Centre for Civic Education (CCE) requested from the National Coordination Body (NCB) an urgent clarification of the measure of compulsory wearing protective masks outdoors and indoors. This measure was firstly imposed in some municipalities, including the Capital City of Podgorica and from today in entire Montenegro.
Official announcements state that wearing protective masks apply to everyone, including children older than seven and the only exceptions are beaches and national parks, provided that physical distance and previously prescribed measures are observed, as well as family housing.
The NCB should clarify whether participants in public gatherings and guests on TV stations must wear masks, considering that a large number of those who do not apply that measure. The question is whether masks are mandatory in such circumstances, i.e. whether there are exceptions that are not clearly indicated and known to the public.
These are events in public space with media coverage and considerable outreach, hence these participants must be examples of social responsibility and respect for the measure of mandatory wearing of a mask to preserve public health, instead of promoting the opposite.
We expect the NCB to impose consistent application of this measure, to clarify it but also to send a public appeal to the organizers of any type of gathering to ensure respect of this measure when they are hosts.
Tamara Milaš, Human Rights Programme Coordinator