We can say that we are not where we should be, said the executive director of the Human Rights Action, Tea Gorjanc-Prelević, while appearing on TV Vijesti's Boje jutra, on the occasion of International Human Rights Day.
Montenegro, she points out, has an ambitious plan to fulfill its obligations under Chapters 23 and 24 by the end of 2026, but in practice it does not show sufficient openness or willingness to mobilize all the professional capacities needed to achieve that goal. As one of the most obvious problems, she cites the fact that the Government still does not publish the urgent recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which is why the civil sector has to "appeal, shout and beg" in order for the public to receive basic information.
In the context of global conflicts and the weakening of international institutions, Gorjanc-Prelević believes that small states, such as Montenegro, are becoming particularly vulnerable to geopolitical pressures. As she says, small states cannot impose the rules of the international order and have a special obligation to respect them, but today there are fewer and fewer large actors willing to protect them. She also recalled, for example, criticism directed at international experts such as Navi Pillay, stating that such campaigns are attempts to stifle voices calling for justice and respect for human rights.
Speaking about the new generations of politicians, she assessed that despite the rhetoric about "Europe", there is not enough knowledge about European human rights standards. As an example, she cites the proposal of laws that are not in line with European practice, such as attempts to amend the Law on Public Gatherings with an absolute ban on gatherings in the streets, and amendments to the Law on Internal Affairs and the Law on the National Security Agency. The disappointment, she says, is great, because it was expected that the new political elite would be aware of the mistakes of the past, but party interest and opportunism continue to dominate.
She particularly warned against the increasing attempts to delegitimize civil society, stating that the goal of such campaigns is to stifle critical thought, open up space for corruption, and promote personal, rather than public, interests. She also pointed out the existence of external factors that want to destabilize Montenegro, among which she mentioned Serbia and Russia, saying that the country can now be "only harmed by serious disruption or sabotage," although, as she says, "Montenegro is not incapable of scoring its own goals."
She cited the "promotion of hatred" towards Turks from the highest levels of government as one of those mistakes, recalling that Turkey has a large diaspora in EU countries that are deciding on enlargement, and that Montenegro is already paying the economic price of such messages. Institutional weakness, according to her, has a high price that citizens feel every day — the most visible is the fact that Montenegro has not been in the EU for a long time, although, she believes, it could have been 30 years ago.
When asked how to bring human rights back into everyday, civic discourse, and not just political discourse, she says that it is crucial for politicians to promote tolerance and respect for the rights of all by example. She sees a long-term solution in strengthening institutions and introducing civic education as a mandatory subject from the first to the last grade, where children would be taught critical thinking, empathy and conflict resolution. She recalled that civic education was downgraded in 2017, even though Montenegro had very high-quality programs at the time, including a textbook in the form of a comic book.
As a concrete move that would show that Montenegro truly wants to be a modern democratic state, she cited the systematic appointment of professionals to responsible positions. As a positive example, she singled out the recent election of the State Agent before the European Court of Human Rights, Mirko Đuković, describing him as an educated and internationally experienced professional.
Gorjanc-Prelević insisted that areas of human rights that remain "invisible" should not be forgotten. She particularly emphasized the rights of older people, who are exposed to poverty, low pensions, violence and neglect, as well as the fact that the conditions of their accommodation, especially in private homes, are only discussed when scandals break out. She recalled that not enough is known about whether the state exercises adequate control over these institutions.
She also singled out the rights of people with mental illnesses, stating that patients and employees at the Special Hospital in Dobrota are in very poor conditions, that people sleep in the corridors and that privacy is violated. She added that the state has not invested in that institution for years, that there is no deinstitutionalization and that the CPT recommendations certainly pointed to serious problems. Therefore, she points out, there is no reason for the Government not to publish those recommendations and not to announce what it will do specifically to urgently improve the situation.
"They certainly made some urgent recommendations and we see no reason why the Government does not publish them and why it does not tell us what it will do to urgently improve the situation," concluded Gorjanc-Prelević.
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