Youth representatives take over the institution of the President of Montenegro
On the occasion of World Children’s Day
- Crnogorski
- English
PODGORICA, 20 November 2019 – In line with the global celebration of World Children’s Day and institutional takeovers by children and young people across the globe, UNICEF Montenegro supported the Ombudsperson’s Golden Advisers in taking over the institution of the President of Montenegro today.
Following the takeover of the official residence of the President of Montenegro, youth representatives – Ombudsperson’s Golden Advisers – hosted President of Montenegro Milo Đukanović to discuss the state of children’s rights in the country with him. On this occasion, he highlighted the crucial role of school and the family in combating violence against children, indicating the importance of ethical reporting on children’s rights.
On the occasion of World Children’s Day, UNICEF Representative to Montenegro Osama Khogali identified the fight against poverty and violence against children as the key challenges.
Poverty and violence against children are the key priorities: every third child is exposed to the risk of poverty in Montenegro, while two-thirds of children in Montenegro have experienced some sort of violence. Together, we can change this in order to ensure that every child has access to all the rights.
Đukanović agreed that children’s poverty was one of the key challenges, indicating that it was necessary to support early child development in that regard, as well as to improve the quality of education and social welfare so that support reaches those who need it the most.
Đukanović believes that everything starts and ends with education when it comes to developing society. In his view, it is crucially important to improve the position of education-sector employees in this process.
I think that the advantage of my generation compared to your generations lies in the fact that the position of teachers used to be much better than it is today. In the former Yugoslavia, we had an organized system of values in which this middle class, which includes teachers in any society, was respected in society and materially provided for.
The Golden Advisers also indicated the problem of the migration of an increasing number of young people from Montenegro.
“I come from Berane and I can tell you that many of my peers have moved away with their families, and the same applies to our neighbours from Rožaje, Plav and Bijelo Polje”, Golden Adviser Anastasija Đukić said.
President Đukanović believes that the entire region, and even Europe, is facing the same issue, as well as there being upsides and downsides of that trend. One way of tackling the issue, according to him, lies in the education system.
We will be sure that our young people will not wish to leave Montenegro only when we reach the level of development that we aspire to – the level where we will offer enough jobs, high-quality education, high-quality healthcare, high-quality cultural events and all the other qualities a society has to offer as services to its citizens.
Finally, the President added that the results achieved to date in terms of improving children’s rights had been accomplished through significant support and cooperation with international organizations, primarily UNICEF, and that cooperation would continue in that respect in the future as well.
I think we have strongly committed ourselves to utilize inclusive education to develop an inclusive society, which will have a particular orientation towards vulnerable categories – those children that are deprived of full family care, children belonging to the Roma and Egyptian communities, children coming from underdeveloped rural areas in the north of Montenegro, and children with disabilities.
