We expect the Ministry of Justice, before submitting it to the Government, to amend the definition of public officials in the Law on the Prevention of Corruption, clearly excluding representatives of non-governmental organizations and social partners, announced the Association of Disabled Youth of Montenegro (UMHCG).
This association said that despite the comments and suggestions submitted in 2024, the Ministry of Justice, without any explanation, refused to include them when drafting the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on the Prevention of Corruption, although the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption supported this position in its statement.
"Namely, the provision of Article 3, paragraph 1 of the current Law on the Prevention of Corruption, according to which 'elected, appointed, or appointed' representatives of the NGO sector - and not only those elected, appointed and appointed to public functions, or positions that entail public authorizations, authority, power, management and leadership, or making meritorious decisions - are considered public officials, is contrary to the essence of the existence of NGOs and social partners, their mission and principles of operation and completely limits the activities of these organizations," the UMHCG stated in a statement sent to the media.
They said that from the aspect of their field of activity, NGO representatives represent the interests of the groups they represent and for whose rights and freedoms they fight, and not political structures, authorities or any other groups and/or individuals, and therefore cannot have equal status with public officials who are elected on the basis of the Constitution and/or law (systemic and parent law for the area in which certain persons are appointed/appointed).
"Therefore, it is not fair to consider NGO representatives as public officials, prescribing them the obligations of public officials, but not the rights and powers. We remind you that the state has decided to democratize the decision-making process by defining the election of NGO representatives in its legal system in accordance with the regulations governing these areas, with the aim of having these structures of society assist it in making better and more purposeful decisions," the statement states.
Therefore, the UMHCG emphasizes, the proposed representatives are supported by NGOs as their representatives and by appointing that person, in a working body for the development of public policies: laws, regulations, strategies, programs, plans or for the preparation of reports on the implementation of public policies, as well as in an advisory body, which is formed for the needs of the government, ministry or other body, and which does not have the authority to make and implement decisions, including elections and dismissals, they must still remain exclusively representatives of the structures that propose them, and not those that verify that proposal and/or appoint them.
"Additionally, as an important argument, we remind you that the condition for running for any working and/or advisory body is that the person is not a public official, so it is unacceptable that a person whose election/appointment was conditioned by the absence of a public office becomes a public official the moment they are elected based on their candidacy, and in the opinion/interpretation of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption.
All of the above is limiting not only for the national level, but also for participation in various supranational and international bodies for which conditions and standards are prescribed that relate to incompatibility and the absence of public office, such as the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, etc.
"If the Ministry continues to insist on the current provision, it leaves room for a future composition of the Agency to interpret the legal regulation arbitrarily, depending on the practice of the management structure within it, and demonstrates the Government's intention to essentially and formally limit the activities of NGOs," the statement concludes.
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