By Representatives of the interdepartmental Working Group for the establishment of a national mechanism for the safety of journalists paid a two-day study visit to the Netherlands last week, organised with the support of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro.
The visit was organised to exchange experiences with the PersVeilig initiative, whose model served as the basis for the development of Montenegro’s journalist safety mechanism.
The Montenegrin delegation consisted of Working Group members: President Predrag Nikolić, his deputy and representative of the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (TUMM) Dražen Đurašković, State Prosecutor Maja Janković, police representative Goran Mugoša, and psychologist Dragana Đokić. OSCE representatives Evan Eberle and Miloš Dedić also took part in the visit.
During their stay in Amsterdam, the delegation met with representatives of the PersVeilig initiative, the Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ), the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the police and the Public Prosecution Service, as well as media editors and a psychologist specialising in supporting journalists who have experienced trauma.
The discussions focused on the functioning of the Dutch system for the protection of journalists, cooperation between the media, police and prosecution service, institutional responses to attacks and threats, the protection of female journalists, and models of psychological support for journalists.
Working Group members also discussed the funding, institutional framework and organisation of PersVeilig, as well as experiences that could be relevant to the further functioning of Montenegro’s mechanism.
The study visit was part of the Working Group’s activities aimed at establishing and improving a system of coordinated response in cases where the safety of journalists and other media workers is threatened.
The Government of Montenegro established the interdepartmental Working Group on 26 February 2025, with the task of preparing a national mechanism for the safety of journalists. The initiative to establish the mechanism was launched by the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro, while institutional cooperation in this area was formalised through the signing of the Protocol on the Protection of Journalists in October 2025.
The mechanism is designed as a framework for a faster and more coordinated response by the police, prosecution service and other competent institutions in cases involving attacks, threats and other forms of endangerment of journalists and media workers.
