OSCE Mission to Montenegro supports Roma and Egyptian women activists
The OSCE Mission to Montenegro organized a training course to accredit Roma and Egyptian women activists as “confidential persons” who will serve as advocates for victims of domestic violence and early marriages. The three-day event was organized together with the Centre for Roma Initiative and concluded on 20 April 2019 in Podgorica.
The designation of a confidential person is a mechanism under the domestic protection procedure to provide victims of domestic violence with a trained advocate to explain their rights and assist them in dealing with official bodies. Such a person also makes house visits and talks with girls and women in informal settings to build their trust and confidence in institutions, both at the local and national level.
The training programme is accredited by the Agency for Social Welfare and Child Protection of Montenegro. For 10 selected community activists, the 50 euro participation fee was waived.
Sejla Pepic was one of the participants. She works as an education assistant in a primary school in Podgorica, where there are 600 Roma and Egyptian students. Her role is to provide a link between the Roma and Egyptian communities and institutions. “I find this training particularly useful, taking into consideration the size of the community I am interacting with on a daily basis. Focus should be placed on the work with parents and young girls and the importance of education needs to be emphasized. All of this should be accompanied by a clear presentation of legal consequences for those who prevent them from attending school as the common law and unwritten rules are still strongly observed in the Roma and Egyptian communities,” Pepic said.
Another course attendee, Elma Sahman from Bijelo Polje, said: “The reason why I enlisted in this training is to improve my knowledge, to realize my limits, to measure how much I do or do not know. My wish is to provide people in my community with positive examples and to try to transfer my knowledge. The most interesting part of the training was the information about the regulatory framework. Now I know what the law prescribes and what the entitlements of a confidential person are.”
Veljbana Naza works as a mediator in a primary school in Nikšić. “Children need support and motivation so they can continue with their education and are able to take their destiny into their hands. Roma and Egyptians in Montenegro should be informed about which institutions to address and how to prevent and confront domestic violence. Unfortunately, I suffered domestic violence and that is a fact I cannot undo. However, what I can do is to raise my kids and spread the word among other children that violence in any form is simply unacceptable and that they have to stand against it.”
This training follows activities implemented by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro with the support of the French Delegation in Vienna between 2015 and 2017. They were designed to raise awareness about early marriages and domestic violence among vulnerable groups, in particular Roma and Egyptian communities. The project is based on recommendations resulting from a mapping analysis conducted by the Mission in six Montenegrin municipalities, in particular those related to Roma and Egyptian communities.