Chairperson of the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms Dr Halil Duković participated at the Meeting on Promoting Human Rights and Minority Protection in South East Europe, held in Podgorica today. 

The meeting of institutions and organisations dealing with promotion of human rights and minority protection in South East Europe was organised as a part of the joint project of the Council of Europe and European Union titled “Promoting Human Rights and Minority Protection in South East Europe”. Beneficiary countries of this programme are Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Kosovo. Meeting in Montenegro was organised in cooperation with the institution of the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro.

The Meeting was organised by Mr Suljo Mustafić, the Vice President of the Parliament of Montenegro, and the participants were greeted by Mr Šućko Baković, the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro and Mr Markus Jeger, representative of the Council of Europe, supervisor of the regional project “Promoting Human Rights and Minority Protection in South East Europe”.

Vice President of the Parliament of Montenegro Mr Suljo Mustafić stated that the state of Montenegro had passed a long way in the recent period from the time when individuals were the defence of violated human and minority rights and the protection for the whole collectives, up to the present circumstances, where we have established government institutions dealing with improvement and protection of human rights. He emphasized that on that path, lasting for decades, the social awareness had raised in Montenegro about the fact that there were minority groups, individuals and collectives who needed protection, as well as minorities striving for affirmation and institutions with presence of their representatives. Observation of human rights and diversity affirmation ambient was the foundation of every free and democratic society. Devoted work on institutional strengthening of human rights protection was an obligation of all segments of society, and the first step on that path is the legislation governing this area. After the Constitution, where a regulation governing the field of human and minority rights was based in a significant part, the Parliament adopted several laws, directly or indirectly promoting this area, and adoption of it was assessed as very important in the analysis and recommendations of our European partners, thus we earned the opening of negotiations with the European Union.

Vice President of the Parliament emphasised that the good foundation to build institutions on had been created through legislative regulations in the field of human and especially minority rights protection, anti-discrimination laws and especially through the Law on Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms, but also that implementation of regulations in practice was very important.

- Here it is necessary further to improve the role of the Parliament in the way more and better to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the adopted laws as well as review their efficiency and evaluate their effectiveness, Mustafić pointed out.

In addition, he emphasised that legislation, set strategy and ratification of international documents and conventions were not sufficient by themselves, but that it takes to create full awareness of the society that minorities represent the part of our social reality and that it was necessary to show more understanding and sensitivity in everyday life.

-. Minority institutions - minority councils - got their place and become recognizable institutions in society despite their initial disorientation, as well as the lack of the budget allocated by the state. Minority Fund and the Centre for the Preservation of Minority Culture, in spite of insufficient funds and numerous dilemmas have become the support to many significant projects for the preservation of the national, linguistic, cultural and religious identity of minorities, Vice President of the Parliament Mr Suljo Mustafić added.

He stated that we had to fight jointly these institutions to keep gaining strength and importance, as their strengthening provides a clearer vision of minority policy and strengthens the cohesion of society, resulted from the confidence of minorities in their institutions and the country they live in.

Electoral legislation has created a mechanism for authentic minority representation in the Parliament. The fact is that this electoral law has reached almost full consensus, but the little it lacked, implies that these mechanisms should be further improved through better decisions at the state and local level, where it has not been done. Vice President Mustafić assessed that adopted legislation, particularly in the field of protection of minority rights, was slowly taking root in practice, and that it was necessary to provide additional mechanisms to protect the rights of minority ethnic communities, in line with the Constitution. This is especially related to the provision of proportional representation of minorities in state and local institutions, and all branches of government. We think that numerous visible and measurable progress should be made regarding that, as integration of minorities depends primarily on their presence in decision-making process.

The Vice President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Mr. Suljo Mustafić, said that since the restoration of its statehood, Montenegro made significant progress in the field of human rights and institution building. Further construction of Montenegro as a democratic society and a society of diversity affirmation, largely depends on the achievements of the Parliament, whether it is about the legislation adoption or strengthening of its ability to exercise control or oversight law enforcement, especially regarding minority and human rights.

Ombudsman of Montenegro, Mr. Šućko Baković said that Montenegro provided normative and institutional assumptions for protection of rights of minorities and other national minority communities.

The Constitution of Montenegro provides special minority right, legal principle of affirmative action of minorities was adopted, but its application at the local level is not defined by electoral legislation. The Law on Minority Rights and Freedoms and the Anti-discrimination Law were adopted. The Government of Montenegro adopted the Strategy on minority policy. Documents of the Council of Europe were adopted – Framework Convention on Protection of National Minorities and European Charter on Regional and Minority Languages. The Ombudsman said that apart from significant progress in this area, representatives of minority nations face problems in the area of public employment, in proportional representation in legal-political system institutions, in political presentations, as well as certain problems in the area of education, culture, information and publishing. He believes that these bodies and institutions should, in the shortest possible period, take necessary activities to improve this situation. Furthermore, it is necessary to provide member of minorities with possibility to develop their talents.

The Ombudsman said that minority councils should have important role in safeguarding the rights of minorities, and it is believed that members of minority council should be appointed through direct elections, which should be determined by changing existing regulations. Fund for the protection and realization of minority rights also plays a significant role, but the Board of Directors of the Fund is predominantly composed by representatives of political parties, which is not good and civil society representatives and experts in the field of minority politics should have greater role.

Ombudsman of Montenegro concluded that the respect of rights of minorities and other minority national communities is very important for the development of a democratic state, as well as for including Montenegro into European integration flows.

Mr. Markus Jeger, representative of the Council of Europe, supervisor of the regional project “Promoting Human Rights and Minority Protection in South East Europe”, thanked to the meeting organizers and expressed pleasure over guidelines given in the very beginning in terms of positive and negative assessments relating to protection and promotion of minorities. He pointed out that the essence of the meeting is to determine the status of human and minority rights in the country, as well as a test for the protection of human rights in the country. Similar activities were implemented throughout Europe and were followed by criticism of the expert body in order to better implement the provisions contained in the conventions on human rights and freedoms. Noting that the Council of Europe and the European Union have joined efforts to realize this regional project in all the countries of the former Yugoslavia, except Slovenia, he said that the idea of the project is to come out from the national framework when considering minority rights, and to discuss these issues at the regional level of cooperation of all countries od South-Eastern Europe. Speaking about the methodology, he said that the first meeting will be organized in each country individually in order to determine the state of human rights and minority policies, shortcomings in the legislation of these countries, and taken concrete measures to enhance the adequate implementation of the relevant national laws and promotion of the best practices and development of a functional network of relevant national authorities. He considers important - that the European Union and the Council of Europe took a broad approach in the field of minority politics.

Mr. Markus Jeger said that there are three regional projects in this area. One project relates to national minorities, the other on a particular aspect of minority protection which is inclusive education and the third is related to the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians.

Speaking about the purpose of the meeting, he stated that the problem minorities face should be identified, and to discuss ways to address them. He urged all the participants of the meeting to speak openly about the problems in order to be clearly see what functions in Montenegro and what does not, believing that the best approach, in order to proceed with the project implementation of concrete actions to improve the situation of human rights in Montenegro and countries in the region, which will help raise the reputation of these countries in the international community and encourage trust among countries in the region.

Ms. Marijana Laković, Deputy to the Ombudsman expressed hope that the problems members of minorities in Montenegro facing will be identified, and that the Council of Europe will make concrete plan of activities for Montenegro.

At the first panel with the topic: “Promoting and protection of Minority Rights in Montenegro” Ms. Marijana Laković, Deputy to the Ombudsman of Montenegro for minority rights, anti-discrimination and gender equality, Mr. Sabahudin Delić, assistant to the Minister for Human and Minority Rights and  Mr. Aleksandar Saša Zeković, expert on human rights had exposure.

At the second panel with the topic: ”Role and work of the Minority Council in Montenegro” Mr. Tahir Tahiri, the President of the Albanian National Council, Mr. Šerbo Rastoder, professor PhD, the President of the Bosniac, Mr. Miroslav Franović, the President of the Croatian National Council and Ms. Ana Popović from Roma National Council had exposure.

After their exposures and discussion, draft conclusion was presented and it was announced that after additional consultations and formulating the final conclusions they will be delivered to all participants.