In progress at UNHQ

HR/4283

COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD EXAMINES CROATIA'S COMPLIANCE WITH CONVENTION

22 January 1996


Press Release
HR/4283


COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD EXAMINES CROATIA'S COMPLIANCE WITH CONVENTION

19960122 GENEVA, 22 January (UN Information Service) -- The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning began its examination of the initial report of Croatia. Experts were told the ways in which that country had been implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which it had become a party in 1991.

"With a new atmosphere of peace and reconstruction, the Croatian Government will allocate more resources to social welfare once it has demobilized 50,000 soldiers from the army", the delegation of Croatia told the Committee.

The situation of child victims of the war, refugee children, juvenile delinquency, the establishment of human rights courts and discrimination against minorities were discussed in the dialogue between the delegation and members of the Committee.

Introduction of Report

Introducing the initial report, VERA BABIC (Croatia), noted that 1 million children had been exposed to the horrors of the war affecting her country, while 20,000 of that number had faced direct exposure to those conditions as they were inflicted on their own parents. The war had turned thousands of children into orphans and had forced large numbers of others to flee their home regions and live as refugees.

On Croatia's implementation of the Convention, a major step forward had been the adoption of a new Labour Law, she said. New provisions concerning minimum employment age, prohibition of employment of minors in certain jobs and child labour exploitation had entered into force on 1 January 1996, Ms. Babic said. Under the new law, the minimum employment age had been set at 15. Additionally, higher standards had been incorporated to protect women, especially during pregnancy, and changes had been made to ensure the best interests of the child, while accommodating the rights of parents and legal guardians.

Contrary to article 21 (b) of the Convention, which recommends foster care over inter-country adoption of a child who had been permanently deprived of parental care, Ms. Babic was of the view that such adoptive care would be a more appropriate means of protecting a child's interests. Further, with regard to the adoption of a refugee child, she expressed a different view from

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that in article 22 (2) of the Convention. It was, she believed, justifiable to postpone decisions concerning adoption of a refugee child until wartime conditions in his or her country of origin had ended.

Discussion of Report

Responding to oral questions by members of the Committee and to a list of issues raised by them, the delegation noted that no special law was in force to deal specifically with juvenile delinquency. However, in accordance with the country's penal code and with the principle of proportionality, court sentences handed down to minors did not exceed six months. Minors, under the age of 16, were either reprimanded or sent to educational centres in lieu of prison.

Criminal offenses against children were severely punished by the courts, the delegation said. Court hearings involving children were held in private, and in the absence of a parent or other representative of the child, a representative of a welfare institution was required to be present.

The Government was hoping to establish provisional courts to hear cases of suspected human rights violations; however, proper standards were still lacking in that area because Croatia was not yet a member of the Council of Europe, the delegation said.

Speaking on the forthcoming adoption of the family relationship law, the delegation affirmed that it was aimed at bringing the child to the centre of the family to promote those rights enshrined in the Convention. The new law would also provide for the promotion of the welfare of the child by respecting his or her emotional and psychological integration within a family. Parliament was expected to reallocate extra resources to social welfare to expedite such measures following the demobilization of some 50,000 soldiers by the Ministry of Defence.

In answer to questions concerning an atmosphere of tolerance towards minorities and refugees, delegates told experts that the right of property return would be resolved by special treaty between Croatia and the rest of the former Yugoslavia. Additionally, the Government planned to launch a confidence-building campaign to encourage the return of refugees. Croatian citizenship would be linked to residence and place of birth without prejudice to ethnic origin. Nor would the Government permit discriminatory acts against minorities or refugees under its jurisdiction, the delegation said.

Concerning the rights of the child to freedom of expression, the delegation said that a child could express an opinion in all circumstances. A child over 12 had a right to speak out concerning their own adoption. In schools, where corporal punishment had been prohibited, a child had the right to express opinions without fear of breaking general disciplinary principles. In correctional homes, a child had a choice as to which disciplinary measures would be applied.

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For information media. Not an official record.