27 December 2018 - The Government passed the Draft Law on Life Partnership of Same-Sex Partners, Blanka Radošević Marović, Director-General at the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, said at a press conference following the Cabinet session.
She explained that this draft law is based on the most widespread model for the organisation of same-sex life partnership. Before developing the draft law, the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, as the proposer, made detailed analyses in order to determine the model of arranging the relations of two persons of the same sex in the way that best corresponds to the Montenegrin conditions. The current legal framework regulating those areas that are important for the adoption of this law, in particular the Constitution of Montenegro, the Family Law, the Law on Inheritance, the Law on Health Insurance, the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, and others, have been thoroughly analysed. The provisions of the draft law contain adequate and acceptable solutions that regulate the life partnership of two persons of the same sex.
Most of the rights and obligations under this this law are related to a set of basic human rights known from everyday life, said Ms Radošević Marović, adding that in many families, marital and extra-marital communities, those members who are not employed are enabled to exercise the right to health care through their spouses who are employed, the right to social protection of persons in a state of social need, the right to a common and special property, and the disposal of the same, the right to inherit the property of the deceased partner, the right to inherit the pension, and a number of others rights and obligations arising from a common life. Enabling persons of the same sex to exercise these rights by no means endangers or diminishes the rights of others, nor will it in any way change or affect the exercise of the rights of other persons who are not members of the LGBTI population.
The principle that all people are equal without regard to any personal property (race, skin colour, nationality, language, religion, political affiliation, disability, marital status, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.), in modern societies represents more than a legal standard, Ms Radošević Marović stressed. She also added that national LGBTI policy had made significant progress in recent years. We still have a lot of work to do, because the protection of human rights, especially vulnerable groups, is a social process that requires time. The legal framework has been improved, policies for the protection of human rights of vulnerable groups have been created, and programmes of support for members of the community regarding their social inclusion have been developed. The partnership with the non-governmental sector in the area of protection of the rights and freedoms of LGBTI people has been strengthened.
Radošević Marović underlined the active commitment and readiness of the LGBTI community and NGOs dealing with this area in the process of developing this law, as well as the realisation of joint activities.
