05 November 2018 - Issues of political participation, protection and economic empowerment of women, and in particular the issues of combating violence against women the Women's Political Network focuses on, are crucial in building a just and safe society, as a key programme objective of the Government of Montenegro, Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Pažin said at the meeting with representatives of the Women's Political Network.
Members of the Women's Political Network, which brings together representatives of 16 political parties from the government and the opposition, presented a series of initiatives to amend specific legal texts with a view to ensuring better legal and institutional protection of women from all forms of violence.
DPM Pažin welcomed the expertise, seriousness and studiousness of the initiatives presented, voicing the Government's willingness to carefully review and implement the initiatives falling within its remit through the Government's programme of action for the next year, all their aspects which will contribute to establishing stronger guarantees for the protection of the security and equality of women in attaining their rights.
In that regard, he voiced the Government's openness for representatives of the Women's Political Network to take an active part in the work of the Government’s working bodies, which will, through drafting amendments to the laws, propose the improvement of the protection of the security and rights of women in the Montenegrin society.
The meeting pointed out a number of concrete examples of unclear or inadequate legal norms that impede the adequate protection of victims of violence and the fair punishment of perpetrators, such as the dominance of misdemeanour liability and low fines for acts of violence against women, or the vaguely defined limits between offenses and crimes.
The Deputy Prime Minister noted that the Government will make the maximum contribution to eliminating all observed shortcomings in the laws and their application, stressing that the State needs to ensure effective institutional and legal protection of victims and fair punishment of perpetrators.
Representatives of the Women's Political Network noted that Montenegro spent EUR 9.2 million for treating the consequences of violence against women in the past year, stressing that investing in more reliable legal and institutional mechanisms for the protection of women from violence would bring not only multiple social benefits but also significant savings of public funds.
