A group of non-governmental organizations announced that the amendments to the Law on Internal Affairs, which were adopted by the Parliament of Montenegro on September 4, 2024 at the proposal of the Government, are contrary to the GRECO recommendations for the fight against corruption and the recommendations of the UN Committee against Torture "because they introduce political control of the employment process and discriminatory criteria for the advancement of police officers, at the same time reducing the level of training required for advancement".
"We appeal to the authorities to abolish the controversial provisions of the Law on Internal Affairs, to ensure depoliticized employment through the Human Resources Administration and not to lower the mandatory level of training for police officers, but to increase it in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee against Torture. We appeal to the EU and international organizations that monitor the implementation of the rule of law in Montenegro to pay attention to these legal changes and, in accordance with their mandate, to influence the authorities to abandon them," states the statement signed by the Action for Human Rights (HRA), the Center for Democratic transition (CDT), Center for Civic Education (CGO), Center for Women's Rights (CŽP) and Juventas.
They recalled that the current Minister of the Interior, Danilo Šaranović, had already appointed a person convicted of abuse as his head of security and promoted him to examiner of the use of coercive measures.
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"Amendments to the Law on Internal Affairs now give the minister a free hand to staff, and bearing in mind such previous actions, it is not difficult to guess what it will look like and what consequences it will have for human rights, but also for the necessary professionalization of the police structure. By excluding the Administration for Human Rights nepotism and partitocracy are openly encouraged. Instead of an independent commission checking the knowledge, abilities, competences and skills of candidates for employment within the Police Administration and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the minister will now also educate the commission and prescribe the criteria that it will commission to apply. Also, the changes introduce 'extraordinary promotion', which allows politically eligible officials to advance according to a shortened procedure, without announcing a public call and additional knowledge and ability tests".
In the press release of the NGO group, it is written that all this is contrary to the GRECO recommendations for the fight against corruption in Montenegro, which require that all appointments in the police force be based on merit without undue political influence.
"New 'special employment procedure' (Art. 133a) it is carried out without public advertising and without a personnel plan, contrary to the provisions of the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees (Art. 10), which guarantee equal access to jobs for all citizens. Instead of transparent advertising through the Employment Office and the Human Resources Administration, public calls for jobs in the Police Directorate will be available exclusively on the website and notice board of the Ministry of the Interior (Art. 133a, paragraph 2). The changes also enable discrimination against persons who established an employment relationship with the title of 'policeman' in the regular procedure (from Article 152) this year or the previous year. These people will be able to advance only after five years from the date of establishment of the employment relationship (Art. 133 paragraph 3), which means 2028-2029. year, while those employed in a 'special procedure', according to changes in the law, will be able to advance after three years (Art. 133d paragraph 2), means in 2027, much earlier than their colleagues who are already working hard," it was announced.
Previously, as the announcement states, police officers could advance only if they spent two years in a certain position and underwent appropriate mandatory training.
"That process has now been shortened, so it only takes one year of work to get promoted (Art. 143). It may sound incredible, but the law now stipulates that training in the field of criminal techniques, handling of vulnerable categories of persons, handling of special purpose units, etc. is no longer required for promotion. (Art. 143 paragraph 3). This represents a serious danger for the protection of human rights in Montenegro, and is in complete contradiction with, for example, the request of the UN Committee against Torture from Montenegro to increase both basic and continuous mandatory training for police officers," the statement concludes.
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