On the occasion of Human Rights Day, Human Rights Action (HRA) reminds Montenegrin authorities to ensure respect of international human rights standards to which they have been bound by the Constitution and international treaties. To this end, HRA in its report “Human Rights in Montenegro 2010-2011”, published a year ago, provided the Government and Judicial authorities with 220 recommendations, out of which only about ten have been fulfilled to date.

In Montenegro, there are still some evident and systematic violations of human rights, such as violation of the right to an impartial tribunal in the case of governmentally appointed bodies deciding on small offences, or the right to an effective remedy in the cases such as ineffective investigations of murder or torture, where also the Constitutional complaint cannot be considered effective remedy.

While these and other similar problems can easily be solved by changes of law, the more difficult problem of implementation of law still remains. It can only be dealt with by ensuring the selection of people of integrity, independent and competent, for the high positions especially in the police, the prosecution, and the judiciary. As long as after the events e.g. during which citizens (audience) and the authorities (police) obviously broke the law, but only citizens are being rapidly processed, there is no basis for trust in the impartiality of the institutions and the rule of law. Respect for human rights in this case does not require any new investments, except in the change of attitude.

This year the UN on the occasion of Human Rights Day stressed the right of marginalized people to be heard and to participate in political decision-making.

In the same vein, HRA appeals particularly to the Government and local self governments to pay attention to the poorest Montenegrin citizens and their right to roof over their head i.e. adequate housing as stipulated by Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

On this cold day, we urge to the authorities to provide without delays shelters for the homeless, and not allow making of new homeless by forced evictions because the state, despite its international obligations, is not able to provide them emergency accommodation. The state should either establish shelters or assist citizens, willing to deal with this issue. It should be regulated by the law who is responsible to ensure sustainability of shelters and who has a right to it. Strategy for the provision of emergency accommodation in cases of forced evictions from illegal settlements should ensure that the right to adequate housing is systematically respected in the future.

By the end of Human Rights Day, HRA activists:

1) Appealed to the Center for Social Work to carry out a filed visit and to prove inhumane conditions in which our fellow citizen Behim Ajkunić from Konik has been living with two children, of which one is immobile and suffering from epilepsy, and to provide him urgently necessary, alternative accommodation (photos are enclosed with the press release);

2) Submitted a Constitutional complaint with the urgent request to the Constitutional Court to launch a procedure and request immediate suspension of the decision on forced eviction of Sejdić’s family, including a month old baby, from the illegal settlement until the state provides them alternative accommodation, in accordance with Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which is binding for Montenegro.

3) Participated in the round table discussion on the Draft Criminal Code advocating for:

a)     Introduction of new criminal offenses “Preventing journalists in the exercise of professional duties” and “Attack on journalists in the exercise of professional duties” which would enable the same level of protection of journalists as officials;

b)     Logical supplement of decriminalisation of criminal acts of Insult and Slender with decriminalisation of other criminal acts from the chapter XVII of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, especially acts from the group prosecuted ex officio and for which imprisonment is prescribed;

c)      Regulation regarding prohibition of hate propaganda, described in Act. 443, para. 3 of the Criminal Code, on all discriminatory basis, besides prohibition of racial hatred propaganda, that already exists;

d)     HRA welcomed the intention to introduce a so-called “Hate crime” to be considered as an aggravating circumstance in the commission of any crime, and suggested specifically to stipulate “hate crimes” as qualified forms of certain criminal acts;

e)     Introduction of exception from punishment in the cases of an overriding public interest of criminal acts Breach of Secrecy of Letters and Other Correspondence (Art. 172), Unauthorised Wiretapping and Recording (Art. 173), Unauthorised Photographing (Art. 174) and Unauthorised Publication or Presentation of Another’s Written Text, Portrait or Recording (Art. 175) and Unauthorised Collection of Personal Data (Art. 176) in order to e.g. to prevent a commission of criminal act or disclosure of an offender. This proposal is based on the exception provided in favour of media, envisaged within the EU Directive on Data Protection (Article 9);

f)       Sanctions for coercing a person to declare his/her sexual orientation and gender identity, as it is the case with coercing a person to declare his/her national or ethnic origin and religious beliefs (Art. 160, para. 2, Art. 161, para. 3 of CC);

g)     Prescribing the qualified form of criminal act Safety endangerment (Art. 168) in case it being committed by an official.

4) Participated in the panel discussions Respect to Property Right – restitution and Protection of Human Rights in a System for Execution of Criminal Sanctions organised on the occasion of International Human Rights Day organised by the Government of Montenegro, Ombudsman, University of Montenegro, UN Montenegro, OSCE Mission to Montenegro and NGO Civic Alliance.

The activities above stated have resulted from our projects supported by the Open Society Foundations, British Embassy in Podgorica and the EU.