NGO from Ulcinj: Dismiss the members of the Project Evaluation Commission due to violations during evaluation

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from Ulcinj called on the deputies to raise the issue of the functioning of the Fund for the Protection and Realization of Minority Rights and asked the Assembly to dismiss the members of the Project Evaluation Commission due to, as they stated, evident violations during project evaluation.

They reacted to the results of this year's competition of the Fund for the Protection and Realization of Minority Rights to support projects, stating that they were outraged by the "non-objective, incorrect, unprofessional and tendentious evaluation" of their projects.

"Discrimination against NGO projects and individuals from Ulcinj, as well as projects of Albanians in general, has become a common practice of the Fund for Minorities, but this time it was done in the most drastic way, going beyond all limits," the response states.

Representatives of the Ulcinj NGO sector asked the Board of Directors and Acting Director of the Fund Agron Ibrahimi to cancel the competition for this year.

"We ask the MPs from Ulcinj, the Albanian and other MPs in the Assembly to raise the issue of the functioning of the Fund, with special emphasis on the last competition, and from the Assembly to dismiss the members of the Project Evaluation Commission due to evident violations during the evaluation of projects, which happen continuously," he says. in the reaction of the NGO sector from Ulcinj.

They called on the prosecutor's office to initiate an investigation of the case and irregularities in the procedure for the allocation of financial resources at the Fund's public tenders.

"We demand an urgent meeting with the director of the Fund, from whom we ask for an official clarification according to which principle or instructions the administrative service of this institution is guided when it eliminates an NGO due to the lack of documents that are not issued by the competent authorities of Montenegro and are not available through official channels," the response states. .

From the NGO sector, they also requested a meeting with the president of the National Council of Albanians, as an institution that represents Albanians in Montenegro.

"We demand an amendment to the Rulebook on project evaluation, which would provide for the possibility of supplementing the documentation within the specified period, as provided for by the Law on Administrative Procedure and implemented by all other state institutions," says the reaction of Ulcinj NGOs.

They said that, as NGOs and individual applicants, they will take all legal steps to protect their rights and condemn the abuse of official positions.

In the reaction of the NGO sector from Ulcinj, it is stated that from the analysis of the competition results, it follows that only three projects of NGOs from Ulcinj were supported, and that, as they stated, with minor amounts.

According to them, some projects are not supported by even 20 percent of the requested amount, which makes their projects unfeasible.

As it is added, 21 projects (of which nine NGOs) were eliminated for technical reasons, with the explanation that they were eliminated due to a lack of documentation.

"NGOs Ulcinj note that in some of their projects, the project evaluation commission found non-existent irregularities, only to find a reason (excuse) for their elimination," says the response.

They added that the express evaluation of projects in less than ten days, after the competition had been open for 45 days, makes them suspicious.

"Because the project proposals of the applicants, especially those in the Albanian language, could not be translated or read in such a short interval", the response states.

According to the NGO sector from Ulcinj, favoring the projects of some individuals and NGOs testifies to double standards of assessment and raises suspicions of abuses.

"This becomes even more dangerous when, as the results of the last competition show, it somehow takes the form of national, linguistic and regional discrimination," says the response.

NGOs Ulcinj, as they pointed out, should not suffer the consequences of political non-engagement and the struggle for dominance in the Fund for Minorities, but are for cooperation with all municipal and state institutions for the purpose of general social interest.