Children's Ombudsman Helenca Pirnat Dragicevic on Thursday made a report to the Croatian parliament on her work in the previous year, repeated her proposal to establish specialised family courts and warned about numerous violations of children's rights.
We call for the establishment of specialised family courts that would handle all procedures related to the family law protection of the child, including the implementation of court decisions, said Pirnat Dragicevic, who expects the government to carry out that measure.
She also said that her office had received 10% more written reports compared to the year before and that most of them were related to children’s safety and protection, as well as education rights.
Surge in domestic violence
For years, we have been witnessing high-conflict divorces that have a negative effect on the life of children, who are also burdened by the duration of court proceedings, and such uncertainty can lead to irreparable damage, said Pirnat Dragicevic.
Ljubica Maksimcuk (HDZ), who fully supported the establishment of specialised family courts, said that social welfare centres last year intervened 4,600 times in divorce cases, so such courts would help to protect children.
Ombudsman also warned about the surge in domestic violence of as much as 56% compared to 2018. Due to children suffering serious injuries, there was an increase in the number of cases where they were separated from their families, and it is extremely worrying that there was cruelty in the violence, she said, adding that in such situations it is key to timely recognise the risk and prevent it.
MPs, including Dragana Jeckov (SDSS), were worried by the data and by the ombudsman’s statement that children have been betrayed when it comes to their protection.
Last year there were several extremely cruel incidents, Pirnat Dragicevic said, stressing that domestic violence is not a problem of an individual, but the society as a whole, and that it is necessary to act in a coordinated way to effectively combat it.
Every fifth child at risk of poverty
The ombudsman also warned about the need to protect children from poverty.
Almost every fifth child is at risk of poverty, child poverty is characterised not only by lack of money but also by them not exercising their right to health care, participate in sports and cultural activities, and it is also linked to social exclusion.
Pirnat Dragicevic warned about the problem of violence against children and peer violence, reports of psychological violence that some children suffer for years, violence on social networks, Viber, Whatsapp, and online violence that can turn into violence live.
Last year we were also faced with the deficiencies in the system for protecting children from sexual offences, she said, highlighting too lenient sanctions and an inefficient system for monitoring child molesters.
She said that children’s attendance of school celebrations of a religious nature should be on a voluntary basis, that every child must feel comfortable at school and that appropriate activities should be organised for children not attending religious education.
