World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples

Roma are a diverse and dispersed group, estimated by some independent organizations such as the OSCE to comprise some 20,000 people. Most speak Romani and some Serbian or Albanian as their first language. Many Roma and Ashkali people fled to Montenegro as a result of the 1998-1999 Kosovo conflict, after which many were targeted by Albanians for their perceived co-operation with Serbia. Ashkali are Albanian speaking and often considered to be Roma, with whom they in any case share many cultural traditions; their exact origins are disputed. Roma living in informal settlements, particularly those displaced from Kosovo, continue to face forcible eviction by the authorities, and have nowhere to turn. In the July 2006 parliamentary elections there were no Roma candidates, and in all levels of Montenegrin government, there remains only one elected Roma office-holder.

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