Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
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United Nations CEDAW/C/MNE/1 Convention on the Elimination Distr.: General 11 June 2010 of All Forms of Discrimination against Women Original: English ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women Initial periodic report of States parties Montenegro GE.10 CEDAW/C/MNE/1 Montenegro THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO The Ministry for Human and Minority Rights REPORTON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN Submitted under Article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women INITIAL REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN (CEDAW) 2006-2009 Podgorica, February 2010 2 CEDAW/C/MNE/1 Contents Page I INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................... 1 – 3 II GENERAL INFORMATION .......................................................................................................... 3 – 12 III REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION (16 ARTICLES) Article 1 .................................................................................................................................................................. 12 – 19 Article 2 .................................................................................................................................................................. 19 – 23 Article 3 .................................................................................................................................................................. 23 – 25 Article 4 .................................................................................................................................................................. 25– 26 Article 5 .................................................................................................................................................................. 26 – 33 Article 6 .................................................................................................................................................................. 33 – 35 Article 7 .................................................................................................................................................................. 36 – 42 Article 8 .................................................................................................................................................................. 42 – 45 Article 9 .................................................................................................................................................................. 45 Article 10................................................................................................................................................................. 45 – 58 Article 11................................................................................................................................................................. 58 – 73 Article 12................................................................................................................................................................. 74 – 79 Article 13................................................................................................................................................................. 79 – 81 Article 14................................................................................................................................................................. 81 –83 Article 15................................................................................................................................................................. 83 – 85 Article 16................................................................................................................................................................. 85 –91 IV ANNEX – CITATIONS FROM LEGISLATION............................................................................ 92-111 3 CEDAW/C/MNE/1 I INTRODUCTION Montenegro restored its independence on the basis of a referendum held on 21 May 2006. Thereafter, on 03 June 2006 the Parliament of Montenegro adopted the Declaration of Independence proclaiming Montenegro an independent and sovereign state which assumed its international obligations. In accordance with the Declaration and Decision on Independence, Montenegro acceded to a comprehensive process of succession to international treaties, whose signatory it had been in earlier state arrangements (Yugoslavia, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro). Resolution on the Admission of Montenegro to the United Nations was adopted by the General Assembly at the session held on 22 June 2006. On 28 June 2006, the General Assembly of the United Nations decided to approve admission of Montenegro to the UN which made Montenegro the 192nd member state of OUN. UN membership launched the process of defining a list of treaties and Conventions that Montenegro acceded on the basis of succession, those for which the Secretary General performs the functions of a depositary. The mechanism for accession to these Conventions was deposited on 23 October 2006 and includes regulations from various areas: diplomatic and consular relations, human rights protection, rights of refugees and stateless persons, fight against drugs and psychotherapeutic substances, trafficking in human beings, health, international trade and development, transport, education, maritime rights, commercial arbitration, telecommunication, disarmament, environmental protection and others. Therefore, Montenegro acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) as part of the succession process. Under Article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, State Parties undertake to submit to the Secretary General of the United Nations a report on the legislative, judicial, administrative and other measures which they have adopted to give effect to the provision of the present Convention as well as on the progress made in that regard within one year after the entry into force of the Convention and thereafter at least every four years. With regard to Montenegro, the deadline for such report (hereinafter: the Report) is 23 October 2007, that is a year after the Convention entered into force in relation to Montenegro. Initial Report aims at indicating legislative and other measures that Montenegro has taken and is still taking in order to implement obligations established by the Convention and refers to the period from 2006 until 2009. On the basis of the CEDAW Committee guidelines, the Initial Report follows the envisaged form and contents of the report. The report contains brief information about basic historical, economic and demographic indicators, specific information in relation to each of the provisions of the Convention and an Annex which includes excerpts and quotations of the laws mentioned in the report. The present report was prepared by the Working Group which consisted of representatives of line ministries and administrative bodies to which provisions of the Convention apply: − Ministry for Human and Minority Rights − Ministry of Justice − Ministry of Foreign Affairs − Ministry of Education and Science − Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Welfare − Ministry of Finance 4 CEDAW/C/MNE/1 − Ministry of Culture, Sports and Media − Police Directorate − Employment Office − Statistical Office. The Committee for Gender Equality of the Parliament of Montenegro was introduced with contents of the Initial Report at its session held on 26 November 2009. In addition, a meeting was arranged with the non-governmental organisations on 14 December 2009 with the aim of introducing them with the Report and receiving suggestions and recommendations concerning the draft text. II GENERAL INFORMATION 1. BASIC HISTORICAL DATA Montenegrin statehood goes deep into the past, its roots are older than the current name for the state and the nation. In its historic journey, it passed through several development periods and few state forms. In a historical sense, Montenegro developed at the crossroads between the two worlds, on the periphery and under the influence of great empires and states. Great monotheistic religions and churches intersected in this area: Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Islam. In cultural terms, it was a place of encounter between the East and the West, between the Mediterranean and hinterland, therefore in that sense and over time different civilisation layers shaped complex and diversified heritage upon which contemporary Montenegro is built. In persisted as the state in the hardest of times and despite some interruptions of continuity it still managed to restore its independence as many as four times during a thousand years long history. While the stamp of Archon Petar, the first ruler of Duklja Slovenes who is mentioned in written sources, may be taken as a symbolic beginning of Montenegrin statehood, historians consider the Prince Stefan Vojislav (1016-1043) to be founder of the state as he managed to win state independence in wars, establish its independence from Byzantium and become founder of the Vojislavljević dinasty. His son Mihailo raised