Anti-Discrimination Council: Public authorities to provide equal treatment of media and NGO's

Podgorica, Montenegro (17 March 2015) – At yesterday's session, the Anti-Discrimination Council of Montenegro discussed the implementation of the principle requesting public authorities to provide equal treatment to all media and NGOs in Montenegro.

In order to respect the principle of fair competitiveness, equal treatment and allocation of funds to media and NGOs, the Council underlined that decision-making process should be based on contractual and specialised services, as well as other matters in line with clear criteria and transparent procedures, and that all the information should be visible on competent authorities’ official web sites.

The Council called on all the institutions and public officials to establish the system of responding to all the media inquires in a timely manner, improve  implementation of laws, bylaws and practises related to the access to information for all NGOs, particularly those conducting monitoring of public authorities' work without any kind of discrimination. At the same time, the Council expects respect for professional standards of the media reporting to be enhanced, as well as respect for the code of journalism and professional attitude of the media when it comes to informing Montenegr's citizens.

Ministry for Human and Minority Rights informed the Council about the functioning of the LGBT shelters and pledged its full support to their sustainability, highlighting the current legal provisions regulating this matter in relation to other services provided by drop-in and counselling centres.

The Council also adopted the draft action plan for the implementation of the LGBT Strategy for 2015, which is aimed at the strengthening of the Governmental and civil society's activities towards improving social inclusion of the LGBT people into the Montenegrin society.