Montenegro’s Policy Towards the Roma. Internal and International Dimensions

Abstract

The situation of the Roma minority in Montenegro is of interest to the country’s authorities, international organizations and numerous NGOs. This is due to both the problems faced by the Roma and the complicated status they have in Montenegro, since only a certain percentage of them hold citizenship of the country. The authorities are taking several measures to improve the social position of the Roma, with much of this motivated by the process of Montenegro’s accession to international organizations, led by the European Union. These are multidimensional activities, with effects in many areas. The purpose of this article is to show the different dimensions of the policy of the Montenegrin authorities towards the Roma, in the internal and international context. The main hypothesis assumes that, in the case of Montenegro, policy towards Roma is correlated with EU accession efforts. As a result, this is a case where foreign policy largely determines the direction of ethnic policy development. The formulated hypothesis and objective determine the temporal and territorial scope of the study. The following research questions are posed: what institutional and legal regulations affect the situation of Roma in Montenegro? What actions are taken by the authorities in Podgorica to solve the main problems of Roma living in Montenegro? What Union actions have influenced the policy of Montenegro towards the Roma population? In what international initiatives to improve the situation of the Roma does Montenegro participate?