Making the Invisible Visible; Women’s Rights in Montenegro and European Integration.

Abstract

The main goal of this thesis is to analyse the violence against women in Montenegro(VAW). Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (DV) have recently been recognized by the Council of Europe as gender-based violence of a structural nature rooted in contemporary society. The first chapter of this work focuses on the nature and origin of violence against women. The main concern of this analysis is to elaborate the inequality of women in Montenegro. In the second chapter I will mainly focus on situation in Montenegro. I will then deepen on how the present inequality is a product of a very patriarchal society. Domestic violence violates women’s fundamental human rights to life, liberty, and security of person, equal protection before the law, and freedom from torture. Despite the growing support and campaigning against women’s violence by activists, women’s rights groups it seems that the negative news about violation of women’s rights still prevails. It is a fact that women usually are discouraged from reporting the violence because of various factors, such as financial dependence on the abuser, fear of retribution and stigmatization, lack of confidence in system actors, the absence of effective mechanisms to prevent repeat violence, and lack of information about their rights. The third chapter will be focused on Human Rights International Treaties and Montenegro’s European integration. In 2013, the Istanbul convention was signed in Montenegro. The Istanbul Convention aims to prevent violence, protect victims and punish the guilty. The Istanbul Convention of the Council of Europe became the first international convention on violence against women which, among others, provides minimum common standards for the prevention, detection and criminalization of violence against women. Nevertheless, The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence is based on the understanding that violence against women is a form of gender-based violence that is committed against women because they are women. It is the obligation of the state to fully address it in all its forms and to take measures to prevent violence against women, protect its victims and prosecute the perpetrators. Failure to do so would make it the responsibility of the state. The convention leaves no doubt: there can be no real equality between women and men if women experience gender-based violence on a large-scale and state agencies and institutions turn a blind eye. According to an UNDP survey, every other woman in Montenegro has experienced violence during her lifetime, with one in five victims of violence in the previous year(2016). We must be aware that violence against women can not be completely eradicated only by laws and penalties. The expect result of the analysis is to be able to identify what progress has been made and where further improvements are needed for a women’s equality in Montenegro. A life without violence is every women’s right.