Ombudsman for Children Helenca Pirnat-Dragicevic said on Friday that violence must not be ignored and that anyone who knew or suspected child abuse or neglect had the duty to report it to the authorities.

The statement comes following the serious injuring of a 2.5-year-old girl who was hospitalised in Zagreb in a critical condition and whose parents were placed in custody after it was established that the child sustained a number of head and body injuries as a result of corporal punishment. #related-news_0

Speaking on Croatian Television, Pirnat-Dragicevic said her office was following this case and that it had requested reports from the police and the Nova Gradiska social welfare centre.

She said it was important to thoroughly investigate the case and that in protecting children from violence, it was important that all systems acted in sync.

She wondered how it was possible that such systematic abuse had gone unnoticed given that doctors confirmed the girl had been abused and the father reported for domestic violence.

In 2020, her office received 76 reports of domestic violence and 64 of child neglect, Pirnat-Dragicevic said, but noted that this was not an indicator of the real scope of the problem, only of certain difficulties in the protection of children from violence.

According to Interior Ministry data, 1,849 crimes against child rights were reported in 2020, up 44% on the year, and about 10,000 reports were made of offences under the law on protection from domestic violence.

The ombudsman said the increase in domestic violence was worrying and that the complaints her office received were about the physical and mental abuse of children.