Centre for Civic Education (CCE) organized today a conference “European citizenship as basis of European integration”, as the final event of the project “EU Info Bus – on the road to EU” , which the CCE implements in cooperation with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the NGO Natura, with the support of the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro within its communication strategy.

The conference was opened by Daliborka ULJAREVIĆ, executive director of the CCE, who presented the results of project that lasted 11 months, had over 45 events, followed by number of publications and promotional materials as part of the comprehensive information and educational campaign in 6 municipalities in Montenegro – Cetinje, Danilovgrad, Kolašin, Mojkovac, Nikšić and Podgorica. “Our EU info-bus, in visual and essential aspect, gained the attention of the citizens in the municipalities through which it travelled. In addition to the effective message, the bus was bringing also people ready for dialogue, exchange of arguments, transfer of information, knowledge and skills – and that is postulate underlying the democratization and Europeanization of any society, including Montenegrin. I hope that we will, in the coming period, continue even more intensively to lead argument based European and inter-montenegrin dialogue “, stated Uljarević.

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Within the 20th Jubilee Podgorica marathon, young people, participating at the race for high school students, were running for RECOM (Regional commission for establishing the facts about war crimes and other serious violations of human rights in the former Yugoslavia from 1991-2001).

The aim of the action which, except in Podgorica, today simultaniously happened in Ljubljana as well, was to draw the attention of decision-makers and the general public on the necessity of faster establishment of RECOM. Parallel to the Podgorica race, a second meeting of the Regional expert group for RECOM, composed of personal envoys of the presidents of the former Yugoslav republics, is held in Zagreb. At the meeting, they are considering the Proposal of RECOM statute, constitutional, legal and political aspects as well as the possibility of establishing interstate commission, whose work would lead to a long awaited justice for all victims of wars that occurred during the nineties, on which civil society organizations insist for years, through developing the initiative for RECOM. »

Centre for Civic Education (CCE) will organize Fast Forward Human Rights Film Festival for the fourth time, with even more diverse and quality programme. Great audience response and interest, primarily of young people to learn about human rights in this manner, has encouraged CCE to continue with this project and to further advance the programme and technical part of it. In this regard, CCE has signed a new Cooperation Agreement with Radio Television of Montenegro (RTCG).

Daliborka Uljarević, executive director of the CCE and Rade Vojvodić, General Director of the RTCG signed a contract that was created as an expression of understanding of both sides that an intensive communication and cooperation among all stakeholders is required in contributing to the establishment of a human rights culture. This especially refers to the cooperation between the media and non-governmental organizations, which besides the institutions may significantly affect the improvement of this framework. »

Coalition for equality STEP, which gathers eight NGOs from Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro, welcomes the organisation of Pride, which is announced for the 20 October in Podgorica, and calls upon Montenegrin institutions to provide the necessary support in order to make this event safe for all its participants.

Pride represents form of the struggle for the rights of LGBT persons, which are discriminated and marginalized within Montenegrin society due to the high level of homophobia. This is referring to the aspect of improving the status and quality of life of LGBT persons, as well as advancing the rights of all citizens and the overall democratic development of society. Therefore, in the context of the announced Pride, we invite relevant state authorities to devote themselves to full implementation of commitments that Montenegro undertook in the area of prevention of discrimination, which include international contractual obligations and those defined by the Montenegrin legal framework. »