Minister of Social Welfare, Family Care and Demography Damir Gutić says that the demographic recovery will not happen so quickly and that everyone in the system should make an effort to ensure that the country moves towards a long-term positive trend when it comes to this problem. Gutić announced in an interview with Television Vijesti that several new institutions will be formed this year to help victims of violence as well as children, and Miljana Dašić asked him what his key priorities will be.
"The most important thing we did was draft the Law on Social Personal Protection. We provided the prerequisites to establish some new institutions next year. I am primarily referring to the Foster Care Center, the Barnahus house for children who are victims of violence, and the third institution, the so-called crisis center, similar to the Barnahus model, i.e. an institution that should provide shelter to adults and the elderly, victims of violence or sexual violence. What is also important is that we adopted the Law on Unified Disability Expertise, which, in a way, introduces a real reform in the field of disability expertize," said Gutić.
What do you recognize as the biggest social problem in Montenegro and how are you trying to solve it?
I could say that the beneficiaries of family material security are perhaps in the most difficult situation. I would like to mention that in Montenegro there are about 4.600 recipients of family material security with about 15.600 members. So, about a third of those members, or about 5.200, are able-bodied beneficiaries. In this sense, we have also made certain amendments to the Law on Social and Child Protection, by which we have foreseen that, if recipients of family material security are engaged through active employment measures, through employment for up to 12 months, they will still remain recipients of family material security, in order to gain some security and so that they will not be afraid that they will lose this right if they try to engage in the labor market.
Montenegro has been at high risk of poverty and social exclusion for years. Can the current level of material benefits really protect the most vulnerable, especially children?
There are 18 types of various benefits in the field of social and child protection. There are a lot of these measures, but we need to see over time what their effect was and what they yielded. The greatest effect and what proved to be the most efficient should be improved in the future, and measures that yielded less effect should be replaced with others.
What are the specific activities related to demographic issues in Montenegro?
Demographic recovery will not happen quickly. It is a process that will take time, but it is important that we stop the demographic decline and start a recovery or revitalization. The expectation from the Directorate for Demography is to conduct analysis of measures, collect all data in one place, propose specific measures and connect all departments that have contact with any demographic measure, in order to propose solutions that can have an effect in the future in the form of demographic revitalization or recovery.
Do you expect support from other departments in this regard, given that this is a long-standing problem for which not only your department is responsible, but the entire Government, especially when we talk about municipalities in the north?
Everyone should contribute to providing better infrastructure for citizens, improving education and healthcare, as well as creating better conditions for young married couples, and everything else needed to slow down demographic decline or move to a positive demographic balance.
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