Council of Europe to assess human rights situation in Montenegro

Press Release n° 396(2008), Council of Europe, May 30, 2008, Strasbourg, France

See online: Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights.

Mr. Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Thomas Hammarberg [1], will pay a one-week high-level official visit to Montenegro from Monday June 2nd 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 of Montenegro, Mr. Filip Vujanović, the Prime Minister, Mr. Milo Đukanović, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Milan Roćen, the Minister of Justice, Mr. Miraš Radović, the Minister of Interior, Mr. Jusuf Kalamperović, the Minister for the Human and Minority Rights, Mr. Fuad Nimani, as well as the Speaker of the Parliament, Mr. Ranko Krivokapić. 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 June 6 at 07:00pm during a press conference organised in Hotel “Crna Gora”, Bulevar Svetog Petra Cetinjskog 2, in 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.

Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights

PRESS CONTACTS:
Mrs. Ana Vukčević, mobile +382 (0)67 305 050
Mr. Berry Kralj, mobile +33 (0)6 63 484 793

[1] The Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent, non-judicial institution within the Council of Europe, mandated to promote awareness of, and respect for, human rights in the organisation’s 47 member states. Elected by the Council’s Parliamentary Assembly, the present Commissioner, Mr. Thomas Hammarberg, took up his duties on April 1st, 2006.