Human Rights House Zagreb has begun participating in the two-year RE-SURE project – Reclaiming Equality through Strategic Use of Rights in Europe. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of civil society organisations, legal professionals and institutions to use strategic litigation to protect human rights and ensure more effective application of European Union law.
The project is coordinated by the Centre for Peace Studies. Alongside Human Rights House Zagreb, the project partners are Friends of the Earth Croatia, the Office of the Ombudswoman and the international organisation PILnet.
Strategic litigation is an important tool for addressing systemic human rights violations. It enables individual legal proceedings not only to protect the rights of the people directly involved, but also to contribute to broader social, legal and institutional change. However, civil society organisations and legal professionals often lack the practical knowledge and resources required to connect domestic legal proceedings with the mechanisms provided by EU law.
RE-SURE responds to these needs by developing practical legal resources, delivering training, facilitating the exchange of experience and connecting civil society organisations, legal professionals and institutions in Croatia and other EU Member States.
From migration and environmental protection to freedom of expression
The project will focus on three thematic areas: migration and asylum, environmental protection, and freedom of expression and public participation. Non-discrimination will be a cross-cutting theme throughout all project activities.
Practical strategic litigation guides will be developed to explain how domestic and European legal mechanisms can be used to protect human rights. These will include the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the preliminary ruling procedure before the Court of Justice of the European Union.
An important part of the project will be the Strategic Litigation Laboratories: practical training sessions for legal professionals, civil society organisations and other relevant stakeholders. By working on concrete examples, participants will develop the knowledge and skills needed to use strategic litigation in the areas of migration and asylum, environmental protection, and freedom of expression and public participation. Particular attention will also be given to advocacy and communication around strategic litigation cases.
Discrimination and protection against SLAPPs
The project will also carry out the fifth national survey on attitudes, awareness and experiences of discrimination in Croatia. The survey will provide up-to-date data to support better identification of systemic problems and the development of more effective legal and advocacy responses by civil society organisations, legal professionals and institutions.
The project will also address strategic lawsuits against public participation, commonly known as SLAPPs. These are legal proceedings intended to intimidate, burden or exhaust journalists, civil society organisations, human rights defenders and other actors involved in public life. By developing legal resources, delivering training and facilitating the exchange of experience, RE-SURE will help strengthen their protection and their capacity to respond to such proceedings.
Connecting Croatian and European experience
One of the project’s key objectives is to connect Croatian legal professionals and civil society organisations with European actors working on strategic litigation. The partnership with PILnet, which has extensive experience in bringing together the public interest and the legal profession, will facilitate the exchange of knowledge, experience and legal approaches while strengthening the European dimension of strategic litigation.
The project will also establish a Plenum, a multi-stakeholder advisory body bringing together representatives of the partner organisations, legal professionals, international experts, human rights defenders and representatives of organisations working directly with affected communities. The Plenum will follow the project’s implementation and contribute to its quality, relevance and long-term sustainability.
Partners and funding
The RE-SURE project – Reclaiming Equality through Strategic Use of Rights in Europe – is coordinated by the Centre for Peace Studies. The project partners are Friends of the Earth Croatia, Human Rights House Zagreb, the Office of the Ombudswoman and the international network PILnet.
The project will run for 24 months and is co-funded by the European Union under the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) and the CERV-2025-CHAR-LITI call. The programme is implemented by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).
The project’s total estimated value is EUR 261,880.36. The maximum EU contribution is EUR 235,692.34, corresponding to 90% of the project’s eligible costs.
