The Committee focuses on Croatia's most vulnerable and marginalized
Published on 15 Jul 2024, 10:52 AM
The constructive dialogue addressed discrimination, migrant treatment, war crimes, and gender equality
Author: AFP
On July 2 and 3, the Human Rights Committee reviewed the fourth periodic report of Croatia.
To facilitate the dialogue and allow delegates to speak in their mother tongue, Croatia brought their own interpreters. The overall tone of the session was constructive with the Human Rights Committee and Croatian delegation engaging in substantive exchanges on key issues. The delegation was composed of high and mid-level members of government and many different ministries were represented. Additionally, several committee members noted with pleasure that the Croatian delegation included many female representatives.
While civil society was active virtually in the informal briefing organized by the CCPR Centre, only one representative was present during the in person.
The dialogue covered a variety of topics including corruption, gender based violence, treatment of Roma, hate speech, violence against women, detention conditions and the rights of minorities.
Treatment of migrants and asylum seekers
The Committee raised several concerns regarding Croatia's treatment of migrants and asylum seekers, including allegations of violent pushbacks at the border, excessive force by border officials, and limited access to asylum procedures. Throughout their responses, Croatia emphasized its position as an EU external border and transit country, facing unique challenges in managing migration flows. The Croatian delegation reaffirmed their commitment to non-refoulement and pointed to a significant increase in asylum requests in 2023 as evidence of improved access. They highlighted the establishment of an Independent Monitoring Mechanism for border operations and reported on investigations into complaints against officials. The delegation also addressed questions about assisted voluntary return programs and healthcare access for migrants. While acknowledging issues of statelessness, particularly among former Yugoslav citizens, they indicated no plans for a specific determination procedure.
Past human rights violations
The Committee inquired about Croatia's efforts to address war crimes and missing persons from the Homeland war in the 1990s, including prosecution strategies, victim reparations, and cooperation with neighboring countries. The delegation emphasized their commitment to impartial prosecutions, citing over 700 war crime convictions as evidence. They highlighted legislative frameworks for victim support, including the Act on Rights of Victims of Sexual Violence.
Regarding regional cooperation, Croatia reported initiating agreements with prosecution services but noted limited progress with Serbia due to a lack of cooperation. During Serbia’s ICCPR review in March, the Serbian delegation expressed significant concerns regarding Croatia’s adherence to agreement related to missing persons hindering investigations and discovery of mass graves. On the issue of missing persons, the delegation detailed their forensic capabilities but stressed the lack of information on mass grave locations as a key obstacle. While acknowledging the importance of addressing past violations, Croatia's responses focused more on technical aspects and ongoing efforts rather than addressing concerns about discriminatory approaches, particularly against perpetrators or victims with Serb ethnic background, or comprehensive transitional justice strategies raised by the Committee.
Discrimination Issues: Focus on Roma, Linguistic Rights and LGBTQ+ Protections
The Committee questioned Croatia on various forms of discrimination, focusing on the Roma minority, linguistic rights, LGBTQ+ issues, and gender equality. Regarding Roma, the delegation acknowledged ongoing segregation in housing and education, citing efforts to improve living conditions and increase preschool attendance. They reported that 47% of Roma housing initiatives have shown concrete results. On education, they mentioned co-financing kindergartens for Roma children and improving school equipment. However, responses on Roma employment were limited. The delegation did not directly address questions about minority language rights, particularly concerning the case of Vukovar where bilingualism was removed from the city statue. The Committee also raised questions about the legal framework protecting LGBTQ+ rights including status of same-sex partnerships and access to essential services.
LGBTQ+ rights received minimal attention from the Croatian delegation who only briefly mentioned hate crime protections. Gender discrimination responses were more detailed, including information on a 2019 ordinance for gender-neutral textbooks, sanctions for non-compliance with electoral gender quotas, and efforts to increase women's representation in corporate governance. The delegation reported Croatia's gender pay gap at 11%, below the EU average, and highlighted 2023 Labor Act amendments mandating equal pay for equal work.
Watch the review session again here (day 1) and here (day 2)
Recommendations of the Human Rights Committee
The concluding observations on Croatia's fourth periodic report were released on July 25, 2024. The State party is requested to provide, by July 25, 2027, information on the following recommendations:
Anti-corruption measures
The State party should take all necessary measures to strengthen implementation and enforcement of its legislative and policy framework on corruption. In particular the State party should:
(a) Take appropriate measures to strengthen and accelerate the investigation, prosecution of all cases of corruption, particularly those involving high-level public officials and politicians, and ensure that perpetrators, if found guilty, are sanctioned adequately, and that victims receive full reparation;
(b) Ensure effective implementation of the Act on Prevention of Conflicts of Interest adopted in 2021, notably by strengthening the capacity of the Commission the Resolution of Conflict of Interest, including by providing it with the necessary human, financial and technical resources to allow it to undertake systematic and thorough verification of asset declarations and effectively pursue non-compliance with reporting obligations under the Act;
(c) Enhance enforcement measures to address corruption, including by ensuring effective confiscation of illegally obtained gain by the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK);
(d) Provide effective training to law enforcement officials, prosecutors and judges on detecting, investigating and prosecuting corruption and related offences;
(e) Guarantee effective protection for whistle-blowers, including by providing targeted training for employers and persons fulfilling the role of internal reporting channel on the new Law on the protection of reporters of irregularities adopted in 2022;
(f) Ensure effective implementation of the Lobbying Act, adopted in March 2024, in order to effectively regulate communication between lobbyists and high-level public officials and politicians;
(g) Continue to implement training and awareness-raising campaigns to inform public officials, politicians, the business community and the general public about the economic and social costs of corruption and the mechanisms in place to address it.
Accountability for past human rights violations
The State party should continue and enhance efforts to ensure accountability for past human rights violations, including by:
(a) Strengthening cooperation with prosecutors’ offices in neighbouring countries and territories, ensuring that accused persons are located and tried;
(b) Expediting the investigation, prosecution and trial of all cases, based on a strategy grounded in the principle of non-discrimination, regardless of the ethnicity of the victim or the perpetrator, and ensuring that perpetrators, if convicted, are sanctioned in a manner commensurate with the gravity of the acts committed;
(c) Ensuring that all victims and their families receive full reparation for human rights violations, including acts of sexual violence, and adopting, in consultation with victims and civil society organisations, a comprehensive reparations policy aimed at effectively and comprehensively implementing the existing legal framework in a non- discriminatory manner, including with regard to compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, restitution and guarantees of non-recurrence;
(d) Removing statutes of limitations for reparation claims, reducing the burden of proof requirements, ceasing the imposition of disproportionate legal fees on victims whose claims are rejected, and providing remedies to victims upon whom such measures have been imposed;
(e) Considering the adoption of additional measures to address other dimensions of transitional justice in order to foster reconciliation and ensure non- recurrence.
Hate speech and hate crimes
The State party should strengthen its efforts to combat hate speech and hate- motivated violence against minorities, particularly against members of the Roma and Serb minorities, non-citizens and LGBT persons by, inter alia:
(a) Ensuring that alleged hate crimes are thoroughly investigated and prosecuted and that perpetrators, if convicted, are punished with sanctions commensurate to the seriousness of the offence, and victims have access to full reparation;
(b) Increasing the provision of special training to law enforcement officials, prosecutors and judges on the identification and prosecution of criminal hate speech and historical revisionism and other forms of hate crimes;
(c) Taking effective measures to prevent and publicly condemn hate speech and historical revisionism of war crimes, in particular by politicians and public officials, including measures to ensure the dissemination of accurate accounts of historical human rights violations;
(d) Enhancing measures to tackle the prevalence of online hate speech, in close cooperation with Internet service providers and social networking platforms and in close consultation with the groups most affected by hate speech;
(e) Promoting respect for diversity and raising awareness of the prohibition of hate crimes and channels to report such crimes, including through public information campaigns.
Here you can find all the recommendations given by the Committee in the Concluding Observations.
The follow-up report of Croatia on the implementation of recommendations is due in 2027. The next list of issues will be adopted in 2030, and the next periodic report is due in 2031.
