LGBT Forum Progress, Centre for Civic Education, Human Rights Action, Center for antidiscrimination „Equista“ and „Juventas“ welcome the first-instance verdict of the High Court in Belgrade, which adopted the claim of the NGO Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) against the daily newspaper ”Press” LGBT Forum Progres, Centar za građansko obrazovanje, Akcija za ljudska prava, Centar za antidiskriminacije “Ekvista” i Juventas, pozdravljaju prvostepenu presudu Višeg suda u Beogradu kojom je usvojena tužba beogradske nevladine organizacije Gej strejt alijansa (GSA) protiv dnevnih novina „Press“for publishing texts – comments from readers on the Internet site “Press Online” . The verdict is determining that the published texts and comments represent hate speech against LGBT population, and that „Press“ has, by permitting and facilitating the above comments on the site, acted discriminatory towards this population.
This verdict has wider regional significance and it is a clear message to all the media that it is necessary to strengthen the capacities and focus of those in charge in order to stop dissemination and hate speech, as well as intolerance towards LGBT persons within the online editions of the print media and similar portals.
The launch of the first visible LGBT organization and the first public declaration of a homosexual person in Montenegro has caused a lot of attention. Publication of hundreds of very negative, primitive and offensive comments as well as direct threats were allowed on Internet. The media removed a significant number of them on their own initiative and by the pointing of NGOs. Yet, the point is that awareness against stoping discrimination must exist in media and the procedure that treats and controls the posting and moderating comments must be improved.
The court ruled that the comments that characterize LGBT persons as sick and twisted people who should be killed, closed in a ghetto are to be considered as threats that encourage hatred and violence towards members of the LGBT population and their discrimination, thus representing hate speech. The court, which is very importnant, rejected the defendants objection (Press) about the lack of active legitimacy of the prosecutor (GSA) and assessed that “lawsuits against the author and editor for the violation of the prohibition of hate speech may be filed by each legal entity designed to protect the freedoms and rights of citizens, and that the GSA association has the right as an NGO whose mission is to protect human rights of LGBT population. The publication of comments on the website of the defendant the prohibition of hate speech and discriminatory treatment was violated, in this case against LGBT population, and as the Gay Straight Alliance is an organization that deals with the protection of the same population, this NGO is actively legitimized to take part in this process.“
We remind that the application of existing antidiscrimination legislation in Montenegro is extremely limited. This is primarily influenced with the delay of adoption of amendments to the Law on protector of human rights and freedoms. This step is the basis for the application of the Antidiscrimination Law. Also, there are limited capacities and knowledge in prosecuting cases of violence and discrimination against LGBT population. This produces a delay in the proceedings that discourages victims. Procedures about discrimination before the primary courts do not start even after ten months of the filed complaint.
Until today, according to the LGBT Forum Progress data, there are only two reported cases of violence against LGBT persons. Basic Court in Podgorica got three lawsuits concerning discrimination. Police Directorate and the Municipal State Prosecutor got a total of 11 charges against harassment of LGBT persons and dissemination of hatred and intolerance.
Human Rights Action (HRA) did a draft amendment of the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code (CC). Proposed changes are anticipating, amongst the other things, the penalty for promoting intolerance and discrimination based on sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or other personal property. HRA proposal was supported by a significant number of non-governmental organizations and individuals.
The work to improve the status and rights of LGBT population in Montenegro is especially difficult due to the fact current Minister for Human and Minority Rights, which two years continuisly gives homophobic statements and completely blocks all LGBT initiatives. Despite the requests of civil society, Minister Ferhat Dinosha refuses to resign or apologizes to the LGBT population because of its treatment as a group whose existence does not make him happy. So far, the minister has full support of the Government that is essentially entirely behind his statements and his approaches to work.i kojom se utvrđuje da tekstovi – komentari čitalaca objavljeni na Internet sajtu Press online predstavljaju govor mržnje prema LGBT populaciji, kao i da je Press dopuštanjem i omogućavanjem da se navedeni komentari postave na sajt diskriminatorski postupao prema ovoj populaciji.
Ova presuda ima širi regionalni značaj i jasna je poruka svim medijima da je potrebno da pojačaju pažnju i kapacitete kako se na on line izdanjima štampanih novina i različitim portalima ne bi promovisala i širila mržnja i netrpeljivost prema LGBT osobama.
Pokretanje rada prve vidljive LGBT organizacije i prvo javno deklarisanje homoseksualne osobe u Crnoj Gori izazvalo je veliku pažnju. Na internetu je dozvoljeno objavljivanje više stotina jako negativnih, primitivnih i uvrijedljivih komentara kao i direktnih prijetnji. Mediji su samostalno i ukazivanjem od strane NVO značajan broj njih sklonili. Ipak suština je da svijest o zabrani diskrimimacije mora postojati u samim medijima i da mora biti poboljšana procedura koja tretira postavljanje i moderiranje komentara.
Sud je presudio da komentari kojima se LGBT osobe označavaju bolesnim i izopačenim osobama koje treba ubiti, zatvotiti u geto i upućuju im se prijetnje podstiču mržnju i nasilje prema pripadnicima LGBT populacije i njihovu diskriminaciju, te ujedno predstavljaju govor mržnje. Sud je, što je veoma značajno, odbacio prigovor tuženog (Press) o nedostatku aktivne legitimacije tužioca (GSA) i utvrdio da „tužbu protiv autora i odgovornog urednika zbog povrede zabrane govora mržnje može podnijeti i svako pravno lice čiji je cilj zaštita slobode i prava građana i da je GSA udruženje građana čija je misija zaštita ljudskih prava LGBT osoba. Kako je objavljivanjem komentara na sajtu tuženog izvršena povreda zabrane govora mržnje i postupano diskriminatorski, u konkretnom slučaju prema LGBT osobama, a Gej strejt alijansa je organizacija koja se bavi zaštitom prava istih, ona je i aktivno legitimisana u ovom postupku“.
Podsjećamo da je primjena postojećeg antidiskriminatornog zakonodavstva u Crnoj Gori krajnje ograničena. Tome prije svega doprinosi odlaganje usvajanja izmjena Zakona o zaštitniku ljudskih prava i sloboda. Taj korak predstavlja osnov za primjenu Zakona o zabrani diskriminacije. Takođe, limitirani su kapaciteti i znanje kako da se procesuiraju slučajevi nasilja i diskriminacije prema LGBT osobama. To proizvodi odugovlačenje postupka koji žrtve obeshrabruje. Postupci zbog diskriminacije pred osnovnim sudovima ne pokreću se ni nakon deset mjeseci od podnijetih tužbi.
Prema podacima iz LGBT Foruma Progres do danas su prijavljena dva sluča nasilja nad LGBT osobama. Osnovnom sudu u Podgorici podnijete su tri tužbe protiv diskriminacije. Upravi policije i Osnovnom državnom tužiocu je podnijeto ukupno 11 prijava zbog uznemirivanja LGBT osoba i širenja mržnje i netrpeljivosti.
Akcija za ljudska prava (HRA) uradila je prijedlog dopune nacrta Zakona o izmjenama i dopunama Krivičnog zakonika (KZ). Predložena je dopuna koja predviđa, između ostalog, kaznu za propagiranje netrpeljivosti i diskriminacije na temelju pola, invaliditeta, seksualne orijentacije, rodnog identiteta, ili drugog ličnog svojstva. Prijedlog HRA podržao je i značajan broj nevladinih organizacija i pojedinaca.
Rad na poboljšanju položaja i prava LGBT osoba u Crnoj Gori posebno otežava aktuelni ministar za ljudska i manjinska prava koji dvije godine u kontinuitetu nastavlja sa homofobnim izjavama i potpunim suštinskim blokiranjem i odbijanjem svih LGBT inicijativa. I pored traženja civilnog društva ministar Ferhat Dinosha odbija da podnese ostavku ili se izvini LGBT populaciji zbog njenog tretiranja kao skupine čije postojanje ga ne čini srećnim. Do ovog trenutka ministar uživa punu podršku Vlade koja suštinski u potpunosti stoji iza njegovih izjava i pristupa u radu.
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