Amnesty International has called on the Croatian authorities to immediately implement the recommendations which the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child issued after considering Croatia's second periodic report on measures to give effect to the rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
Prior to the examination of Croatia's report, Amnesty International had submitted a written briefing to the Committee. The document Croatia: Briefing to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child details Amnesty International's concerns with regard to issues related to the implementation of the CRC in Croatia, reads the statement.
Amnesty International's concerns focus in particular on the failure of the authorities to prevent serious violence and bullying among children and young adults placed in social care institutions and to fully address the needs and problems of institutionalized children, as well as the failure to fully integrate Romani children in the Croatian school system.
The Committee recommended that the authorities "take all necessary measures to prevent acts of violence in homes for re-education and social care institutions" and urged the authorities to increase the protection of children in social care institutions.
Moreover, the Committee expressed concern at the de facto discrimination against ethnic and national minorities, Romani and foreign children, as well as at the different access to education of children belonging to minorities and vulnerable groups, including Romani children.
The Committee recommended that the Croatian authorities ensure the "implementation of the National Programme for Roma, providing it with adequate human and financial resources and with periodic evaluation of its progress", reads the statement.