Euromost: Provide an allowance for children from socially disadvantaged families

NGOs from the north of Montenegro and citizens' associations from Nikšić launched a petition in Bijelo Polje, Rožaje and Nikšić, requesting that the Parliament of Montenegro amend the Law on Social and Child Protection.

As announced by the NGO Euromost, the initiative will be submitted to the Parliament of Montenegro, all parliamentary clubs in the Parliament, the Parliamentary Committee for Health, Labor and Social Welfare and the Government of Montenegro.

"Through the initiative, we will request that children attending primary and secondary school be granted child allowance, if their parents do not receive any social and material benefits and are on the register of unemployed persons at the Employment Office of Montenegro. We must emphasize that once upon a time, every child in Montenegro, regardless of whether their parents received social or material security, received child allowance, which was abolished over time without explanation, even though the Constitution of Montenegro guarantees care and education to every child," reads the statement of the NGO Euromost. .

They state that today we have a situation where thousands of children in Montenegro are economically threatened, whose parents have no opportunity to take care of them or to educate them, because they are without work and the opportunity to get a job, which forced them to seek salvation for their children by leaving our country and going to EU countries seeking asylum for themselves and their children.

"Through data collected by NGOs, there is a large number of children in Montenegro who attend primary and secondary school whose parents are unemployed, and who are not beneficiaries of social or material security and are on the register for unemployed persons. According to the same data, that number is the largest in municipalities in the north of Montenegro, as well as in Nikšić. In the event that such a proposal is adopted through the amendment of the law on child protection, in addition to helping parents who are unemployed to educate their children, we will contribute to more children being enrolled in schools by their parents in the future," it added.

The NGO Euromost expects the Parliamentary Committee for Health, Labor and Social Welfare to consider this initiative at the first meeting of this committee, vote on it and forward it to the Parliament of Montenegro for a vote.

"We expect parliamentary clubs and representatives in the Parliament of Montenegro to support our initiative, which is founded and which is based on the rights guaranteed by the Constitution to all children, especially children who are deprived of their education, because their parents are unemployed and without the opportunity to get a job, which is why they are at the employment office."