Montenegro hosts 11th meeting of informal LGBT Focal Point network

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Podgorica, Montenegro (6 October 2013) -- Government of Montenegro is committed to actively implementing and supporting all initiatives aimed at promoting anti-discrimination policies, in cooperation with the civil society and all social stakeholders, Jovan Kojičić, Advisor to Montenegro’s Prime Minister for Human Rights and Protection against Discrimination, underlined at the 11th meeting of the informal LGBT Focal Point network’s representatives of European governments which was held on 3-5 October in Kolašin, Montenegro.

Mr Kojičić presented the prgramme activities that Montenegro has been implementing under the Action Plan of the 2013 LGBT Strategy, as well as the programme of the Anti-Discrimination Council of Montenegro.

Representatives of the Centre for Civil Education presented, within the Council of Europe’s LGBT project, the publication titled "Montenegrin educational policy and sexual orientation: Representation of LGBT issues in school curricula and textbooks" by Aleksandar Saša Zeković.

The meeting was attended by representatives of sixteen member countries: Austria, Belgium, Montenegro, Estonia, Finland, the Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, Malta, Norway, Spain, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Moldova, which joined the Informal LGBT Focal Point network at the very meeting . The meeting was also attended by four observers from the Council of Europe, EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) and the European Commission, and a representative of the US Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour.

Representatives of the governments from the region, Europe and the United States, as well as international organisations, presented activities carried out in promoting continuous improvement and respect for the rights of LGBT persons.

The meeting pointed out the initiatives that have been launched, such as, among others, the adoption of the Swedish LGBT strategy, drafting Estonian criminal legislation where sexual orientation is explicitly mentioned as a prohibited basis of discrimination, sustained implementation of LGBT action plans in the United Kingdom, while the European Commission remains focused on the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights’s research.

It was noted that compliance with international rules and best practices in the context of implementing anti-discrimination policies, should be on top of all governments's agenda. At the United Nations level, the meeting discussed the global initiative on adopting a new resolution on LGBT rights scheduled for the first quarter of 2014.

In the area devoted to police and military, the meeting paid special attention to the presentation of Colonel D.J. Broks from the Dutch Ministry of Defence.

The meeting also addressed the issue of registered partnership and presented the models of registered partnership in the Netherlands, Norway and Austria. Registered partnership models were presented by Ben Baks, Senior LGBT Policy Advisor in the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; Robin Simonsen, Senior Advisor in the Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion of Norway and Jacqueline Niavrani, Head of the Department for Socio- Economic Equality, International Affairs and the EU in the Office of the Chancellor of Austria.

The participants strongly welcomed the joint statement on combating homophobia and transphobia, that was signed Thursday in Dubrovnik by Montenegro’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Igor Lukšić and Croatian First Vice President and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić.