This page provides information on the national frameworks to address hate crime in Montenegro. The information provided here should be viewed alongside data presented on Montenegro's hate crime report page.

Hate crime recording and data collection

The Police do not have any specific data collection procedures for recording hate crimes.

Hate crimes can be reported to the police in person, by phone, anonymously, or through the operational work of officials or based on public information. Hate crimes are recorded using the same methodology as all other criminal offences. The case is then recorded in the register of criminal offences via an electronic application and in the Criminal Register.

When an offence is recorded, the competent state prosecutor is informed. If the prosecutor qualifies the event as a "criminal offence", the police officer submits a criminal charge in writing to the competent prosecution office and the records unit. 

The Police do not have databases or forms specifically for recording hate crimes. Based on the police's experience, the motives for these offences have been national or religious affiliation, discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, or LGBTIQ affiliation. The Criminal Code recognizes the following criminal offences that may have characteristics of a hate crime, namely: Endangering security (Article 168), Violation of freedom of religion and practising religious rites (Article 161), Inciting national, racial and religious hatred (Article 370), and Violent behaviour (Article 399). All reported incidents, including those that do not reach the threshold of a crime, are monitored and, depending on the severity of the incident, criminal or misdemeanour charges are brought by prosecutors or misdemeanour judges and further processed by the competent judicial authorities.

In judicial statistics, hate crimes are included under their respective base offence, without specifying the bias motive. There is no recording system specifically for hate crimes. The Judicial Council is responsible for ensuring the use, functionality and uniformity of the Judicial Information System (PRIS) concerning the courts. The system is used by all courts to generating court statistics, monitor cases, managing some aspects of case management, and  communicating with the parties involved. PRIS also collects comprehensive statistical data, which are included in annual court reports.

The PRIS system enables users to follow a court case from start to finish, and provides detailed statistical reports on various indicators, including: the total number of cases in progress, the number of completed and unfinished cases, the type of decision (conviction, acquittal and refusal), as well as the type and the amount of the criminal sanction in conviction cases. Other sources for data collection are manual records maintained by the courts. There is no dedicated category for hate crimes; they are recorded like other cases, according to the article of the law under which the criminal offence is classified. All final court decisions are regularly anonymised and published on the courts' websites.

The Supreme State Prosecutor's Office has developed Guidelines for state prosecutors on prosecuting criminal offences committed out of hatred and hate speech. The Guidelines determine the contact person for monitoring the actions of state prosecutors in those cases, how records are kept, ensuring timely reporting, and standardizing prosecutorial practice and procedures in cases of hate crime and hate speech. The Annual Report of the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office and other prosecutor's offices mentions criminal offences by type.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Police Administration do not conduct victimization surveys.

Hate crime victim support

Montenegro provides support to victims of hate crimes as part of its general victim support system.

The general victim support system focuses mostly on victims of domestic violence, trafficking and child victims. Services are available at all courts that handle relevant cases and are responsible for supporting victims, informing them about judicial procedures, rights and obligations, available protection measures, and other issues related to providing testimony in court.

Specialized services for hate crime victims are mostly delivered by civil society organizations (CSOs). However, these services are not fully integrated into the general victim support system, and co-operation with state institutions is not always formalized. The state offers support to specialized service providers in the form of small annual grants. Although, the specialized service providers are mostly based in the capital, their activities cover the entire country, and some have branch offices in other cities. The services they offer include shelters, psychological assistance, social support, mediation, and legal aid and representation. There are no state quality standards for the provision of these services.    

On contact with the victim, police officers conduct a basic individual needs assessment (INA). A different model of INA is undertaken by CSOs working on these issues. Police or prosecutors refer victims to either general or specialized service providers. Victims often contact these providers before reaching out to the authorities. Some police stations in the country are equipped to enable special conditions for interviewing victims.

Under Montenegro's law, restorative justice solutions are available.

Proposal for the Law Amending the Criminal Procedure Code contains new provisions which aim to strengthen the position of victims in criminal proceedings. A victim of a criminal offence shall have the right to access specialist services, the right to effective psychological and other specialized assistance and support from a service, organization or institution aiding victims of crime.

Hate crime capacity building

Montenegro implemented ODIHR's Training Against Hate Crimes for Law Enforcement (TAHCLE) programme in 2013. In 2022, ODIHR organized a refresher TAHCLE training following changes to the country's hate crime legislation in 2018. Additionally, police officers have the opportunity to attend hate crime training sessions as part of a course on Human Rights and Ethics, as well as during ad hoc courses on specific bias motivation, such as anti-LGBTI hate crimes.

In 2022, Montenegro signed a Memorandum of Co-operation with ODIHR to deliver the Prosecutors and Hate Crime Training (PAHCT). In May 2023, ODIHR trained 14 prosecutors and judges as part of the PAHCT programme. 

Training of representatives of the Montenegrin judiciary (judges, state prosecutors, advisors from courts, advisors from state prosecution offices, trainees from courts, trainees from state prosecution offices, and attorneys-at-law) is carried out by the Centre for Training in the Judiciary and the State Prosecution. Training for judges and state prosecutors is organized and conducted as a part of initial and in-service training programmes. Within the initial training programme, the Centre organizes a one-day module on the concept of hate crime, legislative framework and criminal protection in hate crime cases. As a part of the annual in-service training programme (curriculum), a course on hate crime and hate speech is conducted at least once a year. As part of the in-service training programme, regular training is conducted on the prosecution and adjudication of hate crimes, promoting the application of Article 42a of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, bearing in mind that hate crime is not prescribed as a standalone criminal offence under a separate legal provision.

Since 2014, the Centre for Training in the Judiciary and State Prosecutor's Office has been a beneficiary of the HELP programme (the European Human Rights Education Programme for Legal Professionals) of the Council of Europe for the Western Balkans and Turkey. Within the framework of the HELP programme, multiple training sessions on the topic of hate crimes have been organized, both at the national and regional levels.