The question of women's rights in Montenegro has not made the list of priority state policies so far. Although the Government of Montenegro decided for policies of European integrations, which demands important steps forward for a patriarchal society such as ours, facing the problem of violence against women, small representation of women in decision-making positions, discrimination of women, traditional division of roles between men and women, etc., the issue was not treated properly. This report was prepared by the Women’s Safe-House Montenegro NGO.

After the renewal of its statehood in 2006, Montenegro adopted and ratified a number of international human rights documents and treaties, including the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Government adopted the first Initial Report on Implementation of CEDAW only recently, in its session of February 25, 2010, upon proposal made by the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights.

The question of gender equality and women’s rights were brought to the fore by women’s NGOs - they also wrote the first CEDAW Shadow Report, but didn’t got a chance to present it, having in mind the fact that the Government has not yet submitted its Initial Report to the UN CEDAW Committee.

The most important legal document that guarantees equal human rights and freedoms for all is the Constitution of Montenegro, adopted on October 21, 2007.

Article 9 of the Constitution states that ratified international treaties and generally accepted rules of international law shall be considered an integral part of internal legal order, with priority over national legislation, and shall apply directly if they regulated the situations and relations in a manner different from the national education.

However, the general public in Montenegro has not been informed properly about the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. For that matter, the carries of executive, legislative and judicial branches of Government, with exception of few individuals, are equally uninformed.

Furthermore, Article 18 of the Constitution, under the title “Gender Equality”, states that “the State shall guarantee equality of women and men and develop equal opportunity policies”.

The guarantees given by the Constitution are further elaborated in a series of laws that regulate labour relations, employment, pension and disability insurance, education, healthcare and welfare, protection at the workplace, family relations, criminal offenses, etc.

On July 24, 2007, the Parliament adopted the Law on Gender Equality which defines, for the first time in national legislation, explicit ban of sexual discrimination.

Problems in the Area of Promotion and Protection of Women's Human Rights

Family Violence

Violence against women, especially family violence, is one of the most serious violations of women's human rights in Montenegro.

There is no state institution specifically charged with the task to work on empowerment, sheltering and protection for women and children victims of family violence, women and children from marginalized groups or single mothers. Some competences lie with Social Work Centres, but their engagement on the said problems has proved lacking. Social allowances for the victims are also minimal and fail to satisfy even the elementary existential needs.

In November 2003, Montenegro adopted the National Programme for Prevention of Violence, which lists a series of important activities: creation of educational—therapeutic centre, crisis centres for victims of violence, institutional advisory activities, creation of database, legislative reforms, trainings for professionals, etc. Alas, almost nothing of those planned activities were actually implemented.

It was the women’s NGOs that first raised family violence as one of the biggest and most serious problems in the community, and they were the first to provide relevant statistics and organized services to provide support and shelter for victims. Their professional and consistent actions led to the first changes and amendments to the Criminal Code of Montenegro and introduction of new offense – “Violence in the family or family community" (Article 220), in July 2002.

In addition, the Governmentt adopted the Declaration making 2010 the year to fight violence against women, which is a significant progress over past years when violence against women wasn't recognized and was treated as a private matter.

Nonetheless, such a serious matter requires a special law to regulate the issue of criminal responsibility for family violence and organization of a system of social support for the victims.

Again the nongovernmental organisations made an important contribution, translating their practical experience into comments and suggestions for improvements to the Draft-Law on Prevention of All Forms of Family Violence, prepared by a working group set up by the Ministry of Justice, which should be adopted by the end of 2010.

The adoption of such important legislation in the area of fighting violence against women, should greatly improved protection for victims of family violence. That will be possible only through efficient and consistent implementation, taking into account the experiences of other countries in the region that have already implemented similar legislation.

Women Trafficking

It was the NGOs in Montenegro that first brought up the problem of human trafficking and provided shelter for the victims that were previously treated as prostitutes and detained or deported to their homelands. On initiatives of OESC, in 2001 Montenegro established the Programme for Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking, and the first shelter for women victims of human trafficking opened under the auspices of the Safe Women's House NGO. A Project Committee was also created and charged with the task to implement the Programme, incorporatign representatives of relevant institutions, international organisations, OSCE and two women's NGOs - the Safe Women's House and Montenegro Women's Lobby. In July 2001, human trafficking was legally regulated with a special provision in the Criminal Code of Montenegro.

In February of that year, the Office of National Coordinator of the Fight against Human Trafficking was established and the Ministry of the Interior signed the first Memorandum of Cooperation with the two NGOs. The Memorandum was twice revised to include other relevant institutions, such as the Office of Supreme State Prosecutor, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Ministry of Education and Science, Police Directorate, NGOs Montenegro Women's Lobby, Safe Women House and Centre Plus. The agreement aims to facilitate cooperation in prevention, education, reporting and criminal prosecution of perpetrators and protection for potential victims of human trafficking, with full respect for their human rights, with the goal to ensure physical, psychological, healthcare, social protection and ease their integration into society, or reintegration for voluntary returnees in their countries of origin.

In 2004, the Government took—over the financing of the Shelter for Victims of Human Trafficking, now managed by the Montenegro Women’s Lobby.

Human trafficking is outlawed by Article 444 of the Criminal Code. It is regulated, however, in many other provisions in the national legislation. In November 2003, the Government adopted the National Strategy for Fight against Human Trafficking, defining activities for suppression of the problem in three categories: Criminal prosecution, protection and prevention, with definitions of institutions that will carry the activities and proper timeframes.

In a parallel process, the institutional framework for implementation of the Strategy was put in place through the creation of a Working Group with representatives from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour and Welfare, Ministry of Education and Sciency, as well as OSCE, the Council of Europe, International Organisation for Migrations and U.S. Embassy as observers.

In addition, a Sub-Group for Fight against Trafficking in Children was created under the auspices of the Project Committee.

Although we could say that Montenegro today has well established institutional and legal framework for the problem of human trafficking, the number of Court sentences for related offenses is far from satisfactory. Since 2004, 17 sentences for human trafficking were issued, only four of which are effective.

Trials take to long to complete, victims are exposed to secondary victimisation and we shouldn’t be surprised that they often give up on further prosecution. In spite of the fact that both the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Law provide a series of witness protection measures, they are not used sufficiently enough.

Also, there was no case of punitive damages awarded to victims of human trafficking, and in only one case property of a person accused of human trafficking was confiscated, in that particular case the vehicle used to transport the victim.

Discrimination of Women

Article 8 of the Constitution bans direct and indirect discrimination on any grounds.

The Constitution also guarantees that introduction of regulations and special measures directed to ensure gender equality and protect persons that find themselves in unequal position on any grounds, shall not be considered discriminatory.

It does add that such special measure may apply only for the duration of the time necessary to achieve their aims.

Article 18 of the Constitution states that “the State shall guarantee equality of women and men and develop equal opportunity policies”.

Montenegro still lacks a special law on prevention of discrimination. The draft is under preparation and is expected to be adopted soon.

The state has established institutional mechanisms for gender equality: Parliamentary Gender Equality Committee, Department of Gender Equality at the Ministry of Minority Rights, and Ombudsman. Those mechanisms are charged with the implementation of policies for elimination of gender-based discrimination.

Their results have been dismal so far, due in part to the fact that the State doesn't provide the funding for implementation of such policies.

The Government Report of October 2007, "Budgeting Processes in Montenegro and Gender Equality", states that the Government and the civil sector make efforts to ensure gender equality, but those have not been visible in practice. The 2007 Gender Equality Law is more of an advisory text than prescribing concrete action.

The state didn’t adopt affirmative action measures to eliminate certain types of gender-based discrimination, nor did it prepare national programmes for awareness raising that would change customary law.

Women's Movement in Montenegro

The whole story about women’s rights and gender equality started more than a dozen years ago, parallel with emergence of first women's NGOs in Montenegro. Today, there are a number of organisations that contribute to growing public awareness about the need to respect and improve women rights and try to bring Montenegro closer to the societies at a higher level of democratic development.

NGOs that were involved in the preparation of the alternative CEDAW Report, with support by the Open Society Institute Foundation, were: ANIMA-Kotor, the coordinating body for the activity; Women Safe House; SOS Nikšić; Montenegro Women’s Lobby; Women Group Stela; Women for Better Tomorrow; House of Hope; and the League of Women Voters; as well as a number of active individual women. The organisations implement activities in the area of peace and women studies, fight to prevent violence against women and children, women's participation in political life, fight against human trafficking, etc.

Recommendations

Family Violence

• Speed up the procedure for adoption of the Law on Prevention of Family Violence
• Educate the institutions about the provisions and efficient implementation of Law on Prevention of Family Violence and the National Action Plan
• Create a special budget to finance the implementation of the Law on Prevention of Family Violence and the National Action Plan
• Secure national instruments for consistent implementation of international recommendations and respect of accepted international obligations to create holistic strategy and systemic solutions in prevention of family violence and gender-based violence
• Obligate the Government to report regularly to the international bodies on the problem of family violence and measures implemented to resolve and alleviate the problem
• Increase national funding for support to services and offices that deal with the problem of family violence
• Incorporate educational programmes on prevention and elimination of gender-based violence into all levels of education system
• Put the victims in the focus of attention with all relevant entitites organized in such a way to provide as efficient assistance as possible
• Obligate the institutions in all municipalities (police departments, social work centres, courts, healthcare institutions) to record cases of family violence and create a statistical database on cases of family violence
• Obligate the institutions to publish statistics on family violence regularly, to raise the visibility of the problem
• Promote multi-disciplinary approach to the problem
• Legislate the obligatory removal of the perpetrator from the home
• Create a protocol of activities to be taken by the relevant institutions in cases of family violence, as mandatory act on national level
• Mandatory education of employees in the relevant institutions about the problem of family violence
• Create crisis centres and shelters for the victims of family violence
• Simplify divorce procedures, child custody and support, addiction rehabilitation
• Secure free legal assistance for the victims on welfare, and financial support during the period in which there is threat of violence
• Ensure strict respect for the principles of urgency of trial in litigation referring to child custody in cases of family violence and prescribe measures and deadlines
• Establish a Family Court that would specialize in this type of violent offenses, providing true meaning to the provisions of the Law in the sense of efficient protection for the victim, with full adherence to the principle of urgency
• State bodies have to gather sufficient evidence to ensure the continuation of prosecution even in those cases where the victim decided not to bring charges
• Create a monitoring body that will follow the implementation of the Law, plans and policies related to family violence
• Provide protection for victims of family violence during and after the trial in Court
• Introduce more draconic sanctions for perpetrators of family violence
Women Trafficking
• Intensify the cooperation between NGOs and institutions on the preparation and monitoring of implementation of the Strategy for Fighting Human Trafficking and associated annual action plans.
• Upgrade the victim support services and allow them to choose between states services and those offered by the NGOs.
• Adopt proper and precise protocols for reception and support for victims.
• Launch initiative to secure the victims of human trafficking the status of social category in welfare legislation, to allow them to qualify for social, healthcare, material and other support
• Secure stable financing for representation of victims in Court. Speed up trials in cases of human trafficking and introduce harsher sanctions.
• Secure adequate protection for victims and witnesses in trials, in line with measures prescribed by the Criminal Procedure Law and Criminal Code provisions on witness protection before, during and after trial.
• Ensure victims will be compensated from the confiscated assets of persons charged with human trafficking.
• Improve reintegration programmes and increase the choice of vocational trainings for the victims.
• Speed up trials of cases of human trafficking and ensure long-term psycho-social support for the victims.
Discrimination of Women
• Synchronise national legislation with the provisions of CEDAW
• Ensure collection of gender-sensitive statistics
• Ensure efficient implementation of the Plan for Achievement of Gender Equality, as well as monitoring bz politically and financially independent bodies and NGOs
• Ensure regular reporting on the implementation of the Plan
• Introduce affirmative action measures in areas of under-representation for women.
• Adopt a Law on Prevention of Discrimination and set up the instruments for its efficient implementation.
Sources
• The Shadow Report for the UN CEDAW Committee, prepared by a group of Montenegro NGOs
• Government Report “Budgeting Processes and Gender Equality in Montenegro", October 2007.
• Statistics collected by NGOs and practical experience the Women Safe-House gathered during its years of work
• The web-site of the Government's Department of Gender Equality