The international non-governmental organization Amnesty International (AI) announced report on the state of human rights in 154 countries of the world, in which it is emphasized that impunity for crimes under international law and attacks on journalists is still present in Montenegro.
Misogynist hate speech is on the rise, while ethnic divisions and religious intolerance have deepened, and the government has failed to implement the promised reforms, AI emphasized.
The report states that the "unstable multi-ethnic" coalition government has begun to address problems of the past, "such as political control of the police, prosecution and judiciary and complicity in organized crime."
The right to truth, justice and reparation
Amnesty states that Human Rights Action (HRA) called on the new Supreme State Prosecutor to review the unchanged 2015 War Crimes Strategy and adopt measures to end impunity.
"Investigations were opened in one case, transferred from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The verdict remained pending after the European Court of Human Rights concluded its review of Montenegro's failure to provide justice to the relatives of Bosniak refugees who were transferred by the Montenegrin police to Bosnian Serb forces in 1992 and who were then killed. The Minister of Justice and Human Rights was dismissed in June for refusing to accept the government's resolution recognizing the genocide in Srebrenica," the report said.
Torture and other forms of abuse
"The European Court awarded 7.500 euros each to Momčil Baranin and Branimir Vukčević, finding that the abuse by the police during the anti-government protests in October 2015 was not effectively investigated. However, the European Court rejected Milorad Martinović's complaint because Montenegro prosecuted two police officers and determined the compensation. On the video, you could see Martinović being attacked by about 20 unidentified policemen. In July, masked and without visible identification policemen harassed one person again," the IA added.
Freedom of speech
In the report, Amnesty recalled that in April, the police and prosecutors participated for the first time in the work of the Commission for Monitoring Cases of Violence Against Journalists. "In December, the Assembly adopted amendments to the Criminal Code that strengthen the protection of journalists and media workers. Twenty-five journalists reported physical or verbal attacks, including death threats."
Freedom of religion and belief
The IA also states that in September 2021, "supporters of the former government and other persons" tried to prevent the enthronement of the "new head of the Serbian Orthodox Church", and that the police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Gender-based violence
"In April (last year), NGOs called for a law on sexual harassment after misogynistic hate speech was directed at the health minister, politicians and other women. Domestic violence, attributed to the pandemic, has continued to rise. Several prosecutions have taken place, and the capacity of the shelter remained inadequate," the IA added.
Discrimination
In June 2021, they remind, the Council of Europe warned of growing ethnic divisions.
"Montenegros and Serbs were prosecuted for spreading inter-ethnic hatred. Albanians and Bosniaks claimed that the anti-covid measures of closing cafes in Tuzi were discriminatory. In November, Bosniak activist Sabina Talović was injured in a racially motivated attack. About 30 percent of Roma and Egyptians living in Podgorica are not received social and economic assistance related to covid. Bijelo Polje Municipality failed to provide adequate alternative accommodation for 26 Roma families before the road widening, but instead offered inadequate monetary compensation for relocation. Authorities failed to help Roma and undocumented Egyptians at risk from statelessness."
LGBTI rights
Amnesty also reminds that in March 2021, two women were the first of five couples to enter into a life partnership under the new law. "In March, unknown assailants attacked a transgender person from the LGBT Forum Progres and seriously injured her," the report concluded.
Stifling independent and critical voices across Europe
The report points out that in many parts of Europe, independent and critical voices have been stifled - while human rights defenders, non-governmental organizations, the media and opposition leaders have been the targets of illegal arrest and detention.
The authorities in Poland, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey continued, it is pointed out, to undermine the independence of the judiciary, weakening the important control of the executive branch.
In Russia, Belarus and a number of other countries, the authorities have introduced various restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, warns AI.
It is also added that journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia faced hundreds of defamation lawsuits, which were often brought against them by politicians, and that Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia encroached on the independence and pluralism of public broadcasting services.
"Turkey is still the country where the largest number of journalists are detained," the report on human rights stated.
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