People’s Advocate signs agreement with Montenegrin counterpart: A direct channel for complaints on both sides of the border

The People’s Advocate, Endrit Shabani, and the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro, Siniša Bjeković, signed a bilateral cooperation agreement today in Tirana.

During the visit, the two delegations were also received by the President of the Republic, Bajram Begaj.

The agreement between the two countries creates a special communication channel and contact points in each institution. Complaints by citizens and residents against the public authorities of the other country will be forwarded directly to the counterpart institution, which handles them according to its own competences.

“A citizen who encounters a problem with the administration across the border often does not know where to turn. This agreement gives them an address. For two countries negotiating EU membership, this is practical cooperation, not ceremonial,” Shabani said.

“We see this cooperation as an opportunity to strengthen our shared European perspective and to contribute, through our respective mandates, to the further advancement of human rights and democratic standards on the path towards EU membership,” Bjeković said.

The priority areas are children’s rights, the prevention of torture, non-discrimination, the rights of national minorities, the rights of migrants and the diaspora, environmental protection and digital rights.

The delegations exchanged experiences on the work of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture (MKPT) and engagement in the ENNHRI, GANHRI and IOI networks.

The agreement follows the trilateral one with the counterpart institutions of Kosovo and North Macedonia and is part of the regional cooperation of Ombudsman institutions in the Western Balkans. Mr Shabani also chairs the Association of Mediterranean Ombudsmen (AOM), which Montenegro aims to join soon.

The aim is also for the Advocates, together with Kosovo and North Macedonia, to publish a joint annual report on the state of human rights in the region.