The Committee on Relations with Serbs Living Outside Serbia held its sixth sitting on 3 March. The sitting was attended by the delegation of the Serbian National Council in Montenegro comprising the chairman Dr Momcilo Vuksanovic and representative of the chairmanship Predrag Vojvodic, as well as representatives of the Ministry for Diaspora of the Republic of Serbia, State Secretary Miodrag Jaksic and Assistant Minister Vukman Krivokuca.

The Chairman of the Serbian National Council in Montenegro informed the Committee members on the position of the Serbian people in Montenegro. Vuksanovic stressed that the formation of the Serbian National Council in Montenegro created the possibility for Serbs in Montenegro to request their rights guaranteed under the Montenegrin Constitution, chapter “Identity Protection”, and which are currently denied them viz. the right of expression, preservation, development and open expression of national, ethnic, cultural and religious specificity; the right to choose, use and openly display national symbols and commemorate national holidays; employ Serbian language and script in private, public and official use, as well as the right to education and information in their own language; authentic representation in the Montenegrin Assembly and the assemblies of local self-government units where Serbs make up a considerable part of the population, as well as proportional representation in public services, state government and local self-government organs. He pointed out that if their mother country did not help them exercise these rights, Serbs would disappear from Montenegro through an aggressive assimilation process.

In the continuation, the Committee members talked to the delegation of the Serbian National Council in Montenegro about future cooperation. State Secretary at the Ministry for Diaspora Miodrag Jaksic stressed that this meeting is just the beginning of a vast process in which the Government will not find itself on the defensive regarding these issues.

Talking to the delegation of the Serbian National Council in Montenegro, the Chairman of the Committee on Relations with Serbs Living Outside Serbia stressed that these meetings are in everyone’s interest and proposed that the Committee organize a joint meeting with the representatives of the Ministry for Diaspora, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Education, as well as to forward an initiative to the Government to promptly initiate negotiations between Serbia and Montenegro to sign an agreement on the protection of the rights of the Serbian community in Montenegro. The Committee Chairman thanked the delegation for the invitation extended to the Committee and representatives of relevant ministries to visit Montenegro so as to acquaint themselves with the situation, aiming to help Serbs gain the status guaranteed them by the Constitution which would halt further assimilation of Serbs in Montenegro, and expressed hope that the visit will happen as soon as possible.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman Branimir Djokic