PODGORICA, 30.02.2021. – Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (TUMM) welcomes the decision of the Ministry of Health to include media workers in the priority groups for vaccination.

We remind that TUMM raised the issue of vaccination of media workers due to the specific working conditions and health protection of colleagues who have been informing citizens on a daily basis since the appearance of the Covid-19 virus.

As announced by the Ministry, the vaccination of media workers will start on Thursday, April 1. All employees in Podgorica will be vaccinated at the new point, in the YNA House, while employees from other municipalities will be vaccinated at the existing points.

As one of the ways of identification during vaccination, it is possible to enclose a membership card of the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro. For freelancers is enough to, as a proof, show text, article or other media product.

TUMM calls on all media workers to be vaccinated in order to protect ourselves and our colleagues in the newsrooms. We appeal to the media to show solidarity and give priority to those who are at greater risk.

In reporting on employees’ rights and legal obligations towards them, we have seldom encountered the use of the term “Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB)”, which is not always found in balanced reports.

In principle, gender inequality has always prevailed in different sectors, although legal obligations to all employees should be equal. Such preoccupations in the workplace, disregard for GRB is a heavy burden, especially for women. Therefore, the latter being part of different activities, mobilizing together and being informed about the implementation of Gender Responsive Budgeting, can affect the gender equality that legally belongs to them.

Such moves would also bring answers to many questions such as: are programs easily accessible equally for men and women; do they meet the goals for which they are intended; the effects and impact of programs for men and women, taking into account other characteristics such as ethnicity, age, place of residence; what is the advancement of programs from the aspect of applying a gender perspective; what are the mechanisms through which GRB can be respected; etc.

Women and girls in different municipalities of Kosovo face a considerable number of these challenges. The very term “Gender Responsive Budgeting” is a challenge in itself for women as the difficulties in addressing it are mainly related to the fact of structural problems and worse, different mentality or stereotypes towards women, continue to penalize them.

Overcoming many prejudices, which can create barriers, should be done in order to facilitate women’s access to the labor market. In principle, although as a new term “Gender Responsive Budgeting”, it can facilitate the physical access of women in various sectors by focusing on women with economic difficulties, those who belong to non-majority communities, as they are prey of multiple levels of discrimination, based on the socio-economic situation, low level of education, improper access to institutional life, or the labor market in general, etc.

Thus, to combat discrimination against women in the job application process and those in the workplace, closer co-operation is required from authorities at both local and central levels to ensure that engagement is increased in relevant cases. in identifying and preventing discrimination against women.

So, although being considered as a relatively new concept in the country, it is expected that a lot of work will be done so that the implementation of GRB brings another positive reality, as this is seen at the same time as a challenge of the state in ensuring gender equality. In many countries, the gender perspective is integrated in public policies precisely as a result of the successful application of GRB for many years, so the same application should occur in Kosovo, by drafting pro-provincial policies, by implementing concrete actions.

However, gender equality means that women and men enjoy full and equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities, regardless of the sector, and that the principles of gender equality should apply not only to the public but also to the private sector.

GRP practice extends to almost all community-related programs, whether governmental or not, but does not exclude families, and is a term that includes gender relations, control over economic resources, gender mainstreaming, and many other aspects. other in the functioning of the development and consolidation of a society.

Imposing different situations, incompatibility with the approach of the responsible instances, lead to an aggravated and almost unbearable situation especially for women. While we still continue to see differences and different methods aimed at overcoming the crisis of different sectors, the application of GRB, in principle, would facilitate the professional life of women or girls and help to dispel the stereotypes which they continue to face.

Author: Nora Xhuzi

PODGORICA, 29.03.2021. – Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (TUMM) and the Human Rights Action (HRA) strongly condemn the attack on the editor-in-chief of the weekly Monitor, Esad Kocan and call on the competent authorities to adequately investigate the case and punish the perpetrator.

Of particular concern is the fact that, according to published information, the attacker is a multiple returnee in committing crimes of violence and that the incident took place in front of the entrance of the building where Kocan lives.

This is the third attack on journalists in Montenegro in the last 15 days alone. This shows that the safety of journalists and other citizens in our country is endangered, which is mainly a consequence of heated political passions in society in recent months.

This attack also indicates that it is necessary to additionally protect journalists in Montenegro, so we remind that the HRA has been proposing this for more than 10 years. Since 2014, HRA and TUMM have been jointly advocating amendments to the Criminal Code in order to strengthen the criminal protection of journalists, which has led to the fact that in 2017 we send proposals to amend the Criminal Code. Then we proposed the introduction of new criminal offenses – Preventing journalists from performing professional tasks and Attacking journalists in performing professional tasks, as well as supplementing the existing criminal offenses of Aggravated murder and Serious bodily injury, but these proposals were unfortunately not adopted.

We hope that concrete legislative activity will soon take place to ensure stronger protection for journalists, and that police reforms will lead to progress in detecting and punishing attacks so far. This would send a clear message that attacks on journalists are unacceptable in a society aspiring to EU membership and deter future attackers from similar attempts.

I will start this article with a simple question: How ambitious should you be to be able to pursue your dream as a woman in Kosovo, especially when your dream is considered by the people as a “difficult” and a profession for “man”? The answer is: A lot! But, not only that. In addition to the ambition that everyone who wants to pursue their dream needs, they also need strength to face prejudices, injustices, and a “bag” full of challenges that you have to overcome as a rider, obstacles in battlefield.

There are several laws in Kosovo that regulate and promote gender equality in the country, including the Law on Gender Equality, the Family and the Law on Protection Against Domestic Violence. But how difficult it has been for women in Kosovo, during different periods of time, to develop their journalism profession and whether they have ever felt penalized by irresponsible gender budgeting, we will understand between the lines.

Sebiha Ramaxhiku, journalist, who had started working as a first-year student in journalism and diplomacy at RTP, as an external collaborator in 1976, tells how, fortunately for her, she had enjoyed the support of her family for the choice she made, but for those girls and women who did not have the same fate, the difficulties have been twofold.

“For all this experience, the biggest difficulties have been the way the media has functioned, especially in the pre-war period as there has been different censorships, while in terms of other obstacles, there have been problems that follow you in the media as a stressful and dynamic type of work, for women, there are the family obligations, when they have children and you have to find a way not to lose your career, but not to neglect the care of children either”, she says.

But, as to whether she has ever encountered pay discrimination due to gender, either from personal experience or from the experiences of people around her who are in the media, she said that with the state of the media now, when we also have a lot of private media, it often happens that the determination of salary is made by how much one likes.

“I want to overcome this problem, not only for women, but for all employees, as during the salary assessment I do not see that there are defined criteria, including: education, experience, work responsibility, etc., based on which the salary is then determined “, said Ramaxhiku.

Also, Dafina Demaku, a journalist by profession who is now an editor at an online media, points out that in her workplace, everyone is paid for the work they do, regardless of gender. While, some of the difficulties throughout her career as a journalist, even for her remain parental duties, but also the inability to follow only one sector as a journalist.

“I am a mother of two children and both children were born while I was developing my profession”. I have personally succeeded, but I think it is quite difficult, especially in the circumstances in which Kosovo is, in terms of opportunities to offer kindergartens/nurseries, economic conditions (in general) in our country, etc.”, she says.

Demaku estimates that the work of women in the media is to be admired, for the energy and dedication they have, always starting from her experience as an editor in the medium where she has been working for 5 years now.

“I have noticed that girls and women have tremendous energy in the journalism profession. Perhaps, being a profession that requires a lot of detail and exclusively detail, I have noticed that women are the ones who do this work with dedication. I do not want to look ridiculous or negative about the work of the opposite sex, but from 5 years of experience in the medium where I work and where we usually organize work with girls and women who are journalists here, I have noticed that our success often depends on the dedication of girls and women here. Therefore, I consider that women should be given even more opportunities for leadership in this profession “, said Demaku.

Although in the media industry, some of the women interviewed state that they have not encountered gender pay discrimination, in Kosovo a significant problem remains the employment and representation of women in institutions and leadership positions. The report published for 2019 by the GAP Institute on employment and representation of women in Kosovo, which statistically presents the position of women in employment, education and social welfare, reflects that the employment rate of women, especially in senior positions, remains very low, compared to men.

“Except in management positions, in general, the rate of employed women remains lower than that of men. Whereas, the unemployment rate for men, in 2019, was 22.8% or 6.3 pp lower than in 2018, The unemployment rate for women was 32.7% or 2.1 pp higher than in 2018. Therefore, while unemployment for men has decreased, for women the opposite has happened,” it is cited in the report.

At the Employment Agency in 2019, the number of male jobseekers was 52,343 and that of women 43,547, while 6,700 of registered female job seekers had completed bachelor studies, a higher number than male jobseekers with the same profile, according to the report. If we talk about raising people’s awareness of whether discrimination in the workplace due to gender is illegal or not, a publication by the Kosovo Women’s Network shows that 85% of respondents agree that discrimination on the basis of gender in the workplace is illegal. Thus, most of the respondents knew that this issue is regulated by the legal framework of Kosovo.

The message of journalists Sebiha Ramaxhiku and Dafina Demaku is simple and clear: “Continue the commitment to fulfill the mission of the sacred profession of journalism, because our country, Kosovo, needs the energy and power of women.”

According to a practical guide on Gender Responsive Budgeting by the Kosovo Women’s Network, the benefits of using GRB are as follows:

1. The way public spending is allocated can contribute to reducing gender inequalities within a society.

2. Successful implementation of the GRB approach within the government budget can increase the effectiveness of the allocation of funds.

3. Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of spending can enable the government to allocate sufficient funds to carry out the roles and responsibilities it currently has.

4. Budget officers, budget departments, and institutions at the municipal and central levels can use GRB to better communicate and justify the needs of their departments to other institutions and parties, including the Ministry of Finance.

5. International research shows that greater equality between men and women leads to growth and economic prosperity.

This guide mentions as an idea for promoting GRB and organizing public hearings, as a useful way to better inform and raise awareness about the importance of Gender Responsive Budgeting.

Author: Agnesa Sejdiu

PODGORICA, 26.03.2021. – The Police Directorate filed a criminal complaint against M.J. due to violent behavior to the detriment of Vijesti journalist Jelena Jovanović on election night on March 14 in Nikšić.

“On March 14, 2021, at around 9.30 pm, while on duty and monitoring and timely reporting on local elections and events after the closing of polling stations, J.J. was injured by one person in the head,” states the police.

The event took place near the election headquarters of the coalition “For the Future of Niksic”, where a large number of citizens were gathered.

“At one point, the suspect started a verbal conflict with an MD police officer who was on a work assignment, and then approached him and removed the protective mask from his face. At one point, this person fired a hard object at the police officer and hit journalist JJ. The suspect inflicted injuries on an MD officer in the area of ​​the head, more precisely the ear, with an unknown object, “the Police Administration said in a statement.

PODGORICA, 26.03.2021. – The Commission for monitoring the actions of the authorities in investigations of cases of threats and violence against journalists, murders of journalists and attacks on media property, strongly condemned the attack on journalist Sead Sadiković.

“We call on the competent institutions to, with full respect for the presumption of innocence, urgently and indiscriminately, carry out the procedure of shedding light on the case of the attack on Sadikovic and severely punish the perpetrators of events that cannot serve on anyone’s honor and which are sending one of the ugliest images of Montenegro to the domestic and the international public”, it is stated in the announcement.

The Commission said that no one has the right to make excuses anymore and that investigations of attacks on journalists must be faster, more efficient and more effective, and that the penal policy should be appropriate to the gravity of the crime.

“Everything must be done to completely eliminate the risk that the perpetrators of these heinous acts will go unpunished or even undetected, which was unfortunately the practice in the previous period. Attacks on journalists as well as on any citizen are a key issue of democratic maturity of Montenegrin society that must be resolved in order for the basic right to physical integrity of an individual and freedom of speech, as one of the basic achievements of modern civilization, to continue living in a free Montenegro, with full lungs and without any compromise”, the Commission announced.

They also condemned the attack on journalist of Vijesti daily, Jelena Jovanovic.

The Commission requested from the police and the prosecutor’s office all the documentation related to the mentioned attacks, whose investigations will be a special subject of attention in its further work.

PODGORICA, 26.03.2021. – State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior Zoran Miljanic said that it was undoubtedly established that the footage that appeared after the attack on journalist Sead Sadikovic was edited. He claims that it would be determined how it reached the public. 

Miljanic also said that the police claim that they do not have an authentic recording, but that they got the one that lacks ten seconds. Miljanic said the footage was edited at a bank branch in Bijelo Polje, whose surveillance cameras recorded the incident.

He pointed out that no attack on journalists will be forgotten, especially not the murder of Dusko Jovanovic. “The Commission has already received new information in that case,” Miljanic said.

Mihailo Jovović, who was nominated for the president of the Commission for Monitoring Investigation of Attacks on Journalists, said that it is inadmissible for democratic countries to carry out attacks on journalists. Jovović also reminded of the attack on the journalist of Vijesti, Jelena Jovanovic.

Miljanic added that in the new convocation, the Commission will get members from the Police Administration, the National Security Agency and the Higher and Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office, which will give them the strength to discover all previous attacks and to discover the perpetrators and those who ordered them.