Despite the promise, the Government did not put the proposal of the Law on legal recognition of gender identity on the basis of self-determination on the agenda in mid-December. After eight years of work, the law is completely ready. It was expected to be adopted by the end of last year in the Parliament of Montenegro.
Among other things, the law was supposed to enable transgender people to legally change their gender designation and unique identification number in documents without the need for surgery and sterilization, which is currently a prerequisite for this.
"This practice of inhumane treatment is a direct violation of the rights of transgender people, and in addition to being inhumane and humiliating," the Strategy for Improving the Quality of Life of LGBTIQ, which was adopted in June of last year, emphasizes.
The adoption of the Law is also an obligation according to the Government Program for EU Accession 2024-2027. According to that document, this regulation should have been adopted by the end of 2024.
The Assembly finished its regular work on December 31, and the first spring session will be held at the beginning of March next year. Therefore, it is certain that the Law will not be adopted within the deadlines that were foreseen.
From Human Rights Action (HRA) for Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) they point out that it is incomprehensible why the Government refuses to include the Law on the agenda. Elizabeta Mrnjavčević from HRA reminds that the representative of the Movement Europe now Vasilije Carapić at the Spektre conference, he stated that the Law would be considered at the Government session in mid-December, which did not happen.
The Law was worked on for a full eight years, with the suggestions of all relevant actors being taken into account, so the explanation of the Secretary General of the Government is absurd. Dragoljub Nikolić that he is the prime minister Milojko Spajic asked for additional consultations, says Mrnjavčević.
"If the reason is political trade and pressure, we remind the Government that human rights must not be the subject of political calculations, because they are the foundation of basic freedoms. The government has an obligation to ensure respect for human rights, regardless of political pressures and interests," emphasizes Mrnjavčević.
The Spektra Association said that they demand from Prime Minister Spajić an end to the practice of political trading when it comes to human rights. They also add that it is not clear to them that the entire parliamentary majority is a hostage to retrograde policies that must not be opposed, while selling the story of human rights and democracy to international partners and Montenegro, doing the exact opposite of that. The Center for Civic Education (CGO) shares similar views.
Spektra adds that this procedure of the Government is not in accordance with the binding conclusions of the relevant bodies of the United Nations (UN), nor with the practice of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
In its letter to the Government dated December 13, 2024, the European Commission (EC) expressed a positive opinion on the proposal of the Law on legal recognition of gender identity based on self-determination. The latest European Commission (EC) report for Montenegro states that the most vulnerable groups in society, including LGBTIQ people, are still exposed to discrimination, hate speech and hate attacks.
"It is necessary to make more efforts to fully ensure access to justice and the exercise of rights in administrative and judicial proceedings, especially for vulnerable groups," the EC report points out.
The government promised, then stopped the adoption of the Law
"The law was stopped from the top by Prime Minister Spajić himself, by order of the President of the Assembly Andrije Mandić, according to the unofficial information we have, which, if true, is terrifying," the statement of the Spektra Association states.
At the beginning of December, at the Personal is Political panel, clear political support for this Law was given. At this event, MPs from the Europe Now Movement, the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), the Social Democrats (SD) and the Civic Movement URA expressed their unequivocal support for the Law, and called on the Government to urgently determine the proposal and send it to the Parliament of Montenegro for a vote.
When the Same-Sex Partnership Law was in parliament in 2020, the Bosniak Party, the Albanian coalitions, the Croatian Civic Initiative and the then Democratic Front refused to support it, stating that it would undermine "traditional values".
Behind the Law on legal recognition of gender identity based on self-determination are 48 civil society organizations and activists of Montenegro, young people in the Youth Parliament of Montenegro, as well as 137 organizations and activists from the region, over 100 respected academics, 18 European parliamentarians , and the largest European organizations such as TGEU, ILGA Europe, IGLYO and ERA, which have over 900 member organizations. Additionally, all international reports, such as the report of the European Commission, the CPT, the US State Department report and CEDAW state with regret that the right to self-determination is not yet possible in Montenegro, and call for its adoption.
CIN-CG sent all heads of parliamentary clubs and secretaries a question whether they expect the vote on this law to be on the agenda by the end of this year, and whether their party's deputies will vote for it. We only received a response from the PR service of the Vice President of the Assembly Nikola Camaja:
"The position on the Law on legal recognition of gender identity based on self-determination, which is in the form of a draft, will be announced at the plenum, when that proposal comes up on the agenda."
End the humiliating practice of forced sterilization
The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) requires persons who wish to change the gender designation in documents to undergo sterilization, although this prerequisite is not prescribed by law. The new law would remove that inhumane precondition and allow people to freely decide on their own identity. We did not receive any answers to the questions that CIN-CG sent to the MUP regarding this practice.
The right to self-determination of gender identity is accepted by the majority of Council of Europe members, 37 of them. The practice of the European Court of Human Rights states that forced sterilization violates the right to privacy.
The new law stipulates that when making a decision on a request to change the label, it is forbidden to ask for medical examinations or evidence of medical examinations and interventions. With the adoption of the Law, it would be possible to change the registered gender identity, without undergoing gender reassignment surgery and sterilization.
The adoption of the law would be another milestone in the fight for human rights in Montenegro, after in 2020 it became the first Balkan country outside the European Union to legalize same-sex partnerships.
Director of Spectre Jovan Ulićević for CIN-CG clarifies that this law regulates a legal gap, which until now has resulted in the practice of forced sterilization as a prerequisite for changing the gender marking in documents, so that a person has personal documents that correspond to his gender identity and personal description.
"So, Montenegro is one of only a few European countries that still have this practice. Such a practice is a legacy of the worst, Nazi regimes, which European countries are rapidly abandoning in the last few decades," emphasizes the director of Spektra.
Ulićević hopes that Montenegro will also join those solutions that respect human rights.
"In practice, this means that people will no longer be in trouble when they show their identity card at the post office, for example, when accessing various health services, or e.g. when crossing the border because they do not have documents that correspond to their identity", explains Ulićević.
Psychologist Ida Marković, who herself is going through the process of transition from male to female, reminds CIN-CG that the right to self-determination is one of the basic human rights:
"Each individual should live in accordance with his sense of identity, without fear of discrimination and stigmatization".
The right cannot be used by a married person, it is not available to minors...
Ulićević also points out that the compromises they agreed to in order to pass this law were not small.
"We have a restriction that a person cannot be married in order to access this right, which violates their right to private and family life. This means that anyone who is married will have to divorce in order to access this right," he said.
He also adds that the law will only apply to Montenegrin citizens, which is a more regressive solution of this type in other European countries, which allow at least residents, along with citizens, to access the law.
"This means that many people who today, for example, are fleeing war, and who may never be able to come to their home countries to access their rights, will not be able to here either," Ulićević explains.
According to the draft law that was presented in February last year, people over the age of 15 had the right to change their gender. That proposal met with strong reactions from religious leaders, so the age limit was raised to 18 years.
Metropolitan of Montenegrin and Littoral Joannikius in mid-March of last year on RTCG, he stated that due to gender change, "incurable traumas occur, as well as suicides very often".
The head of the Islamic community in Montenegro joined the critics of the law Rifat Fejzic:
"The state should help treat children, instead of paying for gender reassignment operations."
The Ministry of Human and Minority Rights announced that raising the age limit is a compromise measure that would enable the adoption of the law.
"This was the most difficult compromise, because it is precisely such a compromise that harms young people, who are the most vulnerable in society. Our initial solution was guided by the best interest of the child", adds Ulićević.
The law does not respect, he points out, the presumption of innocence, so even persons who are in criminal proceedings cannot access this right, and those serving a prison sentence are also excluded from it.
"As you can see, there are a lot of compromises, each of which involves a violation of human rights, and which we made with the aim of providing the right to self-determination to those who are available," Ulićević explains.
He adds that they are not very satisfied with this solution, but that the most important thing for them was to fight for the right to self-determination, which will be subject to improvement.
Psychologist Marković assesses that society is certainly more merciful towards men, there are only a few prohibitions that significantly make life difficult for men, but also shape them so socially and identity-wise, that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the male position from patriarchal and male narratives that glorify male power and suppress and they forbid the emotionality and tenderness of it. Thus, she says, power, regardless of being a feminine noun in the patriarchal discourse, belongs to the man.
"What strength is to a man, patience is to a woman. "Sexualization and misogyny become so visible and unrecognizable when you walk long enough in women's shoes," she says from the perspective of someone who has also been in the role of the other gender.
Speaking about the relationship of her patients after she changed gender, Marković points out that she has not lost a single client, and that she has also gained some new ones.
"It is the relationship that unites, heals, transforms and builds love, friendship, alliance, but also trust, security and loyalty, and not what gender, gender, nation or religion we are", states experience from his psychological practice Marković.
European statistics show that LGBT people seek help from mental health professionals more often than the rest of the heterosexual population. This statistic is closely related to the increased rates of depression and anxiety in the LGBT population, which is mainly attributed to the negative social climate, discrimination, and institutional homophobia.
"Statistics on the mental health of LGBT people in Montenegro do not exist, however, bearing in mind the dominantly negative attitude towards the LGBT community, the increasingly strong anti-gender narratives and the abuse of human rights in political and ideological games within societies in transition (crisis), the speech present in the media hatred, it can be justifiably assumed that members of the LGBT population are exposed to a significantly higher level of discrimination and stress, and therefore the mental health of these people is hampered,'' says psychologist Marković.
Employment impossible, education difficult, threats and attacks constant
Data from a 2018 survey shows that more than half of trans teenagers have attempted suicide at least once in their lives.
Some of the reasons lie in the fact that research shows that employment for transgender people is almost impossible, education is difficult, and threats and attacks are constant.
Research by the Spektra Association: "Empowerment of transgender, gender variant and intersex (TIRV) victims of violence", from November 2022, indicates a worryingly poor picture of the quality of life of TIRV people in Montenegro.
The devastating data is that, according to this research, the perpetrators of the most serious incidents and violence are most often members of the family/household (31,3 percent) or someone else they know (18,8 percent), while in 12,5 percent of cases it is neighbors or someone from school, college or university...
"For most, primary families are a source of trauma, and a place of experienced and survived abuse and violence, both verbal and physical," the research points out.
It is also emphasized that among the perpetrators of these most serious experiences of physical/sexual violence, there are no female perpetrators.
"Safe places are neither the house nor the school, but neither are public spaces, violence is omnipresent, it is not punished, and it is not even reported," the report says.
At the beginning of last year, the publication of the Spektra Association was presented: "Society of equals or not". This research on socio-economic violence against the TIRV community in Montenegro was completed by 38 respondents.
"I am looking for a job, but my family is afraid because of how I look that they will beat me and mistreat me," says one of the interviewees. "I live with my parents, I depend on them, and I'm 32 years old, I live in shame," said another.
"As soon as I let the landlord know that I am a member of the LGBTIQ+ community, my rent was increased by 40 percent"...
Several testimonies speak about the inappropriate address of representatives of institutions.
"I literally experience the most discrimination at the counter, from the state in fact. Whenever I handed over the documents, some trouble would always find me", says one of the interviewees.
They do not report violence out of fear, and when they do - there is no adequate protection
The Spektra research showed that almost two-thirds of the research participants stated that in the last five years they had been physically/sexually attacked or threatened with violence at home or elsewhere.
The case of the last incident of physical/sexual violence was not reported to the police by three quarters of respondents, and the most common reasons are the impression that they did not think that something would change or that they did not think that they could do anything.
When it comes to trust in the prosecution and the judiciary, they are unanimous in their negative assessment of these institutions.
"Distrust in these institutions is also an additional factor discouraging TIRV persons from reporting violence", it is assessed.
The majority of TIRV persons who reported violence were left without adequate protection, with additional victimization, the research adds.
Marković, who suffered and reported numerous verbal and even physical attacks, tells CIN-CG that she does not believe that they will be prosecuted:
"I think it would be significant if the bullies were held accountable for what they did, but I'm not optimistic. More and more cases like this without an epilogue send us an increasingly explicit message that violence goes unpunished and that it is 'okay' to take justice into our own hands, which is a wrong and dangerous belief,'' points out Marković.
Ulićević also says for CIN-CG that the punishment for violence should be fair, adequate and deterrent.
"In our judicial practice, we have not satisfied any of these principles. The punishments are mild, the processes are still the most exhausting for the victims, and the dehumanizing treatment of the victims is extremely prevalent. This acts as a deterrent to those who report violence, so they are increasingly demotivated to go through painful processes in which they will not receive justice", he assesses.
As priority problems of this community, the majority of respondents identify the adoption of laws on gender identity and better implementation of laws on the prohibition of discrimination, the need to reduce discrimination, violence and abuse in schools, and better implementation of laws when it comes to hate crimes.
Only eight countries in Europe require sterilization
Only eight countries in Europe require sterilization as a condition for gender recognition. In addition to Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Finland, Kosovo, Latvia, Serbia and Turkey have this condition.
Models of legal gender recognition based on self-determination have been adopted by nine countries in Europe - Denmark, Ireland, Malta, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, Iceland and Switzerland. Self-determination means that there is no need to involve a third party, such as a judge, psychologist, psychiatrist, medical professional or parent, nor is it necessary to submit any medical or other evidence.
Bonus video:
