Victim assistance commitments

Montenegro is responsible for landmine survivors, cluster munition victims, and survivors of other explosive remnants of war (ERW). Montenegro has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty and has victim assistance obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Montenegro ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 2 November 2009.

Casualties

There were no mine/ERW casualties identified in Montenegro in 2014. The last mine/ERW casualties were reported were in July 2012, when six casualties were identified in one incident with an antivehicle mine; four adults and two children were injured while traveling in a car near the city of Gusinje, close to the border with Albania. One of the adults, a woman, was Albanian.[1]

Prior to 2012, the last casualties reported in Montenegro were in 2008, when a border police officer was injured when he drove over a landmine and, in a separate incident, a child was injured by a hand grenade he found in a wall in Podgorica.[2]

The Monitor identified 18 mine/ERW casualties (four killed and 14 injured) between 1999 and December 2013. This included seven children; adult casualties included a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Albanian citizen (in 2012).[3]

Cluster munition casualties

At least nine cluster munition casualties have been reported for Montenegro.[4] Unexploded submunitions have caused four civilian casualties since their use in 1999. Another five casualties occurred during cluster munition strikes, of which at least four were civilians.[5] In 2013, Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), in cooperation with the Montenegrin Regional Centre for Underwater Demining, identified seven survivors of cluster munitions in Montenegro.[6]

Victim Assistance

The total number of survivors living in Montenegro is not known; in 2004, 260 mine/ERW survivors were recorded as living in Montenegro.[7] The Monitor recorded another 10 mine/ERW survivors from incidents since 2004.[8]

Victim assistance coordination and participation

Montenegro designated contacts within the ministries of health, and labor and social welfare as victim assistance focal points for the implementation of Article 5 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions; there is no specific victim assistance coordination mechanism.[9] In 2013, the government re-established the council on the rights of persons with disabilities within the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. The then short-lived council had been abolished in 2011.[10] National NGOs criticized the placement of the council within the ministry, asserting that its lack of independence would limit its role and importance.[11]

The ministries of health, labor and social welfare, education and sports, science, culture, and human and minority rights all have responsibilities for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. In December 2007, Montenegro adopted the Strategy for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities in Montenegro (2008–2016) to ensure compliance with the CRPD.[12] An action plan for implementing the strategy in 2014–2015 was adopted in March 2014, including specific targets to improve availability and access to services and programs such as healthcare, social protection, and professional rehabilitation, as well as to align policies and laws with the provisions of the CRPD.[13] An intergovernmental working group, which includes representatives of persons with disabilities, monitors the implementation of the strategy and its action plans.[14] The implementation of the strategy and action plans was found to be “poor” and “significantly behind.”[15]

As of March 2014, Montenegro had not designated a focal point for the implementation of the CRPD or an independent mechanism to promote, protect, and monitor its implementation as called for by Article 33 (1) of the convention. In March 2014, Montenegro submitted its initial report on the implementation of the CRPD, which was due in 2011.[16]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

According to the government, emergency medical care is available for all citizens of Montenegro through the national Institute for Urgent Health Care.[17] Mine/ERW survivors, including survivors of cluster submunitions, along with all victims of war, are entitled to free medical care and physical rehabilitation, including prosthetic limbs, through the national health insurance system. This law, regulating the national health insurance, recognizes the category of victims of cluster munitions. It does not discriminate against or among cluster munitions victims, or between cluster munitions victims and those who have suffered injuries or disabilities from other causes; differences in treatment are based only on medical, rehabilitative, psychological, or socio-economic needs of victims.[18]

Survivors may be entitled to a monthly pension and other benefits, based on the degree of their disability, on equal terms as other persons with disabilities.[19] A law passed in May 2013 severely cut benefits for persons with disabilities, eliminating the subsidies received by some persons with disabilities.[20] Disability allowances provided in 2014 did not cover the cost of living.

Only persons with a category of disability higher than 70% are recognized by national laws, raising concerns about discrimination between persons with disabilities. Discrimination is also present in the medical sector where healthcare is guaranteed, to a large extent, to children, but not adults, and to veterans with disabilities and civilian war victims, but not persons with other causes of disabilities.[21]

Rehabilitation services are possible only for certain types of disability and mostly only provided as one-time assistance, immediately after the injury or treatment. A small number of persons with disabilities are able to access appropriate rehabilitation services for a longer period of time. A survey of persons with disabilities shows that more than half (as many as 57%) do not use physical rehabilitation services due to limited availability or because they are not entitled to it by law.[22]

In 2014, unemployment remained a serious problem for persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors. While there was a quota system that required employers to hire persons with disabilities, many employers opted instead to make payment into the government fund for employment and professional rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. In 2014, there were allegations that the use of resources by the fund was not transparent.[23] Significant prejudice among employers when it comes to employing persons with disabilities continued to impact economic integration of mine/ERW survivors.[24]

In November 2012, the Montenegrin court system awarded €85,000 in compensation for pain and suffering to the family members of a boy who was killed by a cluster submunition in 1999.[25] The court ruled that the state of Montenegro failed in its obligation to “protect and guarantee the safety of the citizens” when it failed to “warn the citizens about the immediate danger to life and safety and to properly control the area in the given circumstances;” those circumstances included the presence of cluster munition remnants following bombing.[26]

National laws and policies

The law on higher education was passed in October 2014, enabling students with disabilities to enroll in basic and higher-level studies in accordance with application of the principles of affirmative action (for example: free admission, testing, and examinations organized under conditions and in the form adjusted to student’s disability). Progress was slow, but noticeable, as there were more students with disabilities entering university and the level of awareness was rising.[27] Nevertheless, most schools were inaccessible and systematic support to students with disabilities was absent.

The Law on Prohibition of Discrimination of People with Disabilities (2011) was not implemented effectively. Montenegrin law required that public facilities be made accessible to persons with disabilities by September 2013, but a number of institutions remained inaccessible after the deadline.[28] Access to buildings for people with disabilities remained limited, including for education and medical facilities. The European Commission (EC) reported that none of the 13 priority buildings in public use had been adapted in 2014.[29] The government of Montenegro had allocated €400,000 for construction of accessibility ramps and the removal of physical barriers, but no public buildings had been made accessible by October 2014.[30]

Monitoring and penalties of provisions to increase employment of persons with disabilities remained weak and financial support paid to employers for employing persons with disabilities was insufficiently protected against misuse, according to the EC.[31]

The Ministry of Human and Minority Rights drafted a new law prohibiting discrimination against persons with disabilities in 2014, responding to a call from national civil society and to the need to regulate the rights and improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities. The draft law was open for public discussion in August and September 2014.[32]

The law was approved by the government and forwarded to the parliament for further handling on 4 June 2015. The text of the draft law as approved by the government differs significantly from the text that was the subject of public discussion. It contains weaker provisions for persons with disabilities. Therefore civil society and disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs) of Montenegro made a public appeal to prevent the law from being rushed through with the so called expedient procedure, and without the involvement of persons with disabilities in further consultations.[33] In 2014, the EC also noted that the law prohibiting discrimination against persons with disabilities had shortcomings.[34]