The breakdown below may include cases of hate speech, which fall outside of the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
In 2022, a Memorandum of Co-operation was signed by ODIHR, the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office of Montenegro and the Centre for Training of the Judiciary and State Prosecutor's Office. The Memorandum related to the implementation of ODIHR's Prosecutors and Hate Crimes Training Program (PAHCT), for which a training-of-trainers took place in 2023.
Throughout 2022, the Centre for Training in the Judiciary and the State Prosecutor's Office conducted several courses on hate crimes as part of initial and continuous training for judges and prosecutors.
In a notable case, criminal charges were brought against a man in Podgorica, who threatened a German Embassy employee outside the building. The prosecution was discontinued after the suspect paid a fine.
ODIHR recognizes Montenegro's efforts to report police and judiciary hate crime records to ODIHR. However, based on the available information, ODIHR observes that Montenegro has not reported data on the number of prosecuted hate crimes to ODIHR or recorded the bias motivations of hate crimes. In addition, ODIHR observes that Montenegro would benefit from developing its victim support system to ensure effective access to justice, assistance, and protection services for hate crime victims.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, OSCE participating States committed to collecting reliable data and statistics in sufficient detail on hate crimes, including the bias motivation of hate crimes, and to reporting such data periodically to ODIHR. Participating States also committed to providing hate crime victims with access to counselling, legal assistance, and effective access to justice, as well as to increase positive interaction between police and victims of hate crimes by training front-line officers, including on referrals to victim assistance and protection.
ODIHR stands ready to support Montenegro in meeting the relevant commitments through its comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording and data collection, as well as through its further resources and assistance on hate crime victim support.
🛈 Please note that the total number of incidents may be lower than the sum of incidents presented in the breakdown chart above, as some incidents involve multiple bias motivations.
🛈 ODIHR no longer presents descriptions of property attacks in the incident tables below. Data on property attacks are presented in the breakdown charts above. One property attack may target multiple properties or involve multiple types of attack.