The political coalition \u201cFor the Future of Montenegro” (composed of the New Serbian Democracy, led by
Andrija Mandi\u0107, and the Democratic People’s Part headed by Milan Kne\u017eevi\u0107), advocates for the
adoption of a law that would declare multiple NGOs as “foreign agents of influence in Montenegro”,
which “attempt to influence the foreign and domestic policies of our country”, “operate outside and
above the law,” “spread lies and conduct a very precise campaign for the needs of foreign sponsors” and
“arrogantly give moral lessons and labels to nearly all political and state institutions.” Today, the
Coalition has cited the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as the model for such a law.
The obvious aim of this coalition of Serbian nationalist parties in Montenegro is to label the most vocal
NGOs in the country as “foreign agents of influence” simply because they receive foreign donations,
although this is not what the U.S. FARA Act stipulates. That Act applies only to organizations and
individuals operating in the U.S. under foreign control and does not equate such control with merely
receiving foreign donations, as the coalition seems to believe.
The establishment and operation of NGOs in Montenegro is already fully regulated by the existing Law
on Non-Governmental Organizations, which is in line with European standards and the EU acquis
communautaire. In addition, every NGO is obliged, under the Law on Accounting, to submit annual
financial reports to the competent authorities, including the Montenegrin Tax Administration, and under
the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, they are required to register
their “beneficial owners.” These obligations ensure transparency of operations in the NGO sector, while
any deviations or violations of the law are subject to legal sanctions.
Considering that the coalition proposing such a law consists of pro-Putin politicians, it is reasonable to
fear the negative effects that the adoption of foreign agent laws had in Russia, particularly on
organizations that bravely fought against corruption and sought to clarify assassinations of journalists.
This proposal raises serious doubts about the coalition’s declared European orientation and suggests
that there may be another agenda behind the proposal\u2014to silence the NGO sector. Such laws are
typical of totalitarian systems, whereas Montenegro is striving for a democratic and European future.
Experiences from states like Russia, Hungary, Georgia, Slovakia, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan show that
such foreign agent laws have been abused to stifle criticism and impose terror on organized civil society,
the media, as well as individual citizens.
A common feature of these laws is that anyone receiving foreign donations and engaged in broadly
defined “political activities” must register as “foreign agents,” “foreign representatives,” or
“organizations serving the interests of foreign authorities.” The law applies regardless of whether
donations come from public or private sources and whether organizations, informal groups, or even
individuals are conducting activities on behalf of a foreign donor. These laws impose strict reporting and
administrative obligations, with even the slightest violations leading to severe penalties and bans on
activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The European Court of Human Rights, the European Court of Justice, the UN Human Rights Committee,
the OSCE, and the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe have concluded that foreign agent laws
violate human rights (freedom of association, expression, privacy, and the prohibition of discrimination)
to the detriment of non-profit organizations, groups, and the media. The European Court of Justice has
already condemned Hungary for its original version of such a law, leading to a new version now under a
fresh lawsuit by the European Commission. Georgia\u2019s EU accession process was halted due to such a
law.
In May this year, under intense domestic and international pressure, the authorities of the Republika
Srpska withdrew a similar law modeled on Russia’s. In Bulgaria, the pro-Putin right has also been
attempting to push such a law since 2022.
Undoubtedly, the loudest NGOs, and likely countless others, are the targets of this controversial
initiative, although they advocate exclusively for the swift and thorough fulfillment of EU membership
criteria, which focus on the rule of law and mandatory protection of human rights. Foreign agent laws in
Hungary, Slovakia, Georgia, and Russia have been used precisely against human rights, which form the
foundation of the European Union. Nowhere have these laws been used to promote democracy;
instead, they were designed to obscure the truth that people are leaving these countries in large
numbers for Western Europe, and not China or Russia.
We praise the decisive and immediate response of all other Montenegrin parliamentary political parties
for recognizing the danger behind this proposal and advocating in defense of a free and democratic
society, and publicly and unequivocally withdrawing support for this proposal.
Montenegro should, through serious policy and substantial improvement in the rule of law, peace, and
economic security, fight to preserve its future, which is threatened by initiatives like this, reminiscent of
medieval witch hunts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(In alphabetical order)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Association of Lawyers of Montenegro
Association for Responsible and Sustainable Development (UZOR)
Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM)
Centre for the Development of Non-Governmental Organizations (CRNVO)
Center for Democratic Transition (CDT)
Human Rights Action (HRA)
Media Institute Montenegro (IMCG)
Women\u2019s Rights Center (WRC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The political coalition \u201cFor the Future of Montenegro” (composed of the New Serbian Democracy, led byAndrija Mandi\u0107, and the Democratic People’s Part headed by Milan Kne\u017eevi\u0107), advocates for theadoption of a law that would declare multiple NGOs as “foreign agents of influence in Montenegro”,which “attempt to influence the foreign and domestic policies of our country”, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n