In Montenegro, there are still obvious systematic violations of human rights, such as the violation of the right to an independent court, in the case of the authorities for offenses controlled by the government, or the right to a roof over the head of the poorest citizens, Human Rights Action (HRA) announced.
On the occasion of World Human Rights Day, Milan Radović, Coordinator of the Human Rights Program in the Civil Alliance (GA), expressed a similar position, saying that, although progress has been made compared to the previous period, the level of respect and protection is still not satisfactory.
The protector of human rights and freedoms, Šućko Baković, believes, however, that the violations are not systematic, but individual and group, and that the situation in this area is somewhat better than it was before.
He does not agree with the HRA's statement that the fact that minor offenses courts are part of the executive branch represents a systematic violation of human rights.
"Now a transitional solution is in effect and the authorities for misdemeanors are not courts, they are authorities that belong more to the administration. In the future, Montenegro will have to make a choice - either they will take away from the courts for misdemeanors the right to impose prison sentences, or they will leave that right to them. but in that case they must be arranged as part of the judiciary, whether special or regular courts. The European Convention on Human Rights states that such punishments can only be imposed by courts," Baković points out.
Right to the roof over your head
HRA reminded the authorities of their obligation to ensure respect for international human rights standards, which are bound by international treaties and the Constitution.
"Action for Human Rights specifically appeals to the government and local governments to pay attention to the poorest residents of Montenegro and their right to adequate housing, prescribed by Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. On this particularly cold day, we appeal to urgently provide shelters for the homeless and not to allow the creation of new homeless people through forced evictions, because the state, contrary to international obligations, is not able to provide them with the necessary accommodation", the statement of this non-governmental organization emphasizes.
According to the HRA, the law should regulate in the long term who is responsible for permanently ensuring the sustainability of shelters and who has the right to use them.
Baković believes that the state is doing what it can in this area, given the limited resources and the fact that there is still no law that would regulate this area.
"It is not known exactly how many homeless people there are, and I think that the first step in solving this problem is to create a record of these citizens, after which they could receive appropriate protection, in accordance with the state's capabilities. The main problem is that this area is not currently regulated by law ", said the ombudsman.
When asked about the most recent case, when the tenants of the former engineering school building, in mid-November, slept in the open for days, next to the campfire, Baković says that, as far as he knows, the Municipality of Podgorica helped these people, but that this kind of help cannot be a long-term solution to such problems.
"Now it is not known who is ineligible to help the homeless, from which means, which leads to a situation where various state bodies and local governments are silent or shift responsibility to each other, and citizens are left without help. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare is working on a law on social and child protection, and this is an opportunity to sort out these issues. It may not be realistic to ask the state to provide housing for everyone, but at least accommodation in reception centers should be provided for the vulnerable, or food, clothing, financial aid from which they would pay for housing," he believes. Baković.
Critical in prisons
"Although less and less, there are still cases of police abuse and inhuman treatment. In this area, slow investigations are still a concern. The Šoškić case, where the investigation only started in November this year after a four-year delay, showed what it means when the investigation is delayed. Namely. , the detention of suspected police officers was ordered on the grounds that they could influence witnesses and evidence. One can easily conclude the absurdity of such an explanation, bearing in mind that nothing was done to protect the evidence in the previous four years. It is also worrying that the large number of reports against the police officers was not prosecuted and that the sentences that were imposed are extremely low", Milan Radović believes.
Šućko Baković points out that progress has also been made in the area of treatment of persons deprived of their liberty, but that there is still a problem of overcrowding in the rooms for these citizens.
"Inadequate space for living, maintenance of hygiene, dining room in these facilities has a negative impact on the psyche of prisoners, and we have highlighted this in every previous report. The Ombudsperson has recently been part of the national mechanism for the prevention of torture, and now we can deal with prevention, we visit rooms where there could be persons deprived of their liberty, the police, a remand prison. In cooperation with experts, we will prepare a comprehensive report on the state of these facilities and submit it to the parliament. We will also examine the capacity of the staff working on resocialization, as well as the spatial capacities of food, hygiene, and health care for prisoners. ", Baković promised.
LGBT remains a vulnerable group
The Ombudsperson also mentioned the LGBT population as one of the vulnerable groups whose human rights are often threatened, whose position, however, he believes, has somewhat improved.
"We can talk about improvement in the sense that it is no longer a taboo topic. I think a positive atmosphere has been created to discuss this problem, but the position of these citizens is still far from good. The fact that so far only one person publicly declared as a member of the LGBT population," Baković pointed out, noting that positive progress in this area requires a change in the social climate.
Protection against discrimination is not yet at a satisfactory level, according to Milan Radović.
"Although progress has been made in the field of LGBT rights, members of this community suffer a high level of discrimination. Incidents often occur and institutions do not conduct effective investigations and procedures that would lead to effective sanctions for those responsible," said the coordinator of the Civil Alliance.
Vulnerable and addicted
On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, the non-governmental organization 4 Life sent an invitation to Prime Minister Milo Đukanović, Minister of Human and Minority Rights Dr. Suad Numanović and Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Predrag Bošković, MA to provide funds and establish a Center for the treatment of drug-addicted women.
In the letter, the Director of NGO 4 Life recalled that there is no place in Montenegro where women addicted to drugs can be treated, which represents, he stated, a gross violation of basic human rights and discrimination against women.
"In the world, this phenomenon is known as "custodial violence", that is, state violence against women. In this way, the Constitution of Montenegro is directly violated, which guarantees all citizens the right to health and social protection," Mijović explained.
He stated that data from their organization shows that a large number of women abuse drugs. The percentage of women out of the total number of addicts who sought help from that non-governmental organization is 17 percent.
"The fact that they are starting to use drugs at younger and younger ages is particularly worrying. Two girls who were treated at NGO 4 Life regularly used heroin in the eighth grade of elementary school," Mijović pointed out.
Corruption and crime took precedence
According to Milan Radović, issues of human rights are placed in the background, behind issues of corruption and organized crime, both by the international community and by domestic authorities.
"The fundamental problem is that the competent institutions do not provide urgent, independent and effective investigations, so it often happens that citizens give up or lose the motive for initiated procedures, while civil servants remain unpunished or receive minimal sanctions for human rights violations. Some institutions, such as the Ministry for minority rights, they still haven't completed their capacities, although in some of them less than 50 percent of the planned positions are employed. There is still a trend that minorities and not professionals are headed by human rights institutions," he says.
Radović points out that the freedom of expression is also threatened, while the respect for the right to peaceful assembly and association is still at a worrying level, and that the conditions for the free and independent work of journalists and the media have not yet been created.
"GA has registered cases of violation of the right to the protection of personal data and cases of abuse of this right in the exercise of others. Also, the rights of patients to privacy are violated and the police published the results of blood analysis of citizens. This area is waiting to be regulated and it is necessary to use all capacities in to that goal. There are still no significant activities to adjust access to public institutions for people with disabilities. National representation in state institutions and bodies is not yet adequate. Roma are especially vulnerable when it comes to this," Radović reminded of some other significant cases of human rights violations .
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