Civic Alliance representatives, Ivana Đođić and Pavle Ćupić will participate in the regular session of the UN Committee against Torture.
A regular session of the UN Committee will take place on Tuesday, 26 April in Geneve, with the representatives of the non-governmental sector in preparation for the Committee’s review of the level of implementation of the Convention against Torture with a delegation of the Government of Montenegro in the following days. The session will be closed to the public.
Ivana Đođić, CA Legal Adviser, will present the report on the human rights of persons in the process of determining the status of stateless persons and persons at risk of statelessness, via online platform. CA jointly prepared the report with the representatives of the Montenegrin non-governmental organizations Human Rights Action, Phiren Amenca, and the representatives of the European Network for Statelessness.
CA’s legal adviser, Pavle Ćupić, will take part in a session in Geneva, where he will point out the treatment of the border police towards persons entering Montenegro by availing of irregular entry points. Part of the presentation will be dedicated to the long-term detention of persons in the Reception Center for Foreigners, which is a direct result of the duration of procedures for resolving their status; and the attitude of officials who do not distinguish between deprivation of liberty and restriction of freedom of movement.
The presentation of Civic Alliance members in these two areas is based on data and results gathered by the CA project entitled Provision of Free Legal Aid to Asylum Seekers, Persons with Approved International Protection, Persons at Risk of Statelessness and Refugees from the Former Yugoslavia, supported by the UNHCR Office in Montenegro, which has been implemented by CA since 2019.
In addition to the thematic part where CA cooperates with UNHCR office, Pavle Ćupić will speak before the Committee on topics such as police solidarity, and the treatment of the police officers during the enthronement of Metropolitan in Cetinje, but also the situation in detention facilities at police stations.
The following days, 27 and 28 April, representatives of Montenegrin state bodies will have a dialogue with the Committee members on the status of implementation of the Convention against Torture.
Sessions dedicated to Montenegro (from 26 to 28 April) are part of the regular 73rd session of the UN Committee against Torture, which lasts from 19 April to 13 May, and besides Montenegro – reports on Iceland, Cuba, Iraq, Uruguay, and Kenya will be discussed.
The UN Committee against Torture is part of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), with the primary goal of monitoring the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT), as one of the key global mechanisms for torture prevention.
Once a country ratifies the Convention, each UN member state is obliged to submit a regular report on the fulfillment of its obligations under the Convention. The reports are considered during the Committee’s sessions. After the dialogue between the Committee and the state delegation, the Committee will give recommendations as to how Montenegro can make progress on implementing the Convention.
