Response of the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights to unfounded and inappropriate accusations of LGBT Forum Progress

Ministry for Human and Minority Rights has got a long-term, open, direct and high-quality communication and cooperation with LGBT Forum Progress, and there were no reasons for this NGO to come forward in public with unverified information and inappropriate remarks to the minister Numanovic, who has always had a lot of understanding and respect to all non-governmental organizations, together with readiness for cooperation through institutional and legal framework.

If the executive director of the LGBT Forum Progress wanted to get familiar with all the details related to the panel discussion held in Podgorica municipality, he could find out that this panel discussion, as well as the other ones that will take place in few Municipalities in Montenegro, are part of the EU funded project whose beneficiaries are NGO Juventas and NGO Queer Montenegro.

Since the panels are organised in the Municipalities the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights signed a Memorandum of cooperation in order to protect the rights of LGBT people in the previous period, we were interested to take part in it.

It was agreed with the organisers, NGO Juventas and Queer, that Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, being national competent authority for the implementation of this policy, inform local authorities, and NGOs Juventas and Queer Montenegro were to inform representatives of civil sector and NGOs.

Therefore, the fact that the Forum Progress was not informed about the panel, is not the matter that concerns Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, even less the reason for the improper and incorrect addressing to minister Numanović, who, earlier today, visited Municipality of Berane and signed Memorandum of cooperation on the protection of LGBT people in local communities, respecting their fundamental human rights and creating conditions for their acceptance as equal members of the society without prejudice and stigmatization.

To surprise further was today's reaction of this NGO, which, just few days ago, at the invitation of the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, actively took part in the two-day seminar dedicated to the international experiences and practices in implementing the civil partnership laws, organised within the project „Support to the national institutions in preventing discrimination in Montenegro (PREDIM)“. Council of Europe experts in these fields participated at the seminar as well as the executive director of LGBT Forum Progress, who publicly expressed the quality of continuous and constructive cooperation with the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights on that occasion.

Based on the above said, the way this NGO used to criticize minister Numanović in public, is absolutely unfounded and below each level of further discussion. The same critics will not discourage neither the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights nor the Minister in person, in enhancing the implenmentation of LGBT policy which, at the recently held IDAHO Forum IV, received high marks.