24 April 2019 - A comprehensive reform of the juvenile justice system that has been carried out over the past decade yielded results and nowadays Montenegro is a role model for others in the region, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Zoran Pažin underlined at the presentation of the regional initiative "Equal Access to Justice for Children in the Western Balkans", which took place in Podgorica earlier this week.
The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that the protection of the rights and freedoms of children is the most important obligation of state institutions and the justice system, adding that this regional initiative will provide valuable support in creating conditions for the Montenegrin judiciary to always take care of the best interests of children in all proceedings concerning them.
"Over the past decade, in cooperation with all relevant state institutions, the Ministry of Justice has carried out a comprehensive reform of the juvenile justice system, which resulted in Montenegro becoming a role model for others in our region. We want to express thanks to our partners from UNICEF and the EU Delegation to Montenegro for supporting these efforts," DPM Pažin noted.
He emphasised that the reform of the legislation has humanised and improved the treatment of children taking part in criminal proceedings.
"The rule of compulsory specialisation of professionals dealing with children had been introduced, and the Ministry of Justice, in cooperation with the UNICEF and relevant institutions, developed and accredited specialised training programmes for all professionals dealing with children. Thanks to this, today we have judges, prosecutors, lawyers and police officers trained and accredited for work with children who come into conflict with the law, as well as children victims and witnesses of criminal offenses," said Pažin.
He also recalled that the Family Law was amended in 2016, as its implementation had shown some shortcomings in protecting the best interests of children in court proceedings.
"One of the important novelties in the Family Law is the provision of assistance and support to a child involved in court proceedings in family matters through engaging support persons for the child, who is obliged to build a relationship of trust with a child, acquaint them with their rights and provide them with the information about the proceedings and its possible outcome," pointed out Pažin.
The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that, despite the notable progress achieved in the past decade, the Montenegrin society must not and will not be satisfied with the achieved, adding that it is the responsibility of the society to improve the justice system for children continually.
"In Montenegro, we still need to provide additional training for professionals working with children in the judiciary, as well as special rooms for children, to avoid their additional traumatisation in procedures. Furthermore, through further development of the free legal aid system, we want to provide additional support to the most vulnerable, to ensure equal access to justice for every child. Finally, we want to improve the records of data on children participating in court proceedings to have a more reliable basis for planning, implementing and improving child protection policies in the justice system," concluded Pažin.
He noted that the initiative that has been launched today would act as a new significant incentive to further efforts to provide even stronger guarantees of equal access to justice for all children in Montenegro.
In addition to Deputy Prime Minister Pažin, President of the Supreme Court of Montenegro Vesna Medenica, Supreme State Prosecutor Ivica Stankovic, UNICEF Representative in Montenegro Osama Kogali and Head of EU Delegation to Montenegro Aivo Orav, also delivered speeches at the presentation of the initiative.
It is a two-year initiative being implemented in Montenegro and Albania, with the technical support of UNICEF and financial support of the Government of the Kingdom of Norway, whose goal is to create conditions for applying procedures in the judiciary adapted to the age of the child, taking into account a child's opinion and their best interests in all proceedings concerning them.
