Representative of NGO Mladiinfo Montenegro attended a presentation of key reports on the situation of human rights in Montenegro, held in the EU Info Center in Podgorica, where it was concluded that the state must invest more effort and resources in solving the problem of vulnerable groups.
Ivana Mihajlovic of the Union of Free Trade Unions of Montenegro said that their task was to deal with living standards in the country. In the year 2018, 23% of citizens were at risk of poverty, and today every fourth is on the verge of poverty. According to her, more than 80,000 employees in the country receive more than 250 euros, which places us in poor countries.
“It is a worrying fact that there are no data on a significant job creation, and a greater number of employees work under atypical working conditions,” Mihajlovic concluded.
Marina Djurovic, a member of the authorial team, said that business capacity is most often taken away by persons with disabilities (OSIs) in order to achieve social protection, and this is the highest level of discrimination, and the EU said that this should be resolved as soon as possible. She also recalled that accessibility of OSI facilities is far from satisfactory.
Samir Yaha, a representative of Roma, said that for 14 years he has been working on a program for improving the Roma community. Jaha argues that the government has adopted a strategy and identified key issues such as attention, rights to work, participation in cultural, political and economic life. In total, 77% of Roma children attend kindergartens and schools, and the government has provided school textbooks for Roma as well as free transportation in Podgorica, Niksic and Berane. According to him, the health of Roma is worse than in other people, because the average age of Roma is 59 years.
Jovan Ulicevic, director of NGO Spektar, said that there are no legal restrictions for LGBT people, but there are no publicly visible LGBT people in public politics. He recalled that since 2013 there has been a criminal law for those who commit violence against the LGBT person.
Marko Jusić, a children’s rights representative, said that a large number of health facilities are still not adapted to children with disabilities. Jusić also recalled that our country is one of the leading in the unbalanced number of born boys and girls. According to him, every fifth child experienced peer violence.
Marija Milic from the NGO Juventas stated that although the budget foresees the construction of new hospitals, nothing has changed in the field for years. She also noted that 27% of young people do not feel free to ask the chosen doctor about everything they are interested in.
Dina Bajramspahic of the Alternative stated that we have brutal cases of rewarding police officers who commit crimes. According to her, an official is again employed without public advertising and is now a commander in Ulcinj, where she used excessive force with three other officers, and the MUP stated that they had acted on duty.