Namely, out of 110 leading functions at the Government of Montenegro (President, Vice-President, Ministers, Directors of Directorates, Chiefs of the Cabinet and Councilors of the Prime Minister, General Secretary and its Deputy, Assistants and Councilors) there is no representative of Roma nationality. Only one representative of Albanian nationality holds one of these functions in the Government.
Civic Alliance severely condemns such under representation and invites the President and the Government, to undertake urgent and concrete steps for proportional representation of members of minorities’ population at the leading functions in executive power, which has been guaranteed by the Constitution and legal provisions.
Although Article 8 of the Constitution and Article 39 of the Law on minority rights and freedoms clearly define that each direct and indirect discrimination are prohibited on any grounds, and although Article 79, Paragraph 10 of the Constitution and Article 25 of Law on minority rights and freedoms prescribe that rights and freedom to proportional representation in public services, bodies of public authority and local self-government are guaranteed to representatives of minority rights, these provisions are not observed adequately, and members of minorities’ population are not proportionally represented.
Bearing in mind that, according to official data from the last census, more than six thousand Roma (1%) live in Montenegro, lack of their representation on any of leading functions is not understandable. More drastic data is that out of more than 31.000 representatives of Albanian population in Montenegro, only one member of this nationality is employed at the leading position in executive power. According to results of the Census according to gender, there are by 1% of women more than men in Montenegro, so, their representation at the leading position in the Government obviously is not proportional.
This kind of relation towards representatives of minorities’ population and women, demonstrates that the Government does not show enough care for those categories, which should be priority. In addition, if this trend continues, it will surely cause the rise of distrust of citizens in national institutions.
With its Constitution and its substance, Montenegro is established as the civic country and we are aware that counting of nationalities can bother somebody. However, through emphasized forcing of concept of national country and through establishing of concept of minority rights, we have obliged to their respect. Therefore, it is important to work more on this aspect so that Montenegrin people could feel equal opportunities and feel Montenegro as their own country.
Sanja Rasovic
|Coordinator of Good Governance Program
