Urgently enable the work of collectors of secondary raw materials in Bijelo Polje

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Thursday, 15 April 2021 09:36

The Executive Director of the NGO Young Roma, Samir Jaha, Zenita Selimović, the Executive Director of the NGO Roma from the North and Ranko Ametović, President of the Professional Union of Secondary Raw Materials Collectors, sent a request to the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Zdravko Krivokapić, to appeal to the Directorate for Inspection Affairs and suspend today's action of sanctioning and banning the work of informal collectors of secondary raw materials from the settlement of Strojtanica in the Municipality of Bijelo Polje, who are forced to engage in this profession due to the impossibility of formal employment.

In Montenegro, according to our information, about 70% of members of the Roma community are engaged in the collection and sale of secondary raw materials as a source of income and revenue. When it comes to the problem of collectors, it is necessary to see the legitimacy and social usefulness of their work, and on the other hand we must appreciate the fact that formal and informal collectors of secondary raw materials work for the benefit of their community feed their families, spend money earned in Montenegro, they pay for electricity, water, their children's education and participate in the state's economy. In addition, the social position of collectors of secondary raw materials, especially informal collectors, is such that they belong to the most socially and labor-generalized groups.

The economic situation in the entire Roma community is quite bad, which needs special attention and which the Roma civil sector has repeatedly pointed out. The lack of formal education, practical skills, but also great discrimination and social distance towards the Roma community means that a large part of them have the status of unemployed at the labor office, no concrete inflow of funds and thus other existential problems are in question. Therefore, it should be especially borne in mind that this occupation is the only way for some members of the Roma community to feed their families and to earn at least a certain minimum income.

A special appeal was sent to the Municipality of Bijelo Polje, but also to others, to set aside certain spaces, locations in cities where collectors of secondary raw materials will perform their work without hindrance. With this urgency, we appealed to the Prime Minister, Mr. Krivokapić, to call on all relevant institutions of the system to deal with this issue more seriously in a way that, above all, this profession is standardized. During 2018, the NGO Young Roma initiated the standardization of this profession, more precisely the development of a program for acquiring the professional qualification Collector of secondary raw materials and the implementation of activities aimed at greater employability and better integration of the Roma community. The Center for Vocational Education needed to form working groups for the development of occupational standards and qualification standards that are the basis for the development of the program, and after the adoption of these documents by the competent Council, the working group needed to prepare an education program and examination catalog for professional qualification. However, the Sectoral Commission for Mining, Metallurgy and Chemical Industry at the then Ministry of Education did not approve this program during 2019. Currently, the Center for Vocational Education is working on preparations for the creation of programs for the development of key skills for collectors of secondary raw materials, but the process is also quite slow. Apart from this problem, we should pay attention to the fact that there is no official register of collectors of secondary raw materials, which would greatly help the standardization of this profession, but also facilitate the work of collectors.

The issue of individual collectors of secondary raw materials is rarely dealt with by anyone in Montenegro, thus there is a big problem for the Roma community that prevents their full integration into Montenegrin society. So, before endangering someone's basic human right to life and work, we hereby appealed to the Government of Montenegro and all relevant institutions of the system to create more favorable conditions for the Roma community and thus create a favorable environment for enabling equal conditions for this most marginalized social groups in Montenegro.

Samir Jaha, Executive Director of the NGO Young Roma

Zenita Selimović, Executive Director of the Roma NGO from the North

Ranko Ametović, President of the Professional Union of Collectors of Secondary Raw Materials