The Council of Europe launched a new project, entitled “Support to the National Institutions in Preventing Discrimination in Montenegro” (PREDIM), which took place on 15 March 2016 in Hotel Ramada in Podgorica, Montenegro. The project has been developed under the IPA 2014 framework and joint cooperation of the Council of Europe and the European Union, and involves key national institutions with a human rights protection mandate – Ombudsperson’s Office, Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, Ministry of Justice and national Centre for Training in judiciary and state prosecution service.
The PREDIM project was presented in the opening address made by key partners’ institution, which reaffirmed their willingness and commitment to cooperate and streamline the anti-discrimination policies in line with the European standards. Mr Mikhail Lobov, Head of the Human Rights Policy and Co-operation Department, Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe, highly praised the commitment of the Montenegrin authorities in the area of non-discrimination, and emphasised that the Council of Europe is looking forward to cooperation in the areas identified by the CPT and the ECRI as main challenges such as ill-treatment in places of deprivation of liberty and discrimination of vulnerable groups.
H.E. Mitja Drobnič, Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Montenegro, welcomed the commencement of the PREDIM Project, underlining the importance of aligning legislation with European human rights standards, and foremost – through concrete results obtained from the practice of key national institutions specialised in the protection of human rights.
The Launching event also provided an opportunity for presentations made by Council of Europe consultants, Ms Maria Filatova and Mr Dusan Ignjatovic, who discussed the relevance of the application of the ECtHR case-law and the importance of national institutional architecture in safeguarding anti-discrimination principles in practice.
