OSCE convenes first meeting of Multi-Agency Committee in Montenegro for combating gender-based violence in South-Eastern Europe

On 20 and 21 October 2021, the OSCE convened the first meeting of the Multi-Agency Committee in Montenegro established as part of its project, Enhancing Criminal Justice Capacities for Combating Gender-based Violence in South-Eastern Europe, which is run by the OSCE’s Strategic Police Matters Unit.

Representatives of the OSCE Secretariat and the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, the Montenegrin Police Directorate, the Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, Police Academy, Supreme Court, SOS Podgorica and SOS Nikšić attended the meeting. They discussed the Committee’s role and the project’s strategy and implementation with local stakeholders to help tailor the project content and activities’ to the countries’ needs.

The Committee will provide guidance to the project team to help ensure that the project activities comply with local strategies and other existing programmes to ensure local ownership, sustainability and minimize a duplication of efforts.

The project aims to increase the public’s trust in criminal justice responses and the level of reporting of cases by enhancing the capacities of criminal justice systems in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia to prevent and combat gender-based violence.

The project is currently being implemented with the financial support of Germany, Norway, Finland, and will, pending continued funding, last until 2024.