COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONTINUES TO EXAMINE REPORT OF CROATIA
Press Release
HR/4284
COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONTINUES TO EXAMINE REPORT OF CROATIA
19960122 GENEVA, 22 January (UN Information Service) -- The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon continued its examination of the initial report of Croatia on how that country was implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child.Answering questions from Committee members, the delegation of Croatia said that property rights were fully respected and any person who alleged that his rights had been violated could claim compensation. The delegation emphasized that those who fled Croatia during the war had the right to return and claim back any property which had not been destroyed. However, because of the economic damage from the war, the Government would be unable to award compensation either to persons whose property had been damaged or to disabled war veterans.
In addition, the cases of 3,000 persons who had disappeared during the war had not yet been studied. The delegation, however, hoped that survivors would receive some amount of compensation -- depending on how much Croatia itself would receive from other warring parties.
Constitutional mechanisms had been established to deal with citizens' complaints in matters of alleged violations of their rights, the delegation said. One of them was the office of the Ombudsman, which was not yet fully functional but had already started receiving complaints by citizens. However, the fact that it had not received any complaints with respect to children during the past years demonstrated that its utility was not well publicized and not known by the general public. To enhance the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, a special ombudsman would be created in the near future to deal specifically with complaints involving children.
With regard to separating children from their parents, the delegation said that children could be separated from their parents and placed in social welfare institutions or foster families with their parents' consents. Such measures were taken when parents were unable to take care of their children because of poverty or illness. Furthermore, if parents abused their children, the court could rule that they be deprived of their parental rights.
In 1994, 154 cases of child sexual abuse and family neglect had been reported to the authorities, who had taken action against the perpetrators. The victims had been placed in special institutions and rehabilitation centres.
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Pornographic activity involving children was strictly prohibited. As to child prostitution, the delegation said that was a new phenomenon, and had called its attention to the Government, which was in the process of adopting preventive measures.
There was no special programme for the protection of children from what the delegation described as the harmful influence of the mass media, but there were a number of integrated governmental programmes aimed at development of healthy ways of life. Some programmes had been submitted to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in order to get partial financial support, delegates said.
The Government looked forward to working closely with all international humanitarian institutions and non-governmental organizations, and fully intended to pursue transparency in its activities. The delegation told the Committee that numerous non-governmental organizations were already involved in activities aimed at improving the conditions of life for Croatian children. Delegates stressed that additional efforts were needed to reconstruct the war-torn society and to create an environment in which children could grow up under normal conditions.
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