CROATIA: Children's rights in the UN Special Procedures' reports

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Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports.

Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity.

Reports:

Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

A/HRC/30/38/Add.3

Report published: 17 August 2015

Country visit: 15 to 18 June 2014

Ombudsman reforms: While there had been public debate on the idea of merging the offices of the Ombudsperson, the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, the Ombudsperson for Persons with Disabilities and the Ombudsperson for Children, the majority of parliament had not voted in favour of the merger. Nonetheless, the Ombudsperson Act provides for strengthened coordination between the Office of Ombudsperson and the three specialized ombudsmen. The Working Group notes, however, that although a cooperation agreement has been signed between the four entities, is not clear how effective protection will be provided to victims of multiple human rights violations and in cases in which the victim is a person whose rights should be protected under the mandate of one of the specialized ombudsmen (para 68).

Special Rapporteur on violence against women

Rashida Manjoo
(A/HRC/23/49/Add.4)
Country visit: 7 to 16 November 2012
Report published: 3 June 2013

Centres for social Welfare:

The Special Rapporteur notes that:

The Special Rapporteur noted the important role conferred on Centres for Social Welfare (CSWs) in the response to protect and prevent domestic violence. CSWs are mandated under the LPDV and the Family Law to offer a wide range of measures to victims. Such services may include referrals to shelters; awarding victims one-off financial assistance; requiring victims, perpetrators and children to attend treatment programmes; making recommendations to the courts for perpetrator punishment; and making recommendations for the custody of children. In addition, CSWs must comply with mandatory reporting requirements and conduct investigations. The Special Rapporteur was informed that CSWs tend to act as gatekeepers between victims and shelter, and even if they have gone to the police, victims are required to register with the CSW to be placed in publicly-run or-funded shelters. (para 52)

The Special Rapporteur recommends that:

Support services for women victims of domestic violence:

(a) Restructure the mission and functions of the Centres for Social Welfare (CSWs). Specific and specialized institutional structures should provide support and assistance to women victims of violence, ensure family and children welfare and provide financial support to persons in need of State support programmes. Ensure, through education, a change of mentalities among the various employees of these Centres from a social/welfare approach to a human-rights based approach recognizing and focusing on violence against women and taking into consideration the nature of relationships based on power and dependency; ensure CSW staff are provided with effective gender-sensitive training in partnership with women’s NGOs and that they treat all cases of domestic violence as urgent. Compulsory mediation should be prohibited and sanctions imposed on authorities who continue the practice of forced mediation [...]. (para 76)

Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing
Raquel Rolnik
(A/HRC/16/42/Add.2 )
Country visit: 5 July to 13 July 2010
Report published: 30 December 2010

Housing discrimination: As already indicated, occupants of nominally owned privatized apartments could not purchase their flats on favourable conditions, thus being effectively discriminated against. In addition, their right to resolve their household problems by exchanging their flats with other OTR holders in practice could not be realized. Accordingly, they were forced to remain in the same apartment regardless of the family situation, such as children growing up and needing a new home to live, or couples needing a bigger apartment when enlarging their family. Moreover, it has been brought to the Special Rapporteur’s attention that to allow a new member of the family to live in the leased apartment, occupants are required to seek permission from the nominal owner. Unlike other OTR holders, protected tenants are also not allowed to perform any business activity in their flats or to own a vacant house anywhere in the territory of Croatia.

Young people: At the invitation of the Government, the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing undertook an official visit to the Republic of Croatia from 5 to 13 July 2010. The main purpose of the mission was to examine the realization of the right to adequate housing in the country, including the relevant institutional, policy and legal frameworks, in particular in relation to post-conflict housing reconstruction and restitution, privatization of socially owned housing during the transition from a State-run to a market economy, and the rights of vulnerable groups, including refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), minorities, low-income, and young people. In the course of her mission, the Special Rapporteur identified a number of additional issues affecting the right to adequate housing that will be developed in the present report. (Paragraph 1)

Young people’s access to adequate housing is closely related to problems of unemployment. In Croatia, young people have difficulty in acquiring economic independence from their parents and accessing financial resources to provide themselves accommodation. Many of those who have good employment and are economically independent, do not have enough resources to purchase a home. Although measures were adopted by local and State governments to subsidize housing and provide tax benefit for young people to purchase their first home, only a small number of young people can actually afford to buy a home. (Paragraph 57)

While most of the efforts adopted by the Government of Croatia in recent years sought to solve the problems of the past, Croatia also needs to face the challenges of its present and of its future. After the transition to a privatized housing sector, the negative impact of the economic situation and of unemployment on the housing conditions of vulnerable groups (including Roma communities, homeless people, low- income families and young people) has become more evident. Since the private housing market cannot offer an adequate housing solution for the entire population, the housing situation of vulnerable and marginalized groups will require particular attention and the adoption of durable and permanent public housing policies, which currently do not exist at the national level. (Paragraph 91)

 

Representative of the Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons
Walter Kälin
(E/CN.4/2006/71/Add.3 )
Country visit: 6 June to 8 June 2005
Report published: 29 December 2005

Education/healthcare: Regarding IDPs, the United Nations human rights treaty bodies have for their part identified a number of specific concerns. In November 2001, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights highlighted legal and administrative obstacles faced by ethnic minorities in return and property repossession, disadvantages suffered by the same groups with respect to citizenship and residency requirements and unemployment issues in returnee areas. In May 2002, for its part, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination raised concerns that the national framework and policy for return and property repossession under President Franjo Tudjman favoured the return and resettlement of majority ethnic Croatians rather than minority ethnic Serbs.12 In 2004, the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed its concern about difficulties regarding access to education and health care for refugee and internally displaced children. (Paragraph 16)

 

Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Jiri Dienstbier

(E/CN.4/2001/47)

Report published: 29 January 2001

D. Technical Cooperation:The Special Rapporteur welcomes the inauguration of the Human Rights Documentation and Training Centre in Zagreb, as well as the excellent cooperation between OHCHR and the Government which made the project feasible.[...] The Deputy Prime Minister expressed great satisfaction with the cooperation between OHCHR and the Government in establishing the Centre, which will allow all those interested in human rights to find useful information. The Centre will be open to all, including students, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academics and journalists. (para 58)

I. Gender issues: An expert meeting on gender and racial discrimination held in Zagreb on 21 November was described by the Deputy Prime Minister as being of great importance because it opened the door for Croatian women to deal with issues of discrimination at an international level. [...] Among the issues discussed were the identification of forms of racial discrimination directed against women and girls; the determination of difficulties women face in the enjoyment of their human rights as a result of the combined effect of racial and sex discrimination; and measures to eradicate racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and their specific effects on women and girls. The recommendations of the meeting will be integrated into the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, scheduled to be held from 31 August to 7 September 2001 in Durban, South Africa. (para 67)

 

Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Jiri Dienstbier

(A/55/282)

Country visit: 25 to 27 April 2000
Report published: 20 October 2000
 

F. Gender issues: The Special Rapporteur commends the initiative of the State Commission for Gender Equality Issues to introduce changes into legislation to better protect women and children, including with respect to domestic violence. He welcomes the Commission’s efforts to promote gender issues on the country’s public agenda and mainstream gender into Croatian society. The Special Rapporteur also welcomes Croatia’s signing of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. 

 

Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Jiri Dienstbier

(E/CN.4/2000/39)

Report published: 28 December 1999

No mention of children's rights.

 

Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)
Mr. Jiri Dienstbier
(A/54/396)
Country visit: 25 July to 4 August 1999
Report published: 24 October 1999

Disabled rights: There has been considerable concern at the continued failure of authorities to adequately address the rights of those suffering from disabilities. The Coalition for Equal Opportunities for Disabled Persons, comprising 20 local associations and various international agencies, was formed in August 1999. Its aim is, inter alia, to raise awareness and to campaign for better accessibility to public areas, employment and training. While these issues affect all disabled persons, there is particular concern regarding the Law on Basic Protection of Civilian Victims of War and Their Families and the Protection of Children (Federation). The law provides mechanisms for the calculation of benefits for those disabled as a result of war, but there is concern that the calculations will reduce the budget so that persons otherwise disabled will suffer a significant reduction in support. (Paragraph 34- Bosnia & Herzegovina)

Education: The education system reveals a number of problems, including lack of material resources, lack of access for disabled students and a shortage of women in senior education posts. The most serious and pervasive issue, however, concerns the effective division of the education system along ethnic lines. To address these problems, international representatives are supporting a number of initiatives, such as the removal from textbooks of materials offensive to one or more of the ethnic groups, coupled with efforts to ensure (a) that all textbooks meet European standards, within a modernized curriculum; (b) human rights education for teachers, through which, to date, over 1,500 teachers and teacher trainers have been trained; and (c) that materials are developed for integrated use in the classroom. However, authorities on all sides have obstructed this process. (Paragraph 36- Bosnia & Herzegovina)

Casualties: As of mid-March 1999, using public sources and tabulating daily reports, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had registered approximately 1,818 violent deaths in Kosovo since February 1998, a figure that includes persons identified in State sources as belonging to the police or army and in Kosovo Albanian sources as members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Subject to a margin of error, the figure corresponds with data released independently by several sources and generally accepted at the time. As of mid-August, the exact number of casualties of the Kosovo conflict is unknown. In Provisional assessment of destruction and damages caused by the NATO aggression on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (July 1999), Federal Republic of Yugoslavia official sources cite the deaths of "several thousand" civilians, 30 per cent of whom were children, and over 6,000 injuries, 40 per cent of them suffered by children. The assessment notes the deaths of 462 members of the Yugoslav army and 114 members of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior. The Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has released NATO Crimes in Yugoslavia, a compendium of documentary evidence on deaths and damages caused by air strikes, including at sites directly observed by the Special Rapporteur and/or the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. These are discussed in greater detail below. However, the compendium does not fully address the scope of destruction inside Kosovo. (Paragraph 94- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)

In Montenegro, the large number and pervasive presence of the Yugoslav army, army reservists and military police gave rise to internal tensions and human rights violations. On 18 April, eight persons were killed by Yugoslav army reservists in Kaluderski Laz, near Rozaje. Among the dead were an elderly woman and a 13-year-old boy. The event sparked fears in that region of Montenegro, through which most Kosovo IDPs passed, and prompted some IDPs from Kosovo and many of the region's native Muslim population to move to Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Paragraph 104- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)

Air strikes: Outside Kosovo, the NATO air campaign was especially intensive in the densely populated centres of Vojvodina, southern Serbia, and in Belgrade itself. This report is insufficient to list all the losses suffered by civilians, and the Special Rapporteur mentions here some of the sites he and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights have themselves visited. The repeated bombing of industrial facilities in Pancevo, including a petrochemical plant, a fertilizer plant and an oil refinery, caused fumes and fires that were smouldering during the Special Rapporteur's visit. The damage done in and around industrial centres in Pancevo, where large quantities of mercury were stored on site; Kragujevac, where high levels of PCBs were used in production; Bor and Pristina, as well as biodamage to selected national parks, is the subject of continuing concern and ecological study by the United Nations and environmental groups. Several city centres suffered from missile or cluster bomb attacks. Repeated attacks on Nis resulted not only in the destruction of that city's industrial capacity but, on 7 May, in the deaths of 15 civilians when cluster bombs exploded over the city market and central hospital. In Aleksinac, 12 civilians were killed and more than 40 wounded when bombs struck downtown housing blocks and commercial premises on 5 April. In Novi Pazar, 13 were killed and 35 wounded in an attack that destroyed 25 buildings in the city's residential centre. Many civilians, including 27 children, died in repeated strikes on Surdulica and Kursumlija (Paragraph 102- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)

NATO's rules of engagement, notably the height at which bombers flew, continue to spark controversy. Strikes on bridges and means of transportation resulted in the deaths of 55 persons on a passenger train in Grdelica gorge (12 April); 60 persons were killed when a bus was hit on a bridge near Luzani, (1 May); 20 persons were killed when a bus travelling between Pec and Rozaje was hit (3/4 May). Large convoys moving through Kosovo were attacked by air, resulting in the deaths of 87 IDPs at Korisa on 14 May; one month earlier, 75 persons, including 19 children, died when missiles struck refugee columns on the Djakovica-Prizren road. All three bridges in Novi Sad were destroyed, as well as the water pipes that supplied potable water to nearly half the city. The strikes led as-yet-uncalculated numbers of persons to seek shelter in what were perceived to be "safe" locations outside cities. Children, in particular, were sent away from their parents and in Serbia did not resume the school year. Parents in Belgrade and Stimlje complained of the effects on their children of unhygienic and psychologically unhealthy conditions in air raid shelters. In Belgrade, parents and children spent an average of 10 hours per day in basement shelters. Following NATO attacks on fuel reserves, severe restrictions on fuel imposed by authorities effectively brought civilian Serbia to a standstill. At this writing, fuel is rationed in Serbia. Many parts of the country were often without electricity and water, and restrictions and shortages continue. Throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, damage done to the infrastructure of public utilities threatens a catastrophic winter. Few countries have offered humanitarian aid or assistance with winterization to persons not in Kosovo who suffered the consequences of war. (Paragraph 103- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)

Abductions: The Special Rapporteur received several reports of military police and reservists in or near northern Montenegro stopping civilian buses and taking away large groups of men before permitting women and children to continue. He was able to interview witnesses to one such removal. On 15 May, between Serbia and Montenegro, 102 men were removed by Federal Republic of Yugoslavia military police from public buses travelling from Kosovska Mitrovica to Rozaje. The men were transported to Rozaje by military police who, according to the witnesses, stripped them of all valuables. In Rozaje, the military police were replaced by army reservists, who in turn were replaced by a new group of reservists, this time masked, on the road to Tutin. Both groups of reservists beat the passengers throughout the journey. Witnesses told the Special Rapporteur that outside Tutin, a group of ten were forced to engage in sexual acts while others were forced to watch. On arriving in Tutin, the passengers were forced through a gauntlet of masked reservists who beat, kicked and truncheoned them. Afterwards, they were turned over to the custody of the civil police, who did not allow the reservists further access to the passengers; at the police station the passengers encountered another group of 56 men. After interventions by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNHCR, and the Ministries of the Interior and National Minorities of Montenegro, all 158 men were released the next day and returned by civilian bus to Rozaje. (Paragraph 105- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)

Justice: UNMIK should establish a full, permanent court system in Kosovo, including appeals, juvenile, civil and misdemeanour courts, which ensures the right to a fair trial. (Paragraph 129- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)

Trafficking: Particular attention should be paid to the social rights of the weaker sectors of society, such as the elderly, the handicapped and children. Any reports of trafficking of women or children should be promptly and thoroughly investigated. (Paragraph 131- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)

Articles: 
Article 27: Standard of living
Organisation: 
Child Rights International Network

Countries

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