WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR: M.J. GDNUS
Prime Minister Milojko Spajić sent representatives of the “Kamo śutra” student group a response to the requests they sent on January 23, 2025.
We are publishing his response in full
I have carefully reviewed the address you sent to me on January 23, 2025, which also refers to the requests made at the protests held during January.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that an extraordinary session of the National Security Council was held on January 3, at which, regarding the tragedy in Cetinje, numerous conclusions and recommendations were made, which are mostly complementary to the requests in your address.
Accordingly, and in accordance with the measures taken so far in response to your individual requests, I hereby inform you as follows:
1. As you yourself have stated, resignation is an act of moral and objective responsibility. As is known to the public, all members of the Government are subject to change after a performance evaluation and detailed analysis of their performance, on which the final decisions will depend.
2. In relation to the request for more timely and proactive action by the competent institutions on the issue of weapons possession, I would like to inform you that, in accordance with the conclusions of the National Security Council, a Draft Amendment to the Law on Weapons and Ammunition (Marko's and Mašan's Laws) has been prepared.
As the draft in question was put up for public debate on January 24, and no proposals from your group have been recorded so far, I invite you to familiarize yourself with the proposed amendments and submit any suggestions regarding them by the deadline for submitting suggestions (February 24).
For your information, the key amendments relate to:
Raising the age limit from 18 to 25 years for submitting applications for weapons (with exceptions for the police, military, security guards, members of sports shooting organizations);
Reducing the validity period of weapons licenses from 10 to 5 years; Expanding the scope of criminal offenses and misdemeanors that are considered an obstacle to the possession of weapons - offenses that contain any form of violence;
Establishing a commission of the Ministry of Health, as the only one competent for issuing medical certificates for the possession of weapons, as well as for continuous psychological and psychiatric assessments - i.e. stricter psychological assessments;
Stricter criteria for recreational and sports weapons;
Centralizing the processing of requests for possession and carrying weapons.
Also, in order to strengthen security and legal protection of citizens, the Ministry of Justice has prepared a Draft Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code, which has been under public debate since January 23, and the key changes relate to:
Increasing the punishment for the unauthorized possession and carrying of weapons - from one to 10 years in prison;
Increasing the punishment for gender-motivated aggravated murder (femicide) - from 10 to 40 years in prison;
Recognition of attacks on doctors and educators as a criminal offense;
Suppression of hate speech.
I also invite you to contribute to the quality of the drafting of this legal solution by the end of the public debate (February 12).
In relation to the request in question, I also inform you that the campaign "Respect life - return weapons" has been intensified. Thus, from the beginning of the year to January 27, citizens voluntarily handed over to the Police Administration: 1,535 firearms, 50,534 ammunition, 147 hand grenades, as well as several hundred parts of weapons and explosive devices. Also, in order to prevent illegal possession and carrying of weapons and reduce criminal activities, 126 weapons, nearly 7,500 pieces of ammunition and 5 hand grenades were seized in police operations throughout Montenegro during the same period.
When it comes to the reform of the functioning of police structures, I inform you that this was also one of the conclusions of the National Security Council. Accordingly, on January 16, a competition was announced for the recruitment of 815 police officers to the Police Directorate (the competition was open until February 5, and in the meantime about 550 applications were received).
Also, in the meantime, 49 police officers have been employed, who graduated from the Police Academy, while seven police officers have been assigned to the Cetinje Security Department since January 16.
In parallel with these activities, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is implementing an intensive reform of police structures, within which several dozen police officers have been suspended so far.
Similarly, at the initiative of the Royal Capital, and at the proposal of the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, the Government has made a decision to introduce security guards in all educational institutions in the Royal Capital from the beginning of February.
This measure has been extended to other municipalities, so such a decision was made at the Government session held on January 30 and applies to other schools in urban areas (42 secondary and 65 primary schools) attended by a significant number of students. The Government will provide 800,000 euros from the budget reserve for these purposes for the period from February 15th until the end of the school year.
4. Regarding the return of civic education as a mandatory subject in primary and secondary schools, The Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation is fully committed to promoting the values of civic education and civil society at all levels.
Minister Anđela Jakšić Stojanović has repeatedly publicly supported the initiative to introduce Civic Education as a mandatory subject in curricula. The department she heads, in cooperation with UNICEF and with the support of the European Commission, is preparing the Education Strategy for the period 2025-2035, and this work is in its final phase. The document was subject to public debate, and its adoption is planned for the first quarter of this year. The Strategy defines the curriculum reform as a priority measure that needs to be implemented.
In this sense, the introduction of Civic Education, not only as a separate subject, but also the inclusion of certain topics in other subjects, including the curricula of primary schools, is clearly defined in the text of the Strategy itself, and is an integral part of the Action Plan, the preparation of which is also in its final phase.
During the development of the Education Strategy, special attention was paid to the importance of media literacy in the education system, especially from the aspect of improving human rights and democratic processes in society, as well as 21st century education, which requires the development of critical thinking and the promotion of civil society values.
As for improving relationships and mental health care, immediately after January 1, through multi-sectoral cooperation, continuous psychological and social support was established for the citizens of Cetinje, and an SOS line for such support at the state level – 1555 – is also active. As part of this support measure, 400 calls and 200 interventions have been made so far.
Namely, after discussions with representatives of the health sector and associations of psychologists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists, concrete steps for cooperation on the systemic improvement of the Mental Health Program were agreed upon.
In this regard, the Ministry of Health has developed a Mental Health Program, the aim of which is to strengthen capacities in terms of prevention, rapid diagnosis and adequate treatment of mental disorders in the wider community through planned activities in the next two-year period.
In order to strengthen human resources, the capacities of the CMZ at health centers have been increased, i.e. previously unrecognized psychologist positions have been systematized (Health Center Budva, Health Center Rožaje), while 8 residents in psychiatry, 3 residents in child and adolescent psychiatry and 3 residents in medical psychology are currently undergoing specialization.
In addition, the annual plan of specializations and narrow specializations for 2025 provides for:-
14 specializations in psychiatry;
3 specializations in adolescent and child psychiatry and
2 specializations in the field of medical psychology
It is also important to emphasize that in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, educational workshops on psychological debriefing were organized for teachers and pedagogues on recognizing post-traumatic stress (PTS) in children, for parents of children from the Primary School "Lovćenski partizanski odred" and Primary School "Njegoš" as well as for students of the aforementioned primary schools. At the same time, workshops were organized for the Protection and Rescue Service, the Municipal Police, the PHI Health Center.
According to information available from the management of the Public Service, in the coming period, topics related to mental health will be additionally treated through the program scheme.
Finally, in line with the call for dialogue, and in order to achieve the best solutions and practices in these areas, I would like to once again point out the importance of cooperation between institutions and citizens on all relevant issues for our country and society as a whole.
In this regard, the Government will continue its intensive work in all spheres of activity and remains open to dialogue, so that together, through the best solutions, we can make the system more resilient and safer for all our citizens.
