A delegation of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) visited Montenegro from 30 September to 4 October 2024 as the first step in the preparation of a monitoring report. During the visit, ECRI’s delegation gathered information on effective equality and access to rights; hate speech and hate-motivated violence; and integration and inclusion.

In Podgorica, the delegation held meetings with representatives of the Montenegrin government, the equality body, international organisations, civil society organisations and groups of concern to ECRI.

The delegation also went to the Podgorica neighbourhood of Konik, where it visited a school with a large majority of Roma pupils, as well as the city of Berane, where it held meetings with representatives of the municipal authorities and Roma non-governmental organisations and visited a Roma community.

Following this visit, ECRI will adopt a report in 2025 in which it will make a new set of recommendations on measures to be taken by the authorities to address racism and intolerance in the country. The implementation of two priority recommendations will be reviewed in two years’ time after publication of the report as part of ECRI’s interim follow-up procedure.

In its last report on Montenegro, ECRI recommended, inter alia, (§62) amending the Law on Free Legal Aid to enable Roma at risk of statelessness to benefit from it during the late birth registration procedure and (§83) that the authorities further strengthen the capacity of the Ombudsman to carry out its antidiscrimination mandate effectively (including the freedom to appoint its own staff and sufficient funding to provide for additional human resources and to promote awareness-raising, including conduct of research and field activities).

For more information on previous ECRI reports on Montenegro, please visit ECRI’s country monitoring page.