Around 400 people in Montenegro still live without basic personal documents

While most Montenegrin citizens freely exercise their basic rights, around 400 people – mostly members of the Roma community – cannot. Without personal documents, they cannot seek medical treatment, get a job, or open a bank account. For the system – they do not exist.

"The main cause is that these people are mostly originally from Kosovo. Since 1999, many people from the Roma population from Kosovo have arrived," said Dragan Dašić from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP).

And obtaining documents from Kosovo or Serbia is often impossible for them. Due to the tense relations between the two countries, their institutions shift responsibility from one to the other.

"These families are, I can say this, left to their own devices, to the responsibility and burden of trying to somehow live in Montenegro on their own. They are mainly engaged in collecting secondary raw materials, precisely because no employer can employ them," said Elvis Beriša from the NGO Phiren Amenca.

The Roma youth organization, Koracajte sa nama, says that this is one of the biggest problems facing the Roma community in Montenegro.

"The problem of not having personal documents is also inherited by younger generations, so that in our records we have some families that are even three generations in one, let's say, family that is without a regulated legal status," Berisha pointed out.

Procedures for obtaining personal documents in Montenegro are often long and complex. One request, one document – and years of waiting.

"We were recently approached by a member of the Roma community who submitted a request for stateless status in 2022 and his request has not yet been resolved. So, this must not happen because this person is still without any possibility of enjoying any rights," Berisha said.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to simplify the procedures for issuing documents. They claim that they have already taken a number of measures.

"Reduced fees, that these persons were not required to provide proof that they had the means to support themselves in Montenegro, they were not required to provide a diploma or what qualifications they had, and so on," Dašić points out.

While most people wait in line at health centers, Roma men and women without documents are waiting for recognition that they exist. Without a name or ID number, without rights.