Publications

The SURE project involves the delivery of specialized training in Croatia to provide lawyers, legal experts and other professionals with the necessary skills and knowledge to engage in strategic litigation and use EU law and the EU Charter to influence national legislation and social change in general. The trainings aim to deepen participants’ understanding of specific areas of EU law and the Charter, with an emphasis on how these tools can strengthen fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law. As part of the SURE project, curricula have been developed on the basis of which trainings have been conducted on the following topics:

1. Introductory training on EU law: understanding and functioning of EU law in the protection of human rights
2. Education on EU anti-discrimination law
3. Education on EU law in the field of environment
4. Education on EU law in the field of migration and asylum
5. Education on the possibilities of protecting the civic space through EU law
6. Education on freedom of expression through EU law – hate speech and SLAPP

Access to funding for the protection and promotion of human rights for civil society organizations from public or private sources is an integral part of the right to freedom of association and is crucial for the exercise of the rights and work of human rights defenders. This thematic report is part of the ongoing work of the Human Rights House Zagreb (HRH) to monitor the exercise and promotion of the rights of human rights defenders in Croatia.

In the past few years, the HRH has produced two reports on the challenges and issues faced by human rights defenders in Croatia: Human Rights Defenders in Croatia: Obstacles and Challenges in 2018 and Human Rights Defenders: Challenges and Barriers in 2022, which provide a comprehensive overview of the most significant issues through a periodic review of the situation. Although problems related to access to funding appear in these reports, precisely because of the importance of access to quality, continuous and transparent forms of funding, in 2021 the HRC developed Access to Funding for Civil Society Organizations in Croatia: Union Programs, ESI Funds and the State Budget, which describes and identifies in more detail the problems that civil society organizations have in accessing funding.

Building on previous research work and analyses of other relevant stakeholders, the HRC research team identified four groups of problems and challenges: 1) access to funding for advocacy and research activities and activities that enable work on public policies, 2) access to funding from national and local public sources, 3) access to funding that can encompass work on current topics in the field of human rights, and 4) administrative burden and administrative obstacles to access to funding. Within these thematic blocks is structured this thematic report, which was created on the basis of conducted qualitative action research – using a semi-structured interview method with 10 civil society organizations that are active in the field of human rights, suppression of discrimination, rights of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, women’s human rights, provision of free legal aid, human rights of LGBTIQ persons, transitional justice, environmental protection, democratization, transparency and fight against corruption, rights of persons with disabilities and socially and economically vulnerable social groups.

The Regional Report on Human Rights Defenders has been compiled based on thematic reports published by the Human Rights Houses Zagreb, Banja Luka and Belgrade, and Sarajevo Open Centre.

These reports shed light on the position, significant challenges, and obstacles faced by human rights defenders from these three countries into three main categories: attacks, threats, and intimidation of human rights defenders; participation in social and political life and involvement in public policy-making processes; realization of rights to public assembly and peaceful protest; and social and institutional pressures along with the lack of public support for human rights defenders.

The Regional report was created by synthesizing findings and conclusions from thematic national reports. The methodology involved conducting qualitative research through semi-structured interviews with over 50 civil society organizations and human rights defenders actively engaged in areas such as migration, women’s human rights, provision of free legal aid, rights of LGBTIQ persons, transitional justice, environmental protection, democratization, transparency, and the fight against corruption. The process also considered the rights of persons with disabilities and socially and economically vulnerable groups.

Hate speech is a continuously present and growing issue, and there is a lack of systematic research and monitoring for its resolution. In Croatia, although the National Plan for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights and Combating Discrimination for the period until 2027 recognizes hate speech as a problem and foresees measures to combat it, the main shortcoming of this plan is its partiality that reflects in the unsystematic design and implementation of cross-sectoral activities. For this purpose, this comprehensive Action Plan for Combating Hate Speech has been developed based on evidence, human rights and international recommendations and standards. Its goal is to lay the foundation for a holistic approach in fighting against hate speech that includes recognition, monitoring, prevention, awareness-raising, victim empowerment and strengthening the processing and regulation mechanisms.

Taking into consideration the specific position of hate crime victims, this handbook provides an overview of main aspects of hate crimes and how to recognize and report them. It also explains which rights belong to hate crime victims and the kinds of protection available. The handbook is intended for persons who were targets or witnesses of hate crimes, as well as professionals, civil society organizations and other stakeholders who work or come in contact with victims of hate crimes. The brochure is available in Croatian, English, German and French.

Taking into consideration the specific position of members of the LGBTIQ community as hate crime targets, this handbook provides an overview of main aspects of hate crimes and how to recognize and report them. It also explains which rights belong to hate crime victims and the kinds of protection available in Croatia. The handbook is intended for persons who were targets or witnesses of hate crimes, as well as professionals, civil society organizations and other stakeholders who work or come in contact with victims of hate crimes. The brochure is available in Croatian, English and German.

Taking into consideration the specific position of refugees, applicants for international protection and other migrants in Croatia as targets of hate crime, this handbook provides an overview of main aspects of hate crimes and how to recognize and report them. It also explains which rights belong to hate crime victims and the kinds of protection available in Croatia. The handbook is intended for persons who were targets or witnesses of hate crimes, as well as professionals, civil society organizations and other stakeholders who work or come in contact with victims of hate crimes. The brochure is available in Croatian, English and French.

The thematic report titled “The Current State of Human Rights of Perpetrators of Offences with an Emphasis on the Resocialization of Prisoners” is the result of research which the Human Rights House Zagreb undertook in terms of the project “Moto#R – Motivation and Empowerment for Resocialization” in the period from July – December 2020. The aim of the thematic research is to facilitate a better understanding of resocialization and the effects of resocialization on preparing prisoners for freedom after prison, not just at a normative level but also in practice, as well as addressing challenges and obstacles that prisoners and relevant state bodies encounter in implementing resocialization. The research also endeavored to identify good practices in implementing resocialization of prisoners with the aim of conducting an analysis and drafting recommendations for improving existing practices. To get an overall insight into the current state of human rights of perpetrators of offenses with an emphasis on their resocialization, the research was conducted in three phases. The first phase of the research covered an overview and analysis of the existing legal framework relating to resocialization of prisoners, their rights, obligations and opportunities within the prison system. The second phase of the research involved developing interview protocols, mapping relevant stakeholders involved in implementing the resocialization of prisoners. The third phase required conducting 18 semi-structured interviews with seven bodies of the criminal justice system, four public authorities (Ministry of Justice and Public Administration as well as social welfare centers), two independent institutions and five civil society organizations working on facilitating the resocialization of prisoners and their families.

Human Rights in Croatia: Overview of 2020 is the annual report produced by the Human Rights House in cooperation with civil society organisations dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights in various aspects of social life. The report aims to provide insight into violations, issues, challenges and disputes in the sphere of protection and promotion of human rights in 2020. In addition to significant material damages caused by two devastating earthquakes that hit central Croatia, the past year has been challenging for human rights on account of restrictive measures adopted to protect public health in response to the outbreak and spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. The report covers social, economic and political context, international instruments, laws, public policies and institutions, right to participation, human rights defenders and civil society, religious rights and freedoms, media freedoms, security and human rights, human rights and the judiciary, transitional justice and dealing with the past, right to an adequate standard of living, right to health, human rights and the environment, education and human rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, youth, rights of the elderly, rights of persons with disabilities, rights of LGBTIQ persons, rights of the homeless, rights of refugees and rights of national minorities.

This publication provides an analysis of the issue of cooperation between civil society and states in relation to membership in the UN Human Rights Council. The first part consists of a research methodology and findings about experiences in cooperation between civil society and government in three countries: Armenia, Croatia and Georgia. The second part of the publication is the toolbox for fostering meaningful cooperation between state and civil society. It builds on the experiences of various actors and is primarily targeted towards civil society organizations. It enables CSOs to assess their political context and define their HRC-related strategy.

Human Rights in Croatia: Overview of 2019 is a report by Human Rights House Zagreb, which provides insight into violations, problems and challenges in the field of protection and promotion of human rights in Croatia during 2019. The report is based on a systematic year-round monitoring and collecting of information from relevant civil society organisations and members of academia who deal with human rights. The research methodology is based on the United Nations’ Universal Human Rights Index. The report covers: social, economic and political context, international instruments, laws, public policies and institutions, right to participation, human rights defenders and civil society, religious rights and freedoms, media freedoms, security and human rights, human rights and the judiciary, transitional justice and dealing with the past, right to an adequate standard of living, labor and trade union rights, right to health, financial lending and right to protection of property, right to access to culture, human rights and the environment, education and human rights, vulnerable groups, women’s rights, children’s rights, rights of the elderly, rights of persons with disabilities, rights of LGBTIQ persons, rights of the homeless, rights of refugees and rights of national minorities.

Procedural rights observed by the camera – Audiovisual recording of interrogations in the EU (ProCam)” is a multijurisdictional research project on the audiovisual recording of police interrogations of suspects, including minors and vulnerable persons funded by the European Union’s Justice Programme. It aims at mapping the link between audiovisual recording of interrogations and the enforcement of the rights of defendants, with special regard to the so-called Roadmap directives, along with an EU-wide identification of good practices of recording interrogations of vulnerable persons and understanding concerns about audiovisual recording of interrogations.

The main objective of the report is to contribute to the proper application of Directive 2016/343 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings, reducing the number of instances in which suspected and accused persons are presented to the courts and the public, including as through the media, in ways that create a perception of guilt. This reports gives an overview of practice and legal framework in Croatia.

The principle of presumption of innocence is contained in the chapter on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, according to which everyone is presumed innocent and may not be held guilty of a criminal offense until such guilt is proven by a binding court judgment. The aim of this research report is to find are the media presentation of suspects and accused persons are in line with principles of presumption of innocence in Croatia. For purposes of this study, random sampling of articles was conducted in: 5 national daily newspapers with the largest circulation (Večernji list, Jutarnji list, 24 sata, Novi list, Slobodna Dalmacija), 3 weekly newspapers (7 dnevno, Globus, Nacional), 3 news portals not affiliated with print (Index.hr, Net.hr, T-portal) and in TV stories broadcast during the main news bulletins in the prime time on public-broadcasting channel (HRT1 Dnevnik) and on 2 private channels (NovaTV and RTL) with a primary focus on the news and with biggest viewership to the news. In the sampling period, a total of 245 news items were collected.

Human Rights in Croatia: Overview for 2018 is the annual report of the Human Rights House Zagreb and civil society organisations dedicated to protecting and promoting human rights in various spheres of social life. This extensive and systematic annual overview aims to provide an insight into the violations, problems, challenges and controversies in the field of protecting and promoting human rights in 2018 in Croatia.

Publication “Guide for victims of hate crimes” is a part of framework of a transnational project ‘V-START – Victim Support Through Awareness Raising and neTworking’, implemented by COSPE – Coopera- tion for the Development of Emerging Countries (Italy), Human Rights House Zagreb (Croatia), ZARA – Civil Courage and An- ti-Racism Work (Austria), and EFMS – European Forum for Mi- gration Studies (Germany). Publication focuses on the protection of victims of crime, in particular, racist and homophobic hate crimes. The publication in a concise manner provides an overview of the most important terms and provides an overview of the rights of victims of hate crimes, injured parties and witnesses. The publication is also available in Croatian, Arabic and Farsi.