Council of Europe: Montenegro Is Respecting Minority Rights, But Needs To Work on Inter-Ethnic Relations

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Montenegro is still committed to minority rights, but additional efforts are needed to improve inter-ethnic relations, the Council of Europe said on Oct. 10.

A report released by the CoE’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) says that despite strong political and social turbulence over the past five years, which was worsened by external actors, Montenegro remains committed to minority rights, defining itself through diversity and interculturalism and remaining active in promoting the culture, identity and participation of national minorities in difficult social conditions.

However, true efforts are needed to stabilize and advance intern-ethnic relations which have been shaken up over the past several years. The political instability in Montenegro is partly a result of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic but is largely a result of the Law on Freedom of Religion which was finally changed to remove disputed provisions, the FCNM said.

The Committee said that the legal framework for protecting members of national minorities was a firm basis for advancing minority rights which are mostly respected, especially in terms of education in the language of the Albanian minority. It went on to say that there was a wide spectrum of support for minority cultures above all through the Fund for Protecting and Achieving Minority Rights but that the work of the Fund needed to be improved.