The Government of Montenegro has adopted the Victims’ Rights Strategy and Action Plan, marking a significant milestone as the country’s first comprehensive strategy that provides an overall framework for the protection of all victims of crime.

The Strategy establishes a systematic and long-term approach to improving protection and support for victims. Through coordinated measures across institutions, it aims to ensure that victims’ needs are recognised and addressed in a timely, effective, and rights-based manner.

At the same time, the adoption of the Strategy ensures that Montenegro keeps pace with the need to harmonise the level of procedural guarantees for victims with relevant international standards and the recommendations of international bodies responsible for monitoring compliance with those standards. In this way, the Strategy reinforces Montenegro’s commitment to international obligations and best practices in the field of victims’ rights.

Finally, this comprehensive approach directs additional attention from both the professional and the general public to the vulnerability of victims, their specific needs, as well as their rights and the mechanisms available for the protection of those rights. By raising awareness and strengthening institutional responses, the Victims’ Rights Strategy contributes to building a more inclusive, just, and victim-centered justice system in Montenegro.

The Victims Rights Strategy and Action Plan were developed with expert and financial support from the action “Strengthening accountability of the judicial system and enhancing protection of victims’ rights in Montenegro,”, part of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”.