The meeting was held upon the initiative of the President of Council for Civilian Control of Police Operations with the aim of establishing the cooperation between the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms and the Council.

MrAleksandar Saša Zeković, President of Council for Civilian Control of Police Operations, spoke about previous police work in Montenegro, indicating to the need of joint actions of all competent bodies aimed at increasing the confidence in its work. He stressed that the police must be available for all Montenegrin citizens, adding that people with disabilities must be provided with an adequate architectural access to police departments. He said that the possibility for employing a greater number of persons with disabilities and national minority members in police should be considered.

At the meeting, the interlocutors shared views on implementation of authorisation of police officials in cases of family violence as well as their relation to members of LGBT population.

Mr Halil Duković, Chairperson of Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms, voiced readiness for future cooperation and participation of the Committee in solving the said problems, in line with its competences established by the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Montenegro. He agrees that people with disabilities must be provided with adequate architectural access to public facilities as soon as possible, including police departments of the Police Administration. He also thinks that it is necessary to create conditions for greater employment of persons with disabilities, because in the previous implementation of the Law on Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of the Persons with Disabilities, the practice showed that employers more often paid a special contributions to the Institute for Education and Vocational Rehabilitation of Children and Youth with Disabilities in Podgorica than employing these persons. In order to increase the number of minority members and other national minority communities in police services, it is necessary to encourage young people, members of minorities, to enrol the Police Academy in larger number, and thus, after acquiring skills in this field, create a space for their own employment, while on the occasion of their admittance to the Academy, measures of affirmative action should be applied.

President of the Council for Civilian Control of Police Operations proposed the consideration of possibility for holding a joint meeting of the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms, Committee on Heath, Labour and Social Welfare and Committee on European Integration on the topic of: “European integration, police and human rights”, and Mr Duković expressed his readiness to do so, pointing out that it should be also agreed with chairpersons of the concerned committees.

The interlocutors voiced expectance that the cooperation between the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms and Council for Civilian Control of Police Operations will be continued during the year through concrete activities.