New Government - old problems for the LGBT community

New Government - old problems for the LGBT community. Although the Law on Life Partnerships of Persons of the Same Sex was adopted during the mandate of the Government of Zdravko Krivokapić, LGBT people still do not enjoy all the rights provided for in that document because numerous by-laws have not been adopted.

"Today you can enter into a partnership, certain laws have been changed in the field of health, social and child protection, some tax rights and so on, however, we still cannot realize a large part of the set of rights that this law enables," he told TV News Jovan Ulićević from NGO "Spektra".

Bojana Jokić from "LGBT Forum Progres" also agrees that during the last two years the field of LGBT rights has stagnated.

"What about the situation we faced due to the coronavirus, what about the fact that the previous government made absolutely no efforts to work on LGBTIQ rights," says Jokić.

Activists point out that the burden of implementing the Strategy for improving the quality of life of LGBT people in Montenegro has been on the NGO sector for years, with mostly declarative support from decision makers.

"I think the time has passed when the LGBT community should be grateful for tweets, illuminated buildings, announcements and so on, when at the same time there is no proactive action for the improvement of human rights in general," said Ulićević.

LGBT activists, however, do not expect much from the new government either, especially considering that the department of human rights will be managed by Fatmir Đeka, while the fight against discrimination, as a minister without portfolio, will be handled by Adrijan Vuksanović. As MPs, both of them voted against the Law on Same-Sex Partnerships.

"I think that, first of all, the minister should revise his position, change it", emphasizes Ulićević.

Optimism is not inspired by the fact that the Government, at least declaratively, is appointed for a year.

"I think that it is a very short period, and that people without experience who will manage those functions were not a good choice, but here, we will let them deny us, we hope they will deny us", says Jokić.

Low expectations, activists say, the new government can deny only with concrete moves - among other things, by adopting the Law on Gender Identity and implementing almost half of the unfulfilled activities that the umbrella strategy foresees by next year.