The Ministry of Justice has made serious interventions in the criminal law framework, with the aim of achieving a greater level of protection for the most vulnerable categories of society, said the relevant Minister, Bojan Božović.
At the opening of the roundtable "Is there justice in Montenegro for LGBTQI+?", organized by the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN), he said that special attention must be paid to access to justice for the most vulnerable categories.
Božović emphasized that human rights, regardless of the current situation, are an inseparable part of every society.
"In the previous period, the Ministry of Justice has made serious interventions in the criminal law framework and other segments of law, with the aim of achieving a greater level of protection for the most vulnerable categories of people," said Božović.
As he added, LGBTQI+ people are, and therefore special attention must be paid to this topic.
Božović pointed out that the expansion of social networks, media freedom, and the simplicity of content creation can lead to the opposite of what they should be.
"I believe that every activity aimed at protecting against hate speech must receive our support," said Božović, adding that it is important to follow the trends imposed by the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and continue to educate practitioners who deal with this topic.
He stated that the Government has the task of continuing the practice of harmonizing laws and bylaws, as well as all laws that treat persons in same-sex relationships, in order to create a legal framework that will further strengthen certain rights.
Božović said that he would always, if necessary, pay attention to penal policy with the aim of ensuring that sanctions have a deterrent effect from committing criminal offenses.
When asked about the procedure for adopting the Law on Legal Recognition of Gender Identity, he emphasized that the Ministry supported the Draft Law and that he would vote for it when the document is before the competent Government commission.
According to him, all the social and political circumstances that occurred at the end of last year and that are still ongoing have influenced the law not to be adopted yet.
"I think it's just a matter of time when that will happen," said Božović.
The President of the Center for Investigative Reporting of Montenegro (CIN-CG), Milka Tadić Mijović, said that the topic of access to justice for LGBTQI+ people is very important in times of unrest that have significantly shaken the order established after World War II.
"In days when those who are different fear that hard-won rights could be threatened, we cannot ignore the changes taking place before our eyes," said Mijović Tadić.
As she emphasized, it is their duty to unite to defend existing and win new rights.
Representative of the Canadian Embassy, David Morgan, said that Canadian citizens know that engaged, empowered citizens make democracy strong.
Morgan emphasized that Canada continues to strongly support civil society organizations dedicated to the peaceful, responsible and democratic improvement of the common good.
"We are here today specifically to learn about access to justice and whether every equal member of Montenegrin society truly enjoys equal access and, if not, to find out why and how not and what we need to do so that everyone enjoys equal access to justice," said Morgam.
The roundtable on access to justice for LGBTQI+ people was organized by CIN-CG as part of the project "Improving the protection of the rights of the LGBTQI+ population and access to justice in Montenegro", which is supported by Canada.
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