Prevention of early forced marriages focus of OSCE Mission to Montenegro-organized discussion
A workshop on the prevention of early forced marriages, organized by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, took place on 27 March 2017 in Podgorica.
Early forced marriages in Montenegro are a worrying phenomenon from a number of perspectives: legal, socio-economic and institutional.
The two trainers addressed more than 20 civil sector representatives, presenting the main findings and recommendations of a mapping analysis conducted under an extra-budgetary project supported by the French Permanent Mission in Vienna and the Embassy of France in Montenegro. They were able to conduct the workshop in a very interactive way, given that the participants were already familiar with the topic, since they are active in areas such as social inclusion, gender discrimination, anti-trafficking and minority rights.
Biljana Pejovic, Head of the Gender Department in the Montenegrin Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, said that the issue of early forced marriages affects women from vulnerable groups, especially Roma and Egyptians.
A systematic response by the Government of Montenegro is included in the Strategy for Social Inclusion of Roma and Egyptians in Montenegro for 2016-2020, which addresses seven key areas: housing, education, health protection, employment, legal status, social status and family protection and culture, identity and information.
“Gender equality and anti-discrimination are cross-cutting issues that are relevant to all areas and crucial for an in-depth understanding of this very complex problem," said Pejovic.
Lia Magnaguagno, Democratization Programme Manager at the OSCE Mission to Montenegro , highlighted the complexity of the phenomenon of early marriages and the importance of raising awareness at the local level. “All of our efforts must be well co-ordinated to ensure that we stop the vicious circle that starts with school drop-out and might result in human trafficking.”
The workshop will be followed by training courses at the local level, the participants of which will include multi-disciplinary teams devoted to the fight against violence and women from vulnerable groups.