At their seventeenth meeting held today, the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms considered multiple items of the agenda.

In the capacity of the umbrella committee, it considered the Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law. The introductory explanation on the Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law was given by the Minister for Human and Minority Rights Mr Suad Numanović, MD. The Minister for Human and Minority Rights said that the proposed amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law were drafted in accordance with the recommendations of the relevant international institutions given in order to improve the current legal text, but also with the goal to create a better institutional framework for protection of citizens from discrimination. He said that the three key reasons to amend the Anti-Discrimination Law were the following:

- Suggestions of the European Commission to amend the Anti-Discrimination Law, because the European Commission identifiedas the key problem the noncompliance of the definition of the direct discrimination with the European legislation, due to the fact that there was no way to justify direct discrimination;

- Recommendation of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) number 7 on enhancing the national legislation against discrimination;

- Recommendations and opinions of the local public, NGO sector, and the citizens, in order to improve the current Law.

He stated that the unique Working Group was formed that simultaneously worked on amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law and the Law on Protector ofHuman Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro, and it consisted of the representatives of the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights,the institution of Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro, the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms, relevant state institutions, the European Commission, OSCE and the NGO sector.

A significant amendment to the Anti-Discrimination Law relates to introduction of promotion of equality as an important activity with regard to prevent discrimination. The amendments also prescribe prohibition of harassment, sexual harassment and racial discrimination. The institute of segregation has also been amended, by adding the term “coerced” to the concept, thereby harmonising the definition of segregation with the standards of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (Recommendation number 7). Furthermore, the competencies and authorisations of the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro have been defined with regard to discrimination. The amendments to the Law relating to the court protection from discrimination have been proposed in order to provide effective protection from discrimination. A deadline of one year has been defined for submission of an anti-discriminatory lawsuit, instead of 90 days, as determined by the current Law. Additionally, the so-called “situation testing” has been introduced, i.e. the norm according to which the lawsuit can be filed by a person with the intention to directly test the implementation of the anti-discrimination rules. The amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law prescribe the penalty provisions for the accountable persons in the state authority body, state administration body and local self-government body with regard to the obligation of keeping and submitting records, as well as protective measures omitted from the current Law. Members of the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms and the representatives of the institution of the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro unanimously assessed the Proposal for the Amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law as a significant improvement with regard to the current text of the Law, and that it contained a series of very good norms.

The MP Snežana Jonica who, as a representative of the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms, participated in the work of the Work Group in charge of drafting a Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law and the Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Law on Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro, stated that she was satisfied with certain solutions contained in the Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law, but she pointed out an objection to the work of the Secretariat of Legislation which removed some very good proposals contained in the Draft Law on Amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law, due to which the MP Jonica announced submission of amendments. The MP Jonica pointed out that the goal of the Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law was to promote equality, as well as that the citizens should be informed on the procedure of protection from discrimination in order to be able to exercise their right to protection in practice. She deemed as positive the fact that the penalty provisions had been defined, but she cites as disadvantage that the list of penalty provisions had beenreduced to minimum with regard to the proposal determined by the Working Group. She considered the introduction of situation testing a significant step forward, providing persons with the opportunity to put a potential discriminator into a risky situation. The inspection procedure has been significantly upgraded, but it is necessary to train the inspectors in the following period. She considers a disadvantage the fact that, despite the subjective deadline for filing a lawsuit for protection against discrimination, no objective deadline had been defined, due to which she also announced submission of amendments.

The Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro Mr Šućko Baković deemed as very good the Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law, and he had no serious objections to the proposed text. He cited three suggestions, stating that the text of the Proposal for the Law could be improved with them:

-Proposal for the Law does not contain the norm on prohibition of hate speech, therefore that provision should be added to the Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law;

- He agreed with the opinion of the MP Snežana Jonica that apart from the subjective deadline for submission of the lawsuit, for the legal security of the citizens, an objective deadline should be defined as well;

- He thinks that item 5 should be deleted from the Penalty Provisions, i.e. Article 19 of the Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law.

Members of the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms pointed out that the current Anti-Discrimination Law had been significantly improved with introduction of the separate forms of discrimination, penalty provisions, and the extension of the deadline for submission of the lawsuits. The following MPs participated in the debate: Ms Ljiljana Đurašković, PhD;Mr Izet Bralić, MD;Mr Kemal Zoronjić and Mr Husnija Šabović. The focus was placed on the following issues: to have the term “segregation” replaced with another term considering that it was not suitable for the ordinary citizens, that the term “regional discrimination” be the subject of the Law, that an objective deadline for filing a lawsuit be introduced.

The Chairperson of the Committee estimated that the Anti-Discrimination Law was significantly improved with the amendments. He believes that this Law cannot solve the discrimination problem, due to the fact that it is present all over the world, but this Law creates a good environment and the foundation for combating discrimination. The Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms was acquainted with the Opinion of the Gender Equality Committee proposing to the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms to support the Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law, and to propose to the Parliament to adopt it.

Following the discussion, members of the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms, with one abstained vote, supported the Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Law, and decided to propose it for adoption to the Parliament.

The Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms considered the Proposal for the Law for Allocation of Budget Funds for the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro, submitted and elaborated upon by the Protector at that very meeting, and which proposed the increase of the budget funds for the following year for 46,000€ with regard to the budget funds in this year. The representatives of the Ministry of Finance stated that the Draft Budget of Montenegro for 2014 had not yet been forwarded to the Government of Montenegro and that at this moment they could not state a clear view on the request of the Protector regarding the allocation of budget funds in the Budget of Montenegro for 2014. In accordance with the Article 53 paragraph 2 of the Law on Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro (Official Gazette of Montenegro no. 42/11), the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms unanimously supported the proposal of the Protector and established the Request for Allocation of Budget Funds to the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro in the Budget of Montenegro for 2014, which would be submitted to the Ministry of Finance.

Additionally, at today’s meeting, the members of the Committee unanimously adopted a Decision on Control Hearing of the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Mr Predrag Bošković, MA, on the topic: “Implementation of the Conclusion of the Parliament of Montenegro (Official Gazette of Montenegro no.36/11), adopted regarding consideration of the Special Report of the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro on the state of human rights of mentally disabled persons residing in institutions, and in the context of CPT Report (advisory body of the Council of Europe) after the visit of the CPT Head of Mission, in February 2013”. It had been decided that the Control Hearing should be held on 22 October 2013, starting at 11:00.

Within the current issues, the members of the Committee were informed on the application submitted by the NGO AGP – Association of Gambling Providers from Podgorica, to the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms for infringement of fundamental human rights, preventing a number of representatives of this NGO to participate in the 22^nd meeting of the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget, held on 30 July 2013, who had come in the Parliament of Montenegro on the grounds of the submitted invitation by the Chairperson of the said Committee, MP Aleksandar Damjanović. They are Mr Sava Grbović, the CEO of the Lottery of Montenegro, and Ms Sandra Milić, an Associate to the Lottery, who, on the grounds of the invitation and authorisation of the NGO AGP as confirmation of representatives of this NGO that were supposed to participate on the occasion of consideration of the Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Law on Value Added Tax,were prevented to do so in the Parliament of Montenegro, in a rude and undignified way, with discriminatory treatment, as they stated in their address to the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms.

The Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms, in accordance with the Conclusion of the Committee of 5 June 2012, decided that the application, according to the usual practice, should be submitted to the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms for further action, and the Committee would subsequently be informed about it, after the conducted procedure.

Furthermore, the Chairperson of the Committee informed the members of the Committee on the invitation of the NGO Queer Montenegro to participate in the Pride Parade, scheduled for 20 October 2013, in Podgorica. The Chairperson of the Committee invited the members of the Committee to take part in the said parade.