Year: 2020

The first legislative activity submitted by several MP’s after the constitution of the new Government of Montenegro and new convocation of the Parliament was the Draft Law Amending the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees.

Considering the proposed provisions, the broader context and the current situation in public administration, our goal is to provide a critical review of managerial positions in the public administration, including the proposed changes by the new MP’s. In addition, we aim to identify other depoliticisation strategies and professionalisation of managerial positions, that have not been covered yet neither by the initiatives of the old authorities nor by the new one.

The need to dismantle the employment according to party preferences, set by the previous government-  the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and its coalition partners, is something that following the elections on Aug. 30, 2020  has often been highlighted in public as a main priority.

The research conducted for the needs of the Institute Alternative, showed that Montenegrin citizens considered political and personal ties to be an easier path to “public administration” employment, than their education and expertise. The “Surveillance affair” also contributed to that, revealing in 2013 the “party employment” mechanisms, as one of the main levers of former government. On the other hand, there was a lot of speculation regarding the so-called employment “by depth” proposed by certain political parties of the new parliamentary majority, without specifying what kind of “depth” and positions they refer to.

 

Download analysis here (Montenegrin version)

Human Rights Action (HRA) and Institute Alternative (IA) have called upon the new Minister of Health, Ms. Jelena Borovinić Bojović, to urgently amend the order banning gatherings in public, so as to give citizens the right to protest, in accordance with international human rights standards, in a manner that does not violates public health.

The same letter has been sent ten days ago to the previous Minister of Health, Mr. Kenan Hrapović, who was chairing the National Coordination Body (NCB) at the time, but he did not respond.

As the new Minister enabled citizens to attend religious ceremonies indoors, with distance and masks, we believe that there is no reason not to allow public gatherings outdoors, with limited number of people, in accordance with the same rules.

We remind that the police recently warned the activists of “Save the Rivers of Montenegro” and the residents of the villages of Rečina and Bare Kraljske, who protested against the construction of small hydro-power plants, that their protests violated the ban on public gatherings and that they could be arrested. The fifteen of them gathered in public to protest while wearing masks and respecting the social distance.

This year, the Constitutional Court of Germany, in relation to the ban on protest gatherings in the city of Giessen, decided that even during the pandemic, the right to protest must be provided to a limited number of people, who wear masks and keep social distance.

On the other hand, the Constitutional Court of Montenegro has never decided on the initiative for assessing the constitutionality of the ban on political gatherings in public places, which was submitted by the HRA and IA on June 29 this year.

In addition to the ban on gatherings in public places indoors and outdoors, it is also currently forbidden in Montenegro to gather in residential buildings with persons who are not members of a joint family household, with the exception of those who care for those who cannot perform daily activities due to illness, condition or consequence of injury. Funerals of up to 10 people are allowed, and gatherings in public are limited to a maximum of four people.

The new measures allow the presence of a limited number of citizens to religious ceremonies while respecting epidemiological measures – wearing a mask, keeping a distance of 2m, providing disinfectants at the entrance/exit of the building and a ban on touching objects of common use. The number of citizens who can attend religious ceremonies depends on the size of the building, so each attendant must be provided with 10m2 of space.

HRA and IA insist that respect for human rights must be ensured during the pandemic as well, in accordance with the needs of public health, especially bearing in mind that state of emergency has never been declared in the country.

HRA and IA jointly implement the project ‘’Voice Your Rights! – Expanding Space for Free Assemblies’’, supported by European Union through the Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, Program for Montenegro 2018. Content of this initiative is sole responsibility of IA and HRA and in no way reflect the views of European Union.

On International Anti-Corruption Day, NGOs Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector (MANS), Human Rights Action (HRA), the Institute Alternative (IA), the Centre for Monitoring and Research (CEMI) and the Center for Civil Liberties (CEGAS), submitted draft amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information to the Ministry of Public Administration.

This is the first anti-corruption law proposed to the new government with the aim of enabling citizens, the media and the NGO sector to play a more active role in fighting corruption and controlling the work of the government.

We urge the Minister Tamara Srzentić to accept our proposals and schedule a public debate as soon as possible, in order for this law to be urgently harmonised with international standards.

The European Commission and numerous international institutions have repeatedly pointed out the need to amend this Law, especially emphasising the importance of access to information that may indicate corruption and unlawful work of institutions.

The proposed draft repeals a number of legal provisions introduced by the former government in order to declare thousands of documents of public importance state or business secrets.

The draft proposes new and more precise definitions of the terms information and harm and public interest test, harmonised with international standards, and prescribes more precisely the conditions under which data can be declared secret.

It is envisaged for the institutions and other reporting entities under the law to publish much more information on their websites, especially on spending of their budgets.

The competencies of the second instance body have been strengthened to control the accuracy of allegations of the institutions that they do not have the requested data, as well as to ensure the implementation of decisions.

The new Government has repeatedly stated that its work would be transparent, so we expect that it will be ready to propose amendments to this law as soon as possible, as a clear message that it is willing to break with the current practice of withholding information of public interest.

NGO Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector – MANS
NGO Human Rights Action – HRA
NGO Institute Alternative – IA
Centre for Monitoring and Research – CEMI
Center for Civil Liberties – CEGAS