Montenegro

The First Report that Montenegro as the youngest UN Member State will submit to the UN will be on the application of the Convention of Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women

Regional CEDAW Conference provided opportunities for knowledge transfer and share of experiences, especially in regard to the Balkans cuntries that have all ratified or acceeded to the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and which are legally bound to put its provisions into practice. The majority of the countries of the Region have submited and defended CEDAW national reports on measures they have taken to comply with their treaty obligations. 

Montenegro succeeded to the CEDAW on 23 October 2006, and this regional conference has been organized with an aim to ensure understanding of the basic concepts of gender equality, international treaties and how it relates to the work of Government, and to provide regional and UN experts knowledge and tools sharing to develop the Initial CEDAW Report addressing the challenges of integration of gender equality into Governmental strategies/policies/program implementation plans.

The goal of the UNDP is to help Government of Montenegro to translate these commitments into practical realities, contributing in expressing the noble goals set forth in the CEDAW and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG # 3) into specific policy reforms and operational programmes that make a difference for women, poor women in particular.

In this regard, Ms. Gordana Đurović, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integrations in the Government of Montenegro said: “Montenegro has an obligation to change institutional framework in the following period and to adjust it to the level of development of gender equality that the European Union has set as its goal. The Initial Report on Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women will depict the position of women in our country and the extent to which the country recognizes its obligation to make sure that authorities and institutions, individuals, organizations and enterprises restrain themselves over discrimination against women and work on its elimination.” She added that Montenegro made the first step in this context by adopting the Law on Gender Equality although, as Deputy Prime Minister Đurović emphasized, «a lot more work and raising awareness about the importance of this policy is needed in order to understand that this is in fact a political issue. And, this is a political issue because its goal is to increase the quality of actions in democratic institutions, which is also an official position of the European politics – that one cannot talk about an efficient democracy unless the entire population is involved.»

Ms. Nada Drobnjak, Head of the Office for Gender Equality of the Government of Montenegro said that they had organized this conference in order to contribute to the preparation of the initial report on the application of the Convention. “We have invited delegations from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia to help us by sharing their experiences with us,” Ms. Drobnjak said. She emphasized that women should be more present in decision-making positions. “According to the statistics, this is not the case at this point of time whilst this is the only way of reaching democracy,” Ms. Drobnjak specified.

Mr. Fuad Nimani, Minister for Human and Minority Rights Protection evaluated that the Government of Montenegro is already dedicated to fulfilling the obligations taken over to prevent discrimination against women as, he said, “the results of the researches in Montenegro indicate that there is an economic basis for female inequality, men are still dominant which includes a lot of domestic violence, and not many women are present in politics.”

Mr. Garret Tankosić Kelly, UNDP Resident Representative a.i./UN Interagency Focal Point in Montenegro said: “Since the 1990s the UNDP has made strong commitment for women’s equality and empowerment, and we are strongly oriented to help countries to translate these commitments into practical realities. However, it is quite easy to say – the harder part is action itself. As Charlotte Bunch, Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership at US Rutgers University said, ‘What is being called the UN 'gender architecture' is more like a shack. Women need a bigger global house if equality is ever to become a reality.’ This is precisely how we at the UNDP understood this. We are keen on contributing to expressing the noble goals set forth in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Beijing +5 Action Plan and MDGs, and translating them into specific policy reforms that make a difference for women, poor women in particular.”

Mr. Tankosić Kelly also reminded that the UNDP Montenegro made strong commitment for women’s equality and empowerment and that it looks forward to assist the Government of Montenegro in dealing with challenging issues such as: every third women in this society experiences violence, or there is still only 10% of women in the Parliament or no female Ministers.

Talking about the role of the CEDAW Committee, Ms. Osnat Lubrani Head of the UNIFEM in Central and Eastern Europe said it was to give comments on the submitted reports of every country. “Suggestions and recommendations can be very useful in defining what should be done, which measures and activities should be taken so that the next Government’s report in four years can show obvious results,” Ms. Lubrani concluded.           

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CEDAW is an acronym for Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly. It is often described as an international bill of rights for women. Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. CEDAW understands women's empowerment as a central to human development.

By accepting the Convention, States commit themselves to undertake a series of measures to end discrimination against women in all forms, including: