Safeguarding the rights of people on the move
With the support of the European Union, a Montenegrin NGO has supported migrants with free legal services.
14/06/2022
Irfan* is a 30-year-old originally from Morocco but he says of his home country, “Human rights were not being respected, there were no jobs: the economy was weak. Everything was bad!”. He fled Morocco in 2011, first going to Turkey, using a regular flight. He soon had to leave that country and then had his first contact with smugglers. They transferred him to Greece, and then to Albania, until he eventually arrived in Montenegro. “My life was in the hands of smugglers. They could have done anything they wanted with me; I didn’t have any say. I arrived in Montenegro tired of running away and I didn’t have the strength to continue further,” Irfan adds.
Irfan has now been living in Montenegro for over 10 years. Quite soon after arriving, he got a job at a hotel, where he fell in love with a Montenegrin called Jovana*. They are now married and have two beautiful children. In the meantime, Irfan also learned the Montenegrin language and, in many ways, felt fully integrated into the society of his new home. However, this was not the case from the legal point of view. He had the right to apply for Montenegrin citizenship, but due to legal complications and the fact that certain laws are in conflict with each other, he is still unable to exercise that right. In order to solve this problem, he knocked on the door of the Montenegrin NGO Legal Centre, which provides legal aid to foreigners seeking asylum in Montenegro through an EU-funded project called “My Lawyer – Free and Professional Legal Aid for Migrants” in cooperation with Caritas. Now he is receiving legal aid from them on this matter.
“Because the number of migrants who want to stay in Montenegro is small, the government does not have a policy for their integration in terms of education and employment.”
Luka Kovačević, Director of the NGO Legal CentreFree legal services for those in need
Luka Kovačević is the Director of the Legal Centre NGO which was founded in 2007 with the aim of supporting displaced persons and refugees from the wars in the former Yugoslavia. Back then, Montenegro did not have even the basic legal infrastructure related to asylum seekers, and no government plan for providing support for asylum-seekers or displaced persons. Luka and his team initially worked on supporting the government in overcoming these obstacles and the government introduced the legal infrastructure that has been in place since then.
However, in the meantime, migrants from other parts of the world started to arrive in Montenegro, and they needed support. According to the statistics of the Legal Centre NGO, over 95% of the refugees in the country are using Montenegro as a transit route, and only a small number of them decide to stay, as most of them aim for countries with better economic prospects. But those who do remain need support. Luka explains that the government does not have much to offer them. “Because the number of migrants who want to stay in Montenegro is small, the government does not have a policy for their integration in terms of education and employment,” he says.
Providing support to these migrants and others who see Montenegro only as a transit route is the reason why Lukas’ NGO launched the EU-funded project “My Lawyer – Free and Professional Legal Aid for Migrants” in cooperation with Caritas.
“We made over 146 field visits: we were in all Montenegrin municipalities, visiting and supporting migrants in formal and informal gathering spots. The migrants we supported last year came from Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran, Morocco, and beyond.”
Luka Kovačević, Director of the Legal Centre NGOThrough this project, 677 beneficiaries received support, from irregular migrants and people seeking international protection in Montenegro, to returnees returning based on readmission agreements. In addition to free legal aid, 350 humanitarian aid packages were distributed to migrants. “We had over 146 field visits: we were in all Montenegrin municipalities, visiting and supporting migrants in formal and informal gathering spots. The migrants we supported last year came from Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran, Morocco, and beyond,” says Luka
About the project
The EU-funded project “My Lawyer – Free and Professional Legal Aid for Migrants”, was launched at the beginning of 2020 and ended in July 2021. The total financial value of the project was over €130,000. The project aimed to safeguard the rights of different categories of migrants through the provision of legal aid, information and counselling, humanitarian aid and psychosocial support, as well as working on strengthening the capacities of local civil society organisations and relevant institutions to pursue policies relating to migration management, the integration of foreigners granted international protection and the reintegration of returnees upon readmission.
*Name changed to protect privacy
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Photo credits: NGO Legal Centre