Of Action Plan for Chapter 23
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THE FOURTH REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTION PLAN FOR CHAPTER 23 Report is the part of the project “ Action Plan for the Chapter 23: Active Civil Society for more transparent, participatory and effective reforms” funded by the European Union, through the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro and implemented by Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector (MANS) in partnership with Association of Youth with Dissabilities in Montenegro, Center for Women and Peace Education – ANIMA, Women Safe House, Open Center Bona Fide Pljevlja, NGO SOS Telephone for Women and Children Victims of Violence Plav, NGO Snažna Mama and NGO Stečajci u Crnoj Gori, as well as of the project „Civic engagement to promote implementation of Chapter 23” fund- ed by the British Embassy Podgorica and implemented by MANS. Views and opinions presented in the report cannot be considered as opinions of donors funding the project. Network for Affirmation of Non-Governmental Sector THE FOURTH REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTION PLAN FOR CHAPTER 23 Vanja Calovic Markovic Zorica Ceranic Veselin Radulovic Mitar Batrovic Pavle Cupic Podgorica, February 2018 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 SUMMARY 5 METHODOLOGY 7 1. JUDICIARY 8 1.1. Strengthening the independence of the judiciary 9 1.1.1. Amendments to the Constitution 9 1.1.2. Election of judges and prosecutors 10 1.1.3. Promotion and evaluation of judges 12 1.1.4. Capacities and resources for the work of the Judicial and Prosecutorial 14 Councils 1.1.5. Independence of judges and prosecutors 15 1.2. Impartiality of the judiciary 16 1.2.1. Random case assignment 17 1.2.2. Disqualification of judges and prosecutors 18 1.2.3. Preventing confl ict of interest in the judiciary and the prosecution 19 1.2.4. Code of Ethics for Judges and Prosecutors 20 1.3. Accountability of the judiciary 22 1.3.1. Disciplinary proceedings in the judiciary and prosecution 22 1.3.2. Functional Immunity of judges and prosecutors 23 1.4. Professionalism, competence and efficiency of the judiciary 24 1.4.1. Reliable and consistent judicial statistics 25 1.4.2. Rationalization of court network and reducing number of cases 27 1.4.3. Enforcement of judgments in civil matters 33 1.4.4. Establishing Center for training in judiciary and state prosecution 35 1.4.5. Voluntary assignment of judges and prosecutors 37 1.5 . Domestic handling of war crimes 38 2. FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION 42 2.1. Preventive anti -corruption actions 43 2.1.1. Strengthening and reviewing institutional framework 44 2.1.2. Assets declarations and conflict of interests of public officials 49 2.1.3. Public administration 52 2.1.4. Financing of political entities 56 2.1.5. Free access to information 59 2.1.6. Public procurement 60 2.1.7. Prevention of corruption in particularly sensitive areas 64 a) Privatization 65 b) Urbanism 67 c) Education 71 d) Health care 74 e) Local government 77 f) Police 80 2.1.8. Role of the P arliament in the fight against corruption 83 2.1.9. Involvement of NGOs in the anti -corruption agenda 85 M A N S : R E P O R T O N I M P L E M E N T A T I O N O F A C T I O N P L A N F O R C H A P T E R 2 3 | 2 2.2. Repres sive activities against corruption 87 2.2.1. Independent, effective and specialized investigation and prosecution bodies 88 2.2.2. Criminal procedure code (CPC) 93 2.2.3. Financial investigations 95 2.2.4. Inter -institutional cooperation 97 2.2.5. Uniformity of statistical data 98 2.2.6. Seizure, confiscation and management of seized assets 99 2.2.7. Whistleblower protection 101 2.2.9. Procedure for closure of criminal cases 103 3. FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS 105 3.1. Ombudsman 106 3.2. Right to an effective remedy 109 3.3. Prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 110 3.4. Freedom of the media and protection of journalists 115 3.5. Independence of audiovisual regulator and public broadcaster 119 3.6.A Prohibition of discrimination 120 3.6.B Gender equality 122 3.6.C LGBT rights 128 3.7. Right to form new trade unions 131 3.8.A Rights of the child 132 3.8.B Rights of persons with disabilities 135 3.9. Free legal aid 138 3.10.A Protection of minority and RAE rights 139 3.10.B Rights of displaced persons 143 3.11. Processing of hate crimes 147 3.12. Personal data protection 147 4. COOPERTAION WITH NGOs 149 4.1. Legislative and strategic framework 149 4.2. The institutional framework 149 4.3. Administrative capacity 150 ANNEXES 152 Annex 1: Priority recommendations in relation to the implementation of the Action Plan for 152 Chapter 23 Annex 2 . Overview of implementation of measures by chapters 159 Annex 3 . Non -governmental organizations that have helped in the preparation of the report 160 M A N S : R E P O R T O N I M P L E M E N T A T I O N O F A C T I O N P L A N F O R C H A P T E R 2 3 | 3 INTRODUCTION The Action Plan for Chapter 23 contains a number of reforms in the judiciary, the fight against corruption and fundamental rights, and the government publishes semi-annual reports on its implementation. Network for Affirmation of Non-Governmental Sector - MANS monitors the implementation of this Action Plan, with the financial support of the European Commission and the British Embassy in Podgorica. Through this report, we want to provide the public with objective and accurate information on the implementation of the reforms outlined in the Action Plan. From barely comprehensible official documents and the abundance of information, we have tried to isolate and analyze those that are of importance for the evaluation of the implementation of specific measures, but also to see behind statistics of state bodies. This report is prepared on the basis of documentation we received from state authorities on the basis of the Law on Free Access to Information, as well as the information contained in the reports of state institutions, international organizations and NGOs. The report provides an overview of the implementation of 626 reforms envisaged by the Action Plan and related Operating Document for the Prevention of Corruption in the Areas Exposed to Special Risk. The document follows the structure of the Action Plan, so the first chapter contains information on the reforms in the judiciary, while the second contains the data on the fight against corruption. The third part is an overview of planned and implemented reforms in the area of fundamental rights, and the last provides information on the measures relating to the cooperation of the government and the NGO sector. All the collected documents used for the preparation of the report, as well as detailed information on individual indicators for each measure are available on the MANS's website http://www.mans.co.me/ap23/ We owe special gratitude to the following non-governmental organizations for their contribution in compiling this report: Human Rights Action, Civic Alliance, Institute Alternative, NGO Coalition Cooperation to the Goal, Women’s Safe House, Association of Youth with Disabilities of Montenegro, Association Parents, Union of Free Trade Unions of Montenegro, Center for Civic Education, Center for Democratic Transition, Center for Women's Rights, Center for Female and Peace education - Anima, Center for Monitoring and Research, Center for Development of Non-Governmental Organizations and Queer Montenegro, LGBT Forum Progress and NGO Young Roma . This report is created with the support of the European Union and the British Embassy in Podgorica. The views taken herein shall not in any case be considered as those of the donors. M A N S : R E P O R T O N I M P L E M E N T A T I O N O F A C T I O N P L A N F O R C H A P T E R 2 3 | 4 SUMMARY Half of the reforms envisaged by the Action Plan for Chapter 23 have been implemented, over a third have been partly implemented, while every eighth planned measure has not been implemented or there is no information on implementation. Most results have been accomplished in the field of judiciary where two thirds of the planned reforms have been implemented. Least reforms have been implemented in the areas of fight against corruption and cooperation with NGOs, about a third of the measures envisaged, while in the field of human rights more than half of the planned reforms have been completed. According to reports by the international organizations, there is no major progress in the areas of judiciary and fight against corruption. Decisions on the selection of prosecutors and decisions on the promotion of judges contain serious shortcomings, while the prosecution and the judiciary have declared assessment reports secret. Only one disciplinary procedure against a judge, i.e. a prosecutor, resulted in symbolic fines. Judges and prosecutors are not disciplined for violating the Code of Ethics, even in few cases where violations have been established. There have been no criminal proceedings against the holders of judicial functions. The judicial information system is operational in all courts, but it is not always used for random assignment of cases. Statistical data on the work of the judiciary are not reliable. There is an increase in the number of unsolved cases older than three years, although we have twice as many judges as the European average.