The Employment Agency of Montenegro continues to undermine the field of professional rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities through illegal actions

Disability rights organizations, signatories of this statement, condemn and strongly oppose the latest decision of the Employment Agency, which illegally rejected the candidacy of Goran Macanović. As a result he not being elected as a member of the Council of the Fund for Profesional Rehabilitation, even though he met all the prescribed conditions.

With this, the Employment Agency (EAM) continues with previous practices of bad treatment, and we understand this act as direct pressure on a person with disabilities, who have proven their activism and experience, their proactive and critical action, and participation in the decision-making process.

For a long period, few of us have pointed out the inadequate and illegal behavior of those engaged in the Fund for Professional Rehabilitation, whose untimely work and irresponsibility have led to delays in the payment of subsidies, continuously since 2021.

Delays recorded before the mentioned period lasted for a couple of months, while since the change of the management at the time in the Fund and the EAM, there has been a practice of delays in the recognition and exercise of employers’ rights for up to a year and a half, and in exceptional situations, even more. The above resulted in some cases in the termination of employment for certain persons with disabilities, whose employers did not even succeed in exercising their rights to subsidies related to the equipment of the workplace and assistants in work. In exceptional cases, this resulted in early retirement (disability pension) due to the deterioration of the condition caused by the lack of equipment and working conditions because the Fund did not act promptly in processing the requests submitted by the employers.     

We could have assumed that would suffer the consequences of those that indicate such actions by the head of the Fund. However, we hoped that one would be stopped by the change of management and the stopping of the negative, and everything indicates, also ordered campaigns. This campaign aims to deny and reduce the scope of the existing rights of persons with disability, in such a way that previously guaranteed rights will be revoked or limited.

Namely, Goran Macanović is the target of a negative campaign which, for a long period, has been carried out by the one or those whose behavior we criticize, because it damages to a great extent the policy of employing people with disabilities and exercising our right to work.

Thus, the continuous attacks, which were followed by media articles full of falsehoods and reports to the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, culminated in the rejection of his candidacy as a member of the Council of the Fund for Professional Rehabilitation.

In that “campaign”, someone tried present Goran Macanović as irresponsible, greedy, one who is insatiable and an obstacle to others, as one who does not care about the regulations of this country because he “ignores the fact that he is a public official” and “he wants another mandate despite everything “.

In this way, there is a direct attempt to undermine the personal integrity of Goran Macanović, and to present him as a bad example in the movement for the rights of persons with disabilities, which must be stopped and prevented as such. Goran Macanović is certainly not the only one to suffer the consequences of such behavior, even though they are unfair to him and based solely on the personal relationship or attitudes about him. The movement of people with disabilities also suffers the consequences, but we also believe that employers and people with disabilities themselves, whose rights Goran represents.

In the Decision, which was prepared by Denis Martinović, the head of the Fund for Professional Rehabilitation, the Director of the EAM refers to Article 15 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption, which cannot be applied to the procedure for electing members of the Fund’s Council. Namely, membership in the Council of the Fund is neither a contractual relationship nor another form of business cooperation between members of the Council and the EAM, but the role of the Council is prescribed by Article 40 of the Law on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities – and it refers to monitoring the implementation of measures and activities which are in the function of improving the professional rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities, as well as the dedicated use of the Fund’s resources.

With the aforementioned procedure, the EAM assumes the role of the body that interprets and applies the Law on Prevention of Corruption, instead of applying the Law on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities – which it is obliged to apply. As Article 40 of this Law, based on which the members of the Council are selected, prescribes the conditions for the selection of candidates proposed by organizations of persons with disabilities, the same principle had to be applied as in the selection of other members coming from order of representative associations of employers and trade unions. Therefore, in no way can Article 15 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption – which refers to restrictions upon termination of public function – be applied only and exclusively during the election of representatives of persons with disabilities, without the same being applied to other members of the Council. Thus, the Director of the EAM assumes the exclusive right to interfere in the selection of representatives of persons with disabilities and to make completely meaningless the prescribed condition and principle that representatives of persons with disabilities are chosen by organizations that represent our interests and rights, just as candidates of representative employers and trade unions are chosen by employers and unions.

Goran Macanović will certainly seek judicial protection, and our organizations that supported his candidacy are seeking responsibility and sanctions for those who act illegally and with their actions cause incalculable damage, the consequences of which will be suffered by people with disabilities and their current and potential employers.

Signatories:

1. Association of Youth with Disabilities of Montenegro (UMHCG)
2. Union of the Blind of Montenegro
3. Organization of the blind for Nikšić, Šavnik and Plužine
4. Organization of the blind for Berane, Andrijevica, Plav and Rožaje
5. Organization of the blind for Kotor, Herceg Novi, Budva and Tivat
6. Association of Paraplegics of Cetinje
7. Association of Paraplegics Podgorica
8. New Chance in Novi – Niva šansa u Novom
9. Active Center – organization of persons with disabilities
10. Association for support of persons with disabilities – Bijelo Polje
11. Mozaik, Nikšić
12. Association of PWDs of Malaysia, Tuzi