Ombudsman Šućko Baković wants at all costs to present his inaction, lack of commitment to constitutional and legal functions and personal totalitarian beliefs as an alleged negative campaign and pressure on his work, LGBT Forum Progres announced.
It was previously announced from the LGBT Forum Progress that more than 20 members of the organization LGBTIQ Social Center submitted individual complaints to Baković due to allegations of discrimination in the Banja cafe in Podgorica.
The Institution of the Protector announced that an investigation has been initiated regarding alleged discrimination in the catering facility Banja in Podgorica, which, as they stated, will be conducted professionally and independently.
According to them, by submitting so many complaints of the same content, on the occasion of the same event from the same NGO, premature conclusion and public announcement in which the work of the institution is evaluated in a negative way in advance, there is pressure and the continuation of the organized hunt on the institution of the Protector.
The LGBT Forum said that they do not agree and do not accept the manipulations that, as they said, Baković is prone to.
"It is obvious that he wants at all costs to present his inaction, lack of commitment to constitutional and legal functions and unfortunately personal totalitarian beliefs as an alleged negative campaign and pressure on his work," the statement said. Forum Progres said that it is devastating that Baković, the Ombudsman of Montenegro, should be constantly reminded that his mandate is not to control citizens and civil society organizations that are engaged in improving the rights of those citizens, nor to evaluate their professionalism and expertise, but that he has mandate to protect the rights and freedoms of citizens, controlling the work of government bodies.
"LGBT Forum Progres continuously and with arguments pointed out numerous omissions in the work of the Protector. This was also confirmed in numerous other relevant reports that were created outside the influence of our organization. We have a fundamental and vital interest in the institution of the Protector being operational and effective," they pointed out. from that NGO.
As they stated, their attention is solely aimed at improving their commitment, strengthening capacity and discontinuity with earlier practices and inaction.
The Forum claims that the Ombudsman's statement is full of unnecessary and inaccurate statistics. "Complaints were submitted individually by 20 different people and not by one NGO, but that certainly does not change the essence".
"The bottom line is that the Ombudsperson was aware of the incident and did not react as and when it should have. We, at Forum Progres, will applaud Baković for every good move he made," they added in the statement, stating that there is no need to resent when it was argued continuously called out for inaction.
The Forum recalled the legal provision that stipulates that "If the complaint does not contain all the necessary information or is incomprehensible, the Protector may ask the applicant to supplement it within a certain period."
"We remind you that in your address to Forum Progress you did not use that provision of the Law. For almost a year now, the Ombudsperson has not acted on the complaints submitted by our organization, so knowing about the powers it has as a central institution when it comes to discrimination, our members are revolted by the passivity of this institution, decided to file complaints individually," the statement said
The Forum replied to Baković that it was not about "the continuation of an organized hunt", but about the rebellion of their members caused by the inaction of the Ombudsman.
The ombudsman determines whether guests were discriminated against in the "Banja" cafe
The Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro, Šućko Baković, initiated an investigation regarding alleged discrimination in the Banja hospitality facility in Podgorica, which, as they stated, will be conducted professionally and independently.
It was previously announced from the LGBT Forum Progres that more than 20 members of the organization LGBTIQ Social Center submitted individual complaints to Baković due to allegations of discrimination in the Banja cafe in Podgorica.
According to their statements, the staff of the cafe was instructed to make it impossible for citizens, mainly of Syria, who are asylum seekers in Montenegro to stay in this bar. The staff of the Spa denied those accusations.
The Ombudsperson's office said that 38 emails with the same content had been sent by the director of the Progress Forum, Stevan Milivojević, 12 people on behalf of the same non-governmental organization, three people on behalf of the LGBTIQ Social Center and one from Zdravko Cimbaljević.
"Analyzing the messages, which were marked as complaints due to discrimination, it was determined that there were 17 complaints with identical content, that they were sent from 17 email addresses," the announcement reads.
It is stated that they were sent twice from the same address, and one with Elmir Djokovic's signature six times.
"One complaint was sent by JP, which was previously forwarded to her by Stevan Milivojević, and signed by a third name. "No submission was made in the prescribed form of complaint, nor does it contain all the necessary data," the announcement specifies.
As they stated, this deficiency is not such that it cannot be corrected.
"More professionalism and expertise is expected from an NGO that deals with the protection and promotion of human rights and which was previously told what a complaint should contain in order for the Protector to act in accordance with the law," they said.
According to them, by submitting so many complaints of the same content, on the occasion of the same event from the same NGO, premature conclusion and public announcement in which the work of the institution is evaluated in a negative way in advance, there is pressure and the continuation of the organized hunt on the institution of the Protector.
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