At its 56th meeting held today, the Gender Equality Committee considered the Proposal for the 2016 Budget Law of Montenegro, in part relating to the following consumer units: Ministry of Human and Minority Rights -  Programme 3: Achieving gender equality and Programme 4: Improvement of position of RAE population, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare -  Programme 3: Centres for Social Services, Programme 4: Institute for Social and Child Welfare and Programme 5: Social, veteran and disability rights, Secretariat General of the Government of Montenegro -  Programme 3: Office for Fight Against Trafficking in Human Beings, Ministry of Defence, and Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro.

During the discussion, the Committee noted that the budget lines for funding the activities from Plan of Action for Gender Equality (PAPRR) 2013 – 2017 were not visible in Proposal for the Law, and that it made the manner of its consideration difficult from the aspect of competencies of the Gender Equality Committee. Furthermore, the Committee noted that it was necessary for the Government of Montenegro to make an effort in order to enable monitoring of the implementation of the Law on Gender Equality, primarily Articles 3 and 14, through the Law on Final Budget Statement for 2015, and also to plan the budget for 2017 in a manner that would recognise expenditures for activities from the field of gender equality.

The Committee supported the Proposal for the 2016 Budget Law of Montenegro with the majority of votes, and proposed to the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget, as the lead committee, to propose to the Parliament of Montenegro to adopt the Proposal for the 2016 Budget Law of Montenegro.

The Committee meeting was attended by: Mr Nikola Vukićević, Director General of the Directorate for Budget, Mr Ivan Krkeljić, Secretary General of the Protector, Mr Igor Vučinić, Head of Department for Protection of Risk Groups at the Directorate for Social Welfare and Child Protection at the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Mr Mersudin Gredić, Secretary of the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, Ms Biljana Pejović, Head of Department for Gender Equality of the Ministry, Ms Radmila Đakonović, Independent Advisor at the Directorate for Human Resources of the Ministry of Defence,  Ms Tamara Ivković, Independent Advisor at the Directorate for Budget, and Ms Marijana Radunović, Independent Advisor at the Office for Fight Against Trafficking in Human Beings.