Most cases in which LGBTIQ persons are the injured party are prosecuted in misdemeanor, and rarely in criminal proceedings, most often by applying the Law on Public Order and Peace, and not the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination, was announced at the panel "Free and Equal in Rights and Justice", organized by the Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI).

The panel also screened the short promotional film "Free and Equal in Rights and Justice", which presented the key challenges faced by LGBTIQ people in Montenegro.

CeMI's public policy researcher Milica Zrnovic said that they wanted to emphasize the importance of improving the protection of minority rights and promoting the principles of a democratic society.

“Emphasizing these aspects, we want the film to encourage other members of the LGBTIQ community to be more active and self-initiated in society. On the other hand, we want to pay special attention to the public, which often has stereotypes and prejudices when it comes to the LGBTIQ community", Zrnovic said.

She pointed out that research at the European level shows that Montenegro has met 62 percent of all indicators that indicate adequate protection of the rights of the LGBTIQ community, and that the greatest progress has been made in the area of equality and non-discrimination (96 percent), which makes Montenegro a leader not only in the region, but also in Europe.

"However, despite the progress made, there are some issues of concern. Namely, the research conducted by the Center for Monitoring and Research within this project indicates that most cases in which LGBTIQ persons are the injured party are prosecuted in a misdemeanor, and rarely in criminal proceedings, most often by applying the Law on Public Order and Peace, and not the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination”, Zrnovic said.

Director General of the Directorate for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights Blanka Radosevic Marovic said that in a period of ten years, steps of seven miles have been made in Montenegro when it comes to the rights of LGBT people and their visibility in Montenegrin society.

"We managed, in cooperation with the civil sector, first of all to improve the legislation, which until 2013 did not even recognize LGBT people. We managed to make changes and amendments to the criminal law which, as an aggravating circumstance, introduced a criminal offense that is committed on the basis of intolerance towards sexual orientation and gender identity. After that, a number of laws introduced this basis in order to protect LGBTIQ people" Radosevic Marovic stated.

She said that the analysis of court practice on the application of criminal and anti-discrimination law in the period from 2013 to 2019 was recently completed, which produced a manual on how to act in cases when LGBT people are the injured party.

"In December, trainings will be organized first for the institutions of the Protector of Human Rights and the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, and after that, trainings for those who implement these laws, namely judges and prosecutors. Of course, the police will also be involved. In this way, those who apply the law will be faced with omissions, with practices that have not always resulted in the right way, with the frequent occurrence that judgments have been rendered on the basis of some other laws which have milder punishments such as the Law on Public Order and Peace and similar, and not on the basis of criminal and anti-discrimination law", Radosevic Marovic said.

The main protagonist of the short promotional film Nikola Ilic, a trans man and a representative of the Spectrum Association said that LGBTIQ people in Montenegro do not have sufficient security and conditions for a normal life, which, as he says, is the bare minimum that is necessary. "We must all be equal and have that bare minimum, as the beginning of moving towards something bigger and better for all of us", Ilic said. He said that the LGBTIQ community does not pose a threat to this society and that it is "not wrong, not monstrous and not sick."

"We live in a society in which people give themselves the right to judge and destroy, but not to even try to understand, to see the truth. The truth is that we are not all the same, that we do not love in the same way and we do not feel the way we were told we had to", Ilic said.

CeMI Executive Director Teodora Gilic said that the project "Equality of LGBT people before the law - Improving the rights of LGBTIQ people in court proceedings" aimed at strengthening the capacity and greater training of judicial instances in the processing of crimes against the LGBTIQ population, as well as the treatment of LGBTIQ persons in the proceedings in an equal and adequate manner.

The focus of this project is the harmonization of human rights policy with their implementation in Montenegrin legislation, all in accordance with international standards that have been recognized through numerous international documents, contracts and conventions, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols, the United Nations Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, etc.”, Gilic said.

The event was organized within the project "Equality of LGBTIQ persons before the law - Improving the rights of LGBTIQ persons in court proceedings" implemented by CeMI and is funded by the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights of Montenegro.