Civil society organizations urge the Law Faculty and the student organization ELSA to cancel the participation of homophobic and sexist speakers in their panels planned as part of “Justice Week.”

The student organization ELSA and the Faculty of Law at the University of Montenegro have announced a series of lectures under the title “Justice Week,” featuring also lawyers Velibor Marković and Miomir Joksimović as panellists – both of whom have a long history of hate speech and targeting women and LGBTIQ+ persons.

On Monday, 3 March, a panel is scheduled featuring lawyer Miomir Joksimović, a conspiracy theorist who has actively spread hate speech on social media and in the media, publicly targeting transgender individuals and activists from Montenegro. It is unacceptable that on the topic pedophilia speaks person who publicly accused an activist from the LGBT Forum Progres of pedophilia without any evidence – simply because, in his view, the design on the activist’s T-shirt resembled a so-called “pedophile symbol.” Through this accusation, he attempted to portray queer activists as a danger to children.

At another panel organized by ELSA, scheduled for Wednesday, 5 March, Velibor Marković is set to speak on domestic violence. In recent years, he has repeatedly and publicly insulted women in the most degrading manner and spread hate speech against the LGBT community. Given that domestic violence is most often perpetrated against women, it is entirely inappropriate for someone known for misogynistic and discriminatory statements to address students on this issue. It is important to recall that the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms (Ombudsman) condemned Marković’s hate speech, issuing Opinion No. 604/20 on 24 November 2020, recommending that he publicly apologize to members of the LGBTIQ+ community and advocates of their rights, as and to refrain from hate speech, which Marković refused to do. Additionally, Marković has publicly insulted, on multiple occasions, the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Aneta Spajić, after she, together with activist Tea Gorjanc Prelević, declined to participate in an expert team that included him, stating that she refused to sit at the same table with “a well-known promoter of homophobia, misogyny, and sexism.”

We firmly believe that individuals who spread hate speech have no place among students. Their behaviour must not serve as an example for future legal professionals, nor should their views be normalized.

Therefore, we demand from Law Faculty and ELSA to distance themselves from these panelists, withdraw their invitations for this and any future events, and in that way take a clear stand against misogyny, sexism, homophobia and transphobia – none of which should have a place in educational institutions, especially not in those that teach human rights.

Association Spectra
Women ‘s Rights Center
Human Rights Action (HRA)
Montenegrin LGBTIQ Association Queer Montenegro
NGO Juventas
Association of Youth with Disabilities of Montenegro (UMHCG)
SOS Hotline for women and children victims of violence – Podgorica
SOS Hotline for women and children victims of violence – Nikšić
Shelter
Association of LBTQ women – Stana
Association of Parents
Center for Roma Initiatives
Center for Investigative Journalism – CIN
Centre for Civic Education (CCE)
Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM)
Center for Monitoring and Research (CEMI)
Center for Women’s and Peace Education – ANIMA