On the meeting of the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms, held today, the following was considered:

- National Report on Human Rights in Montenegro within the second cycle of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (period 2008-2012) presented at the meeting of the Council on Human Rights and Freedoms in Geneva, on 28^th January 2013,

- Report on Human Rights of the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro for the purpose of the Universal Periodic Review and

 - Report on Child Protection consisted by 10 non-governmental organisations for the purpose of drafting the National Report on Human Rights in Montenegro within the second cycle of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (period 2008-2012).

The Meeting was attended by the representatives of the competent institutions: Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro, members of the Delegation of the Parliament of Montenegro in PACE, Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare,  Ministry of Internal Affairs, Bureau for the Care of Refugees, international organizations based in Montenegro: EU Delegation to Montenegro, UNDP, UNICEF and UNHCR, as well as a representative of the NGO "Civic Alliance" (Građanska alijansa), which deals with issues of human rights and freedoms and monitoring the work of the Committee of Human rights and Freedoms.

Bearing in mind that the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms, within the competences established by the Rules of Procedure, focused the activities of this year on the tasks that are in Montenegro Progress Report for 2012 particularly emphasized in the part related to the field of human rights, and regarding "strengthening the activities of the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms", it has focused its attention on monitoring the process of UPR (Universal Periodical Review) conducted by the Government of Montenegro, the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro and NGOs. Minister for Human and Minority Rights Mr. Suad Numanović Dr. stated that Montenegro became a member of the UN Council on Human Rights on 1^st January 2013, and exposed an introductory statement on National Report on Human Rights in Montenegro within the second cycle of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review presented at the meeting of the Council on Human Rights and Freedoms in Geneva, on 28^th January 2013.

It was assessed that Montenegro achieved remarkable progress in the protection of human rights in the period 2008-2012. 124 recommendations were addressed to Montenegro, in comparison to 54 in 2008, due to the fact that now each country submitted recommendations individually and insisted those recommendations to be kept, without unifying the same or similar recommendations, which was a practice and methodology in the previous period. The Minister pointed out that out of 124 recommendations, Montenegro accepted 96 immediately, supported 13 stating that actions were taken for implementation of those, and it is to state its opinion on 15 recommendations by June 2013. Comparison of the Recommendation from 2008 and these from 2013 shows that earlier recommendations were related to adoption of laws and present ones to the application and implementation of the adopted laws.

Key fields that Recommendations are directed to are: international law documents on human rights and freedoms, fight against discrimination, gender equality, rights of persons with disabilities, especially children with disabilities, rights of minorities, especially rights RAE population, rights of displaced and internally displaced persons, strengthening administrative capacity and independence of the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro, children rights, protection from domestic violence and sexual exploitation of children and improvement of judiciary work, particularly in the area of fight against corruption and organised crime.

Government of Montenegro and relevant state authorities are undertaking a number of activities in all these areas, including, inter alia: drafting the Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Law Against Discrimination, Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Law on Protector of Human Rights and Freedomsof Montenegro, effective implementation of the Anti-discrimination Law, adoption of the Strategy for Improvement of LGBT population position, continuation of activities for promotion of women rights, their economic empowerment and protection from domestic violence. The Plan of Activities for achieving gender equality for the period 2013-2017 was adopted, and activities to promote the rights of persons with disabilities are being undertaken, together with activities for promoting of inclusive education, improving of social services for children with disabilities, as well as activities to protect the rights of minorities, especially RAE population, and selection of the Minority Council is currently in progress, in accordance with the adopted rules. In addition, in accordance with the Recommendation, the Government established the adoption of the law on religious communities by its Work Programme for 2013. Regarding the settlement of displaced and internally displaced persons, it was pointed out that the activities were carried out through Sarajevo Process, Belgrade Initiative, and that the project would be completed by 2015. In the area of children rights, the Law on Treatment of Juveniles in Criminal Proceedings was adopted, and the Government established a Proposal for the Law on Social and Child Protection, at its meeting held on 28th March 2013. In addition, significant efforts have been made in the fight against cybercrime and sexual violence against children, and amendments to the Criminal Code are currently in progress, by which showing pornographic material to minors would be also a criminal offense. Activities in the area of ​​judicial reform with the aim of strengthening the independence of the judiciary are very important. The fight against corruption and organised crime is one of the priorities of the Prime Minister and other government bodies. Freedom of expression as well as research of threats against journalists and are also important, and activities for clarification and processing of all previous cases are taken.

Ms. Zdenka Perovic, Secretary to the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro stated that even though the institution of the Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro had no appropriate accreditation and had not been established in accordance with the Paris Principles, submitted a report to the UPR process, which analysed ten key areas. She voiced a particular satisfaction over the fact that in the Report of the High Commissioner 35 times the Report of Protector was cited.

Presenting the Report composed by the group of non-governmental organisations, Ms. Rajka Cica Perović, Director of the Centre for Child Rights, stated that the Report included key topics related to child’s rights, and that topics related to child’s protection in media and right of a child to accommodation in other family were added at the initiative of NGO sector. Out of the total number of recommendations, about 40 are related to child rights, in the field related to protection of the child against domestic violence, children with developmental difficulties, registration of children from RAE population, and those are clear, realistic, achievable, actual activities are necessary to be overtaken.

Mr. Benjamin Perks, Head of UNICEF Office in Montenegro, stated that the United Nations provided valuable help to the Ministry of Justice and persons with disabilities. Montenegro will deliver, this year, for the first time the Report on persons with disabilities, which would be discussed, considering it as important for the UPR process. According to the UNICEF Plan, which was being implemented in Montenegro, the Government did a lot regarding the protection of rights of Roma population, but it was necessary to strengthen the Government work regarding the overcoming of cultural barriers within this population and regarding to that stated that UNICEF together with Ministry of Education worked on the analysis of attendance of schools by Roma children. He emphasized that the progress in the field of child rights was achieved, but more activities should be directed to the rights of children with developmental difficulties. About 1700 children with disabilities attend elementary schools, which is the half of the total number of children with disabilities. The exact number of these children is not known, that is why it is necessary to determine the exact percentage of children with disabilities, which, so far, have only developed countries. There are different percentages of disability children: statistical, health and from social care system. Montenegro will be the first country to pilot the project under the auspices of the United Nations, which would enable, by the end of summer 2013, obtaining of accurate data on the number of the population. In addition, early detection of children disabilities is considered as  important, which is a task for of the health sector, with the aim of becoming familiar with disability and recording disability  even in maternity wards where capacity needs to be strengthened in this direction, as well as regarding the health and social care sector.

UNICEF welcomed the Report on Human Rights composed by ten non-governmental organisations gathered by the Centre for Child Rights, agreeing with all the observations in their report. The only data questionable for them is the one on the number of stateless children, for which they are not sure if it is correct, but it is indicated that more than half of stateless are children. He assessed that the media do not take much care when reporting on children. UNICEF will hold a lecture next week at the Faculty of Political Science "Media Reporting on Children", in order to help future young journalists. Furthermore, for reporting on children in institutions a code should be written with the rules of taking care when journalists write on exposing children to the public. Number of children in institutions is declining, which is positive, but it should be worked on strengthening the social and child protection. He announced the implementation of the research on violence against children, which would be implemented in cooperation with the Delegation of the Parliament in PACE, the results of which would be by the end of April 2013, which would be important for the purpose of taking specific actions to protect children from all forms of violence. Additional activities should be focused on the protection of child victims of violence.

He praised consideration of the three UPR reports, in which all participated, as quality process, concluding that the current reforms would primarily be reflected to state improvement.

Representative of UNHCR, the chargé d'affaires Ms. Indumathi Mohandas, stated that it was encouraging that significant efforts were made to resolve the status of displaced and internally displaced persons, making it necessary to adopt as soon as possible amendments to the Law on Foreigners, which would extend the deadline for displaced and internally displaced persons to regularize their legal status until December 2013. She emphasised that procedures for application should be further simplified for certain categories of displaced and internally displaced persons, especially children and the elderly. According to the UNHCR data, about 4,000 persons in Montenegro is with no citizenship, which should be dealt with immediately, arguing that the regulation of the legal status was of a great importance for integration in society and announced readiness of UNHCR to help. Thanks to the Government of Montenegro and the set of containers, the situation in Camp Konik is improved and efforts are being made to bring in electricity.

Finally, in terms of fundamental rights, it is necessary to provide all services in Konik, such as: health, security and a healthy environment.

Mr. Željko Šofranac, Director of the Bureau for the Care of Refugees stated that Montenegro did a lot in terms of resolving the status of displaced and internally displaced persons and that was a leader in this in the Balkans. He stressed that the number of stateless persons in Montenegro, listed by the representatives of UNHCR was not correct. The important story is the one on documents that are a problem for Roma 3000 (2100 in Konik), persons who came from Kosovo, of whom 90% are Roma. Obtaining the status of a foreigner, all the rights of these persons would be abolished, by coming under the jurisdiction of Montenegro and therefore, these persons did not apply. He pointed out that the simplified procedure for resolving the legal status of displaced and internally displaced persons in Montenegro regarding organisation of visits, there was 15 of those do far, was necessary, in order to obtain the needed documents, and that within the project housing problems of these persons would be solved, by building about 90 housing units in Podgorica and 62 Nikšić. In addition, 100 new containers shall be distributed to Konik II, so they will have a number of rights that local population do not have. For Camp Konik, where around 2100 people of the RAE population live, numerous activities for its closure are being undertaken.

Mr. Milan Radović, a representative of the NGO "Civic Alliance" assessed that apart of integration in Montenegrin society and possibility to return to their country of origin, more activities should be focused on providing a departure to a third country for displaced and internally displaced persons.

MP Snežana Jonica stated that actual activities aimed at strengthening the capacity and financial autonomy and independence of the institution of Ombudsman should be taken, as well as the economic empowerment of women, their increased participation in political life, prevention of domestic violence, with full respect for the rights of persons with disabilities, protection of children rights, especially the protection of from sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as to create conditions for the effective implementation of the treatment of juveniles in criminal proceedings.

MP Izet Bralić Dr. Primarius talked about the right to asset recovery and compensation, stating that additional measures should be taken as well as actions to address this issue and coordinate the work of the commission on the north, south and central part of Montenegro.

Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare has announced that, in addition to the amendment of the systemic Law Against Discrimination and the Law on the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro, amendments to the Law on the prohibition of discrimination against persons with disabilities, as well as reform of social centres were prepared.

Lady Director of NGO Centre for Child Rights announced the preparation of a study on the protection of migrant children in Montenegro.

At the end of the debate, the Minister Numanović praised the three UPR reports and their consolidated consideration. He concluded that we have a good legal framework, but after the good quality analysis it should be developed and implementation should be provided, experiencing it as a process. He pointed out that, in all of these areas, there is an obligation to contribute to the improvement of human rights protection in ultimately efficient and transparent manner. 

Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms assessed that the competent state bodies and institutions undertake a number of activities with the aim of improving the legal and institutional infrastructure for the protection of human rights.

From the very reports and discussion at the meeting of the Committee held today, it was concluded that in the period 2008-2012, Montenegro achieved a significant improvement in the system of protection of human rights and freedoms, which is a confirmation of commitment of Montenegro to the highest values ​​and principles of democracy and the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration and international documents on human rights.