The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, will pay a one-week high-level official visit to Montenegro from Monday 2 June to assess the overall human rights situation in the country.
Mr Hammarberg’s agenda focuses on a broad range of issues including the functioning of the judiciary, conditions of detention, torture and ill-treatment, freedom of expression and the media, minority rights, trafficking in human beings, gender equality, children’s rights and juvenile justice.
The Commissioner and his delegation will travel to Podgorica, Budva, Bijelo Polje, Berane, Dobrota and Kotor to visit various institutions such as police stations, detention centres, refugee communities, shelters for children and women and the country’s psychiatric hospital.
During the visit, the Commissioner will meet with top state officials including the President, Mr Filip Vujanovic, the Prime Minister, Mr Milo Dukanovic, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Milan Rocen, the Minister of Justice, Mr Miras Radovic, the Minister of Interior, Mr Jusuf Kalamperovic, the Minister for the Human and Minority Rights, Mr Fuad Nimani, as well as the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ranko Krivokapic. Further talks will be held with parliamentarians, the President of the Supreme Court, the State Prosecutor, the Ombudsman, representatives of state agencies and local authorities. Moreover, Mr Hammarberg’s agenda includes meetings with representatives of the international organisations and civil society.
The Commissioner will present his preliminary observations on Friday 6 June at 19h00 during a press conference organised in Crna Gora Hotel (Bulevar Svetog Petra Cetinjskog 2, 81000 Podgorica).
The visit is part of the activities carried out in accordance with the Commissioner’s mandate to assess the implementation of human rights commitments by all Council of Europe member states. An assessment report with relevant recommendations will be presented and published in Autumn.