Belgium’s magazine Le Vif: ,,Coronavirus: Montenegro published the names and addresses of people suspected of being infected”

A 26-YEAR-OLD WOMAN FROM BIJELO POLJE WAS DEPRIVED OF HER RIGHT TO LIBERTY FOLLOWING AN INSTAGRAM POST
03/04/2020
OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO
09/04/2020

Belgium’s magazine Le Vif: ,,Coronavirus: Montenegro published the names and addresses of people suspected of being infected”

(Source: AFP)

The Belgium’s leading current affairs magazine ,,Le Vif” published an article ,,Coronavirus: Montenegro published the names and addresses of people suspected of being infected”.

In the article you may read the following:

– opinion of Ms. Cecile de Terwangne, law professor at Namur University in Belgium, who specializes in data protection. She noted that publishing personal data of citizens in isolation is an unnecessary and disproportionate measure, which may have long-term adverse effects on the protection of privacy of Montenegrin citizens;

– statement of Ms. Tea Gorjanc Prelević, Executive Director of NGO Human Rights Action, who warned about stigmatization of people and children, whose identities and addresses had been revealed in such a way by the Government, which may ultimately lead to violence. She also warned that it may well be expected that people, who feel the symptoms of the virus, will not seek medical help promptly or at all, fearing their identity being disclosed in the same way;

– statement of the creator of the application and site where the published data had been viewed over 450.000 times;

– questions on which the Government of Montenegro did not provide an answer to Le Vif;

– statements of citizens of Montenegro whose identities had been disclosed.

The article has been published in French and is available at: https://www.levif.be/actualite/europe/coronavirus-le-montenegro-balance-les-noms-et-adresses-des-personnes-suspectees-d-etre-malades/article-normal-1274153.html?cookie_check=1586245161&fbclid=IwAR3UO9gbuMrJ3GNm-n6cFmNIBzqjy3wMCg8rj2T1cJBmXvowZWjfOslW0XI (note: You just need to register in order to read it for free, in addition to two other articles of your choice).

HRA translated the article into Montenegrin language, available at: https://www.hraction.org/2020/04/08/korona-virus-crna-gora-objavila-imena-i-adrese-ljudi-za-koje-postoji-sumnja-da-su-bolesni/. The article has been republished in part by daily Vijesti as well.