CRPD/C/MON/CO/R.1
CRPD/C/MNE/CO/1Advance unedited version / Distr.: General
29 August 2017
Original: English
English, Russian and Spanish only
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Concluding observations on the initial report of Montenegro[*]
I.Introduction
1.The Committee considered the initial report of Montenegro (CRPD/C/MNE/1) at its 340thand 341st meetings (see CRPD/C/SR.340 and 341), held on 17 and 18 August2017. It adopted the present concluding observations at its 353rd meeting, held on 28 August 2017.
2.The Committee welcomes the initial report of Montenegro, which was prepared in accordance with the Committee’s reporting guidelines. It also appreciates the State party’s written replies (CRPD/C/MNE/Q/1/Add.1) to the list of issues prepared by the Committee (CRPD/C/MNE/Q/1).
3.The Committee appreciates the constructive dialogue held during the consideration of the report and commends the State party for its high-level delegation, which included representatives from various ministries and from the Permanent Representative of Montenegro to the United Nations Office in Geneva.
II.Positive aspects
4.The Committee commends the State party for the adoption of:
(a)The Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination against People with Disabilities;
(b)The Law on Spatial Planning and Construction;
(c)The Law on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of People with Disabilities;
(d)The Law on the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms;
(e)The Strategy for integration of persons with disabilities in Montenegro for the period 2016-2020;
(f)The Strategy for social inclusion of Roma and Egyptians in Montenegro from 2016 to 2020;
(g)The Strategy for protection of persons with disabilities from discrimination and promotion of equality for the period 2017-2021;
(h)The Strategy for protection against domestic violence 2016-2020;
(i)The Strategy for Sustainable Development 2016-2020;
(j)The Strategy for the development of women entrepreneurship for the period 2015-2020.
5.The Committee welcomes:
(a)The efforts to revise the current legislation of Montenegro based on the official analyse of 60 laws in September 2016.
III.Principal areas of concern and recommendations
A.General principles and obligations (arts. 1-4)
6.The Committee is concerned that, progress to bring the legislation into full compliance with the Convention and to replace the current medical model of disability with a human rights-based approach has been largely insufficient. The Committee is also concerned that there are no clear and identifiable budget lines within the public budgets for the implementation of laws, policies, and programmes for the implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities, in particular for the implementation of the Strategy for integration of Persons with Disabilities.
7.The Committee recommends that the State party adopt a human rights-based approach to disability in all its laws, policies and measures. It also recommends that the State party educate and raise the awareness of its policymakers, professionals and the public in general on the rights of persons with disabilities enshrined in the Convention and its Optional Protocol. It furthermore recommends that the State party:
(a)Continue its efforts to regularly review existing and draft legislation in regular and fully accessible consultation with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations and ensure that disability impact assessments form an integral part of the legislative process; and
(b)Allocate identifiable and sufficient and coherent, continuous budget resources to the development and implementation of laws, policies and strategies which are relevant for the implementation of the Convention, including regarding the Strategy for integration of persons with disabilities.
8.The Committee is concerned about the lack of regular and sustainable financial support for organisations of person with disabilities, particularly at the local level. It is also concerned about the lack of a transparent and efficiently structured mechanism for regular consultation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations.
9.The Committee recommends that the State party provide adequate and sustainable financial resources to organisations of persons with disabilities. It furthermore recommends that the State party ensure effective participation and consultation with organizations of persons with disabilities, including those representing women with disabilities, children with disabilities, persons with hearing impairment and the deaf, and persons with psychosocial and/or intellectual disabilities at the national and local levels through transparent frameworks in relation to law and policymaking.
B.Specific rights (arts. 5-30)
Equality and non-discrimination (art. 5)
10.The Committee notes with concern that certain anti-discrimination provisions on disability are discriminatory themselves as they only apply to discrimination based on certain types of impairments. It is furthermore concerned about:
(a)The very small number of complaints based on discrimination, which may point to insufficient knowledge among the population, persons with disabilities in particular, about the rights under the Convention and the available measures to complain about discrimination as well as lack of trust in the justice system;
(b)The lack of effective equal protection of persons with disabilities who may be subjected to intersectional discrimination, such as persons with disabilities who are members of different ethnic groups including, Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians, refugees, asylum-seekers or internally displaced persons;
(c)The continued usage of assessments of disability to access certain human rights and of different definitions of disability, including with derogatory terminology; and
(d)The Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination not defining reasonable accommodation in accordance with the Convention.
11.The Committee recommends that the State Party take the necessary legislative amendments to ensure that all persons with disabilities are equally and fully protected against all forms of discrimination, including intersectional discrimination, in accordance with the Convention. It also recommends that the State party:
(a)Take awareness-raising measures to encourage persons with disabilities to report discrimination, ensure their access to accessible information on their rights under the Convention and on available measures to submit complaints;
(b)Train relevant professionals, in particular law enforcement personnel and members of the judiciary on the Convention and on how to adequately handle complaints of discrimination based on disability;
(c)Strengthen its efforts to prevent and remedy intersectional discrimination experienced by persons with disabilities, including with a particular emphasis on children with disabilities, belonging to a minority group and ensure that they have equal access to all rights under the Convention;
(d)Ensure that any assessment procedure is in line with the Convention and does not lead to discriminatory treatment, as well as abolish the usage of different definitions for disability and of derogatory terminology and apply a human-rights based approach to disability instead; and
(e)Adopt and apply the concept of reasonable accommodation with effective sanctions in order to ensure that the denial of reasonable accommodation constitutes discrimination on the ground of disability.
Women with disabilities (art. 6)
12.The Committee is concerned about ongoing discrimination and violence against women and girls with disabilities and the largely insufficient measures of prevention and of redress taken by the State party in this regard. It is furthermore concerned about:
(a)The lack of specific data on the situation of women and girls with disabilities;
(b)The largely insufficient specific measures for women and girls with disabilities in legislation or policies on gender or on disability as well as the absence of any measures for women and girls with disabilities who are subjected to intersectional forms of discrimination;
(c)Women and girls with disabilities being frequently victims of gender-based violence against women and sexual exploitation, which they furthermore are often reluctant to report and that violence prevention measures are insufficiently accessible; and
(d)The lack of information on adequate and transparent funding and employment-related, affirmative measures tailored to the needs of women with disabilities.
13.With reference to its general comment No. 3 (2016) on women and girls with disabilities and in view of targets 5.1, 5.2 and 5.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Committee recommends that the State party, with the active involvement of women with disabilities throughtheir representative organisations at all stages of the development of measures and decision-making processes:
(a)Allocate sufficient resources to research and data collection on women and girls with disabilities, disaggregated by age, geographical area, type of impairment, family situation, and place of residence (institution or community care);
(b)Include a disability perspective into gender-equality legislation, policies and programmes, as well as a gender perspective into disability legislation and policies and develop specialized policies for women with disabilities;
(c)Prevent and combat multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that women and girls with disabilities face, with a particular focus on access to justice, protection against violence and abuse, education, health care, and employment; and
(d)Include a disability perspective within all laws, policies and programmes on protection from violence, abuse and exploitation, and take awareness-raising measures to encourage women and girls with disabilities to report all forms of harassment and violence they have been subjected to, and ensure their access to accessible information and adequatevictim support services, including at the local level and adequately punish perpetrators.
Children with disabilities (art. 7)
14.The Committee notes with concern that children with disabilities are insufficiently included into decisions which affect their lives. It also notes with concern that:
(a)Discrimination and social exclusion of children with disabilities is prevalent;
(b)Data collected on the situation of children with disabilities is insufficient;
(c)Despite the prohibition of placing children with disabilities under age 3 into institutions, children with disabilities are frequently institutionalized, including in so-called day care centres, and that institutions are furthermore divided based on impairment;
(d)Early identification and intervention services are largely insufficient, in particular at local level and mostly follow the medical model; and
(e)Support provided to parents of children with disabilities is insufficient.
15.The Committee recommends that the State Party step up its efforts and allocate all necessary resources to eliminate discrimination and exclusion of children with disabilities, including with a particular focus on children at risk of intersectional discrimination. It furthermore recommends that the State party:
(a)Establish policies and programmes that will ensure the right of children with disabilities to express their views on all matters concerning them;
(b)Take swift measures aiming at the deinstitutionalization of children and allocate all necessary resources to ensure that they have access to all necessary services in the context of community care instead of in the context of day care centres or any other segregated settings;
(c)Provide all children with disabilities, independent from the kind of their impairment with sufficient early childhood intervention and development services in cooperation with representative organisations of parents with children with disabilities, including at the local level, that is in compliance with the Convention; and
(d)Develop effective quality community-based support services for parents caring for children with disabilities.
Awareness-raising (art. 8)
16.The Committee is concerned about the lack of sufficient programmes and trainings for personnel of public and private media on a human rights based approach to disability, as well as for students of architecture and engineering on accessibility and universal design.
17.The Committee recommends that the State party allocate all necessary human, technical and financial resources to:
(a)Provide training for public and private media on the Convention, with a particular emphasis on the human rights-based approach to disability and encourage the portrayal of a positive image of persons with disabilities, their rights and their contributions to society, with a view to eliminating negative stereotypes and prejudices against persons with disabilities; and
(b)Take effective steps to include mandatory elements on the rights of persons with disabilities, with a special focus on accessibility and universal design into the curricula for students of architecture and engineering.
Accessibility (art. 9)
18.The Committee is concerned about the absence of a comprehensive accessibility strategyor harmonised legislation. It also notes with concern that most public services and buildings, electronic banking and ATM services, the 112 hotline for emergency situations as well aspublic transport are reportedly not or insufficiently accessible for persons with disabilities.
19.The Committee recommends that the State party, in line with article 9 of the Convention and General Comment No. 2(2014) on accessibilityand targets 11.2 and 11.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals:
(a)Adoptan adequately resourced comprehensive accessibility strategy and an action plan with an efficient monitoring mechanism, benchmarks as well as reasonable timelines for the removal of barriers with enforceable and effective sanctions for non-compliance;
(b)Take particularly swift measures to ensure accessibility of the 112 hotline; and
(c) Promote universal design for all buildings, public services and public transport with special regards to applicable ICT solutions in consultations with persons with disabilities and their representative organisations, including at the local level.
Right to life (art. 10)
20.The Committee is concerned about reported cases of death through suffocation in psychiatric hospitals and that no specific prevention measures with safeguards have been taken since. It also notes with concern that hospitals lack specific protocols on how to proceed following allegations of abuse and that there is no mandatory autopsy following deaths of persons placed in institutions.
21.The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a)Establish anonymous and accessible complaint mechanisms in all hospitals, with a particular emphasis on psychiatric hospitals and departments as well as in institutions, and develop an obligatory protocol that all hospitals and institutions are required to follow upon any abuse allegations;
(b)Make autopsy following death cases in hospitals and institutions mandatory; and
(c)Take specific safeguards to avoid accidents such as suffocation in all hospital and institution settings.
Situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies (art. 11)
22.The Committee is concerned about the lack of any comprehensive strategy, protocols and developed standards as well as the lack of regular trainings of relevant professionals and in public buildings to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to help in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies. It is also concerned about the lack of equal access to information, such as accessible and adapted manuals, including guidelines in line with General Comment no. 2 (2014)on accessibility.
23.The Committee recommends that the State party adopt an effective mechanism in accordance with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 in order to have an accessible (e.g. hotlines, a text message-warning application, general manuals in sign language and Braille, etc.) and comprehensive emergency strategy and protocols for situations of risk, as well as to require all public services to develop individual and local plans for the safe evacuation of persons with disabilities in consultations with persons with disabilities through their representative organisations, including at local level.
Equal recognition before the law (art. 12)
24.The Committee is concerned about the current substituted decisions-making and guardianship regime, which restricts the exercise of various rights. It notes with concern that the number of persons with disabilities who are deprived of their full legal capacity continues to be high.
25.Recalling its General comment No. 1 (2014) on equal recognition before the law, the Committee urges the State party to fully harmonize its legislation with the Convention, and replace the current guardianship and substituted decision-making regime with a system of supported decision-making which fully respects the autonomy, integrity, dignity, will and preferences of the person, and establish transparent and effective remedies for persons with disabilities whose legal capacity has been removed.
Access to justice (art. 13)
26.The Committee is concerned that most court buildings in the country remain inaccessible for persons with physical impairments, and also notes with concern that:
(a)Persons working in the administration of justice are not sufficiently trained on the rights of persons with disabilities, including on procedural accessibility with special regards to access to assistive technologies; and
(b)Legal aid, registered and qualified sign-language interpretation and available service for Braille as well as alternative modes of communication and other measures to provide persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities with access to judicial and administrative proceedings are insufficiently available.
27.The Committee recommends that the State party provide for barrier-free and non-discriminatory access to justice based on the free choice and preference of persons with disabilities and provide for disability-related and age-appropriate accommodations in all legal proceedings. It recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts to ensure that:
(a)Accessibility measures, such as braille, the provision of sign language interpretation, alternative modes of communication, and easy-read formats are available in a non-discriminatory manner at all stages of judicial and administrative proceedings; and
(b)Judicial, law enforcement and notary personnel are properly trained on the application of a human rights approach to disability.
Liberty and security of the person (art. 14)
28.The Committee notes with concern that the current medical model-approach to disability permits the deprivation of liberty of persons with disabilities on the basis of impairment and provides for involuntary hospitalization and forced institutionalization of children and adults with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities. The Committee furthermore notes with concern that according to Article 33 of the Law on the Protection and Exercise of the Rights of the Mentally Ill police officers are obliged to deprive a person of liberty based only on the suspicion of “mental illness”, and is concerned about the lack of information on any safeguards in this regard and the possibility to challenge such deprivation of liberty.