that it is not known whether a similar practice continued later.
The Council of Europe and UNESCO recommend that schools continue to take measures in the future to respond to the violence that young people from the LBGT community are exposed to because of their sexual orientation. Among other things, they recommend that states consistently and systematically monitor this type of violence, adopt measures to effectively prevent and solve violence, and make curricula and programs such that they are based on equality and free from discrimination on all grounds
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