(Podgorica, 31 July 2012) – Last night’s arrest of Beranselo residents attempting to prevent with their own bodies the further unloading of trash in an informal dump at Vasa’s Waters near their village constitutes a brutal act by the state against this country’s citizens (who are simply looking to protect their basic human rights – including the right to health and a clean environment).
The Municipality of Berane’s insistence to continue dumping trash near Vasa’s Waters, including bio-hazardous materials, is absurd. They are clearly aware the dangers posed by the dumping of bio-hazardous materials and that infections can result at any moment, which is something that the residents of Beranselo have consistently noted.
Not even the recent referendum that was organized by the group MZ Beranselo couldn’t convince the Municipality and the Government to reconsider their intentions, even though over 99% of those voting in the local referendum stated that they do not want a dump in Vasa’s Waters. Instead, the Government is attempting to use police repression in order to force the residents of Beranselo to abandon the idea of struggling for their rights to health and the health of their families. The authorities haven’t paused to consider the potentially catastrophic consequences that this dump can have for the whole local community.
If the institutions of the system weren’t captured and under the direct influence of the ruling elite, the police and judiciary would have already begun to arrest the authorities in the Berane Municipality and the representatives of the executive that are charged with “protecting” the environment. These are the individuals responsible for allowing the dumping of materials that could be hazardous to the local population. Instead of taking decisive measures against those responsible, the police was deployed against innocent citizens, who are resisting the unilateral measures of key decision-makers by trying to prevent the Vasa’s Water dump from becoming permanent.
Even though the residents of Beranselo only want to live in an environment that isn’t dangerous for their health, or for that of their children and grandchildren, someone from the Municipality and Government is deliberately attempting to deprive them of their fundamental human rights. Nor have they considered how to resolve the problems confronting the community, to find a way to build a dump in another (and safer) location that wouldn’t infringe on the rights of Montenegro’s people.
We would like to remind the local and executive government that environmental issues remain one of the most important policy challenges in the EU, given that Montenegro wants to become a member state this means that their current attitude towards Beranselo will affect Montenegro’s association with the EU (as long as there are no serious efforts at resolving this issue).
For this reason, MANS has offered and will continue to offer full support to the residents of Beranselo in order to fight for their rights and to resist the unilateral decisions of state institutions and government officials who do not seem to care that the residents of the village will have to bear the brunt of these decisions.
The legal team of the Citizens’ Front assisted the residents of Beranselo to initiate court proceedings against the representatives of the Municipality of Berane, the Government of Montenegro and we will use all other mechanisms at our disposal to assist these people in the realization of their rights to a healthy life and to a clean environment (that is guaranteed by the Constitution and the international treaties that Montenegro ratified).
