Progress in social inclusion, protection and promotion of human rights of Roma and Egyptians is unsatisfactory, and the key problem still remains the unfavorable position of the Roma and Egyptian population", concluded the report on the implementation of the action plan of the social inclusion strategy of Roma and Egyptians for last year .
In that document, it is stated that progress is slow and difficult to see, despite a large number of educations and seminars on the topic of the fight against anti-Gypsyism and discrimination against Roma and Egyptians in order to suppress these phenomena.
Child, forced and arranged marriages, as well as domestic violence and begging are still a problem in the RE population, despite numerous activities to reduce these phenomena, the report concludes.
The Ministry of Human and Minority Rights states that projects in the field of culture are implemented without organization, long-term plan, strategic approach and a clearly defined program. They also remind that the exclusion of the RE community in political life is also recognized in the report of the European Commission.
"In the previous period, no amendments were made to the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament in order to define the census for political representatives of the RE population at 0,35 percent in order to ensure that, despite their number, the RE community is represented in the national parliament", it says in report.
One of the biggest challenges, according to the Ministry, is the lack of programs for housing care for socially vulnerable families.
"In addition, there are still a large number of unsafe, illegal and illegal settlements and facilities where citizens of the RE population live, and a large number of these settlements are without electricity, water and infrastructure," the document states.
The report also shows that, at all levels of education, the awareness of the importance of education among members of the RE population is insufficiently developed due to the poor socio-economic situation.
"Also, one of the challenges for competent institutions in the coming period is the insufficient knowledge and use of the official language, especially for students from the first to the third grade of elementary school. The challenge for greater participation of children from the RE population in preschool education is also the provision of regular transportation from the preschool institution to home and vice versa," the document says.
The Ministry states that the regulation of health care is related to the regulation of civil status and personal documents and that significant progress was made in solving these problems in the previous period. However, a certain number of men and women of the RE population still do not have regulated health care, and the most common case is pregnant women who are often in an unenviable situation during childbirth due to the fact that they are unable to pay the costs.
"Resolving the issue of civil status and personal documents is planned to be completed by the end of 2025. Although significant progress was made in the previous period, a certain number of citizens of the RE population still do not have a regulated civil status and do not have personal documents, that is, there are a certain number of stateless persons", the report states.
The Ministry recommended that, in order to reduce discrimination, a special program should be launched with the aim of educating officials, educators, young people and citizens of Montenegro, and that competent institutions should apply with the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) to the European Union in order to solve the problem related to housing.
They recommended the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation and local governments to provide transportation for children of the RE population of preschool age so that a greater number attend kindergartens...
The recommendation to the ministries of health and interior affairs is to find a solution so that pregnant women of the RE population do not face the problem of unregulated health care and payment of childbirth costs.
It is necessary, they claim, to provide more day care centers, that is, shelters for begging children.
Bonus video:
