The breakdown below shows cases addressed as misdemeanours under Article 19 of Montenegro's Law on Public Order and Peace. According to police records, the relevant offences targeted four members of the LGBTI community, four persons of Roma ethnicity, three persons of Bosniak origin, two persons of Albanian origin, one person of Serbian origin and one church official.
The case presented here was motivated by bias against sexual orientation.
The European Union published relevant recommendations in its report from the "Eleventh meeting of the EU-Montenegro Stabilisation and Association Council (Podgorica, 14 July 2022)".
ODIHR recognizes Montenegro's efforts to build the capacity of police to address hate crime, including through ODIHR's TAHCLE programme, as well as the police and judiciary hate crime records provided. However, based on the available information, ODIHR observes that Montenegro has not reported data on the number of prosecuted hate crimes to ODIHR. In addition, ODIHR observes that Montenegro would benefit from raising awareness among and building the capacity of criminal justice officials, especially prosecutors, to address hate crime.
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 and to reporting such data periodically to ODIHR. Participating States also committed to introducing or further developing professional training and capacity-building activities for law enforcement, prosecution and judicial officials dealing with hate crimes. ODIHR stands ready to support Montenegro in meeting its relevant commitments by providing comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording and data collection, as well further resources and tailored capacity-building assistance for police, prosecutors, and the judiciary.