MAP16 Project activities in Montenegro

The project contributes to the promotion of decent work in Montenegro by supporting national stakeholders in designing a set of instruments for identifying and measuring child labour, as well as deepening understanding amongst stakeholders of the realities of this issue. The project aims to improve knowledge base, strengthen policies, and increase capacity of the government and other stakeholders to combat child labour.

When:	October 2019 - June 2021
Budget:	US$ 87,000
Project code:	GLO/18/29/USA
Donor:	United States Department of Labor (USDOL)
Contact:	Mirela Bakalbasic

National context

In 2018, Montenegro made advancement in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. The Ministry of Interior’s Beggar Task Force investigated 246 people, out of which 33 were juveniles, and 22 children were sent to Social Welfare Centres. Labour inspectors received training on forced child labour and informal work from the Ministry of Interior’s Office for the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons and the ILO. Also, the Supreme State Prosecutor and Police Director adopted a decision to establish a Counter Human Trafficking Task Force, and the government passed the Strategy for Inclusive Education, which aims to provide education to all children in the country, including children with disabilities.

Montenegro has ratified all key international conventions concerning child labour, and laws and regulations are in line with relevant international standards. Institutional mechanisms for the enforcement of laws and regulations on child labour are in place, however, there is room for improvement within operations of the agencies responsible for child labour law enforcement. The government maintains a database on children involved in begging, but it is yet to establish consistent tracking of information about children involved in the worst forms of child labour.

Although the government made meaningful efforts in all relevant areas to date, children in Montenegro engage in the worst forms of child labour, including forced begging and commercial sexual exploitation, each sometimes as a result of human trafficking.

Project activities

The project activities in Montenegro include:

• Strengthened national framework for monitoring the prevalence of child labour, through conducting a rapid assessment of the prevalence of child begging.
• National legislation aligned with international standards on the protection of children at work, through drafting the first Hazardous Child Labour List in Montenegro and the appropriate legal instrument for adoption by the government.
• Improved capacities to enforce laws and policies related to child labour, including the worst forms of child labour, through providing the tailor-made countrywide training to practitioners in relevant agencies, including the Labour Inspectorate, Police, and Centres for Social Work.

Partners

Ministry of labour and social welfare and other relevant ministries, Office of the Ombudsman, employers’ and workers’ organizations; Statistical Office of Montenegro - MONSTAT, UNICEF, Labour inspectorate, Social and Child protection inspectorate, Police, and Centres for Social Work, Institute for Social and Child Protection.

Target beneficiaries

Child workers and their families. Indirect beneficiaries are social workers, police officers, labour inspectors, and other relevant stakeholders.