Croatia

2015: Attended the state consultations on the SSD in Geneva – led by Norway.

Ongoing dialogue with Gva mission since Dec 2014. Last exchange in June, to encourage endorsement before release of Conference report (Filipa): capital still assessing implications of endorsement. Last contact ahead of WHS (April 2016) in Geneva and NY indicated not ready for endorsement.

April 2016: New York stated they are not ready to endorse yet, it is however unclear what their concerns exactly are.

August 2016: CAAC Open Debate: “We are witnessing the practice of using children as suicide bombers, and a rise in attacks on schools and hospitals. All those acts represent grave violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law.”

January 2017: The Geneva Mission advised that the issue is under reconsideration in capital. They proposed postponing a requested advocacy meeting pending a possibly new position, and forwarded some documents to their colleagues in capital.

March 2017: Ambassador attended Buenos Aires conference.

June 2017: Wrote to Geneva Mission to suggest a trip to Zagreb. She advised that portfolios were changing, and that there had been some positive developments so a trip might not be necessary. Pledged to meet following the HRC.

June 2017: Wrote to Austria in New York to thank them for raising the Declaration in their statement at the UNSC PoC debate, and to ask them to reach out to Croatia bilaterally to encourage endorsement. Geneva Mission replied to say that they would discuss internally how to best reach out.

July 2017: GCPEA had a meeting with Ms. Katarina Andric, Attaché, at the Mission of Croatia. She is fully convinced of the value of the Declaration, and told me her personal story of how her school was bombarded in the 1990s and she received education via a radio program, which was apparently quite innovative at the time and used new technologies to prevent interference to the broadcast. Croatia’s MFA has requested opinions from a variety of concerned Ministries and all responses received to date have been positive. As previously indicated, a response from the Ministry of Social Policy has not yet been received. Significantly, the MFA spoke with the Directorate for International Legal Affairs, which had previously advised the MFA to wait and see how the Declaration would be implemented before endorsing. The Directorate is now supportive of endorsement. She believes that endorsement is forthcoming, but that it will take a little more time. Once the Ministry of Social Policy has responded, the MFA will develop a new opinion. I suggested that GCPEA could visit the Ministry in Zagreb if this would be helpful. Part of the delay is also due to recent instability in the government, with several elections in recent years. She advised that the new Minister for Education is a dynamic and experienced expert who will oversee a reform of the education curriculum that will include civic and human rights education. I pointed out that this could represent implementation of the commitment to develop, adapt, and promote conflict-sensitive education policy. She also advised that, in the early stages of consultation on the Declaration, Croatia had considered playing a strong role in promoting the Declaration. She asked what the possibilities for leadership could be, so I referred to promoting the Declaration in relevant fora, holding events, workshops, the next international conference, and encouraging other states to endorse. She took careful note of the number of EU endorsing states, and said that this would be convincing argument for her capital. “No one wants to be the last.” She was also interested by the number of NATO endorsements. She asked about the implications for peacekeepers, so I outlined the UN policy on military use and the DPKO Child Protection Policy. She asked about engagement with armed groups, so I referred to work by ICRC and Geneva Call. She was very interested by concrete examples of implementation, and asked to receive a copy of the framework. She also mentioned the Dubrovnik Forum which takes place in July every year and discusses current international affairs topics. She thought that protection of education in conflict could be an interesting theme for a future Forum. She hopes to have good news for us soon, though I expect an endorsement will not take place until after the summer.

July 2017: Austrian Mission in New York asked Watchlist (Dragica) for background to engagement with Croatia so they can decide how best to encourage endorsement (Vienna or Zagreb).

August 2017: GCPEA has been following up with the Mission of Croatia in Geneva, who advised that they are awaiting a position from the Ministry of Social Policy before they can formalize a position on endorsement. The Mission of Austria advised that the government will carry out peer advocacy to persuade Croatia to endorse the Declaration. The Ambassador in Zagreb will issue a demarche to the Croatian ministry, the ministry in Vienna will speak with the Ambassador of Croatia, and the Mission in Geneva will contact the Mission of Croatia at expert level. The Mission of Austria advised that the government will carry out peer advocacy to persuade Croatia to endorse the Declaration. The Ambassador in Zagreb will issue a demarche to the Croatian ministry, the ministry in Vienna will speak with the Ambassador of Croatia, and the Mission in Geneva will contact the Mission of Croatia at expert level. The representative of Austria in Brussels will speak with Estonia in the margins of the Human Rights Directors’ meeting (COHOM) to encourage them to endorse. Watchlist met with Austria in New York and provided advice and input for advocacy towards Croatia to encourage their endorsement of the Declaration.

October 2017: Katarina from the Mission in Geneva forwarded an email to the capital and it was informed that the ministry received a negative opinion from one of the line ministries. She still doesn’t know the reasoning behind it. She is aware that we were planning before to engage Zagreb directly on this, now may be a good time as they have all the information needed for a discussion. She said that the mission of Austria have told her they intend to lobby in Zagreb.

October 2017: Surprising negative response from Croatia, after one line ministry objected to endorsement. It is not yet clear which line ministry and for which reason. The recommendation is to visit Zagreb. Bede and Gisela to liaise on possible visit to Zagreb before the end of the year.

January 2018: Bede had two very successful meetings in Zagreb with the ministry of education and science and then with the MFA. We had heard that it was the ministry of education and science who had objected to joining. But when I mentioned this to them, they looked quite surprised. They said that they would absolutely support Croatia joining. They have relevant experiences from the war to share with others. “So much of the EU has already joined.” “It would be politically impossible” for them not to support…. On the way out, I was chatting with the lower level official / technical expert, and asked him how the ministry of foreign affairs would have gotten the wrong impression, and he replied that sometimes the wrong thing ends up on the desk of the wrong person at the wrong time. He couldn’t imagine what the objection was. Well, I found out what the objection was when I got to the ministry of foreign affairs. The assistant minister is a real character. Former rock star, and former colonel as a volunteer on the front lines during the war. He began the meeting very skeptical. But then it became clear he was mainly doing so because he’d been told he had to tell me the bad news that Croatia wouldn’t support. I therefore learned that the concern from the ministry of education was that the commitments weren’t realistic (We know from our war here that nobody follows these kinds of rules.) I responded to all his skepticism with positive examples. And then shared the info from the MoE that they said they’d be supportive. And then he was all turned about and didn’t know what to say. Seemed very happy to hear the news. Unnecessarily gave me all the credit. And then reaffirmed that the MoD had indeed said yes. So, they’d go back to looking into this. Bede put the relevant Ministry reps in contact. The MoES emailed to say they were preparing a note for the office of the minister indicating full support. Gisela shared update with Mission in Geneva who were very happy and pledged to follow up with the MFA to move things forward.

February 2018: In advance of OPAC turns 18 event, GCPEA issued letter highlighting that Croatia has signed OPAC, Paris, and Vancouver, but not the Declaration,and calling for endorsement.

March 2018: Human Rights Watch made a submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in advance of the 80th pre-sessional working group in June 2018, in which they recommend Croatia to endorse and implement the Declaration, highlighting that this would be a response to UN Security Council Resolution 2225, in which the Council encourages Member States to take concrete measures to deter the use of schools by armed forces and armed groups. The release of the submission is highlighted here. GCPEA shared the submission with the expert in the Geneva Mission who sent it to capital. GCPEA and Human Rights Watch followed up with contacts in Geneva and Zagreb respectively. Intelligence suggests that the endorsement letter is currently awaiting signature by the Ministry of Education, to be sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs thereafter.

May 2018: Human Rights Watch (Bede) wrote to the Ministry of Science and Education to advise of the endorsements by the United Kingdom and Germany and to request an update on the status of Croatia’s expected endorsement.

June 2018: The permanent mission in NY has requested update on the current status play of the endorsement with the Ministry of Science and Education. There is a hold-up in th system somewehere and we need to follow up. Bede talked with Darko, his contact in the MoE who will send all the documents for endorsement to the cabinet next week.

July 2018: PM of Croatia in NY wrote to Gisela that endorsements by all line ministries have been obtained. It seems however that the step that needs to be undertaken now is to initiate the procedure of obtaining a Government conclusion to sign the Declaration, and it has still not been ascertained whether this would come from the Ministry of Defence or of Education.

July 2018: Co-sponsored resolution 2427 (2018) and also joined the statement of Canada on behalf of the GoF which mentioned the Safe Schools Declaration.

January 2019: GCPEA met with the expert, who had requested capital for an update and was advised that the endorsement is still pending. The delay is likely due to the issue not being prioritized. The Spain conference should help to push the issue up the agenda. The expert will continue to follow up. She suggested that a visit to Zagreb could be helpful in the event that it proves difficult to secure finalization of the endorsement.GCPEA followed up in writing, sharing a letter for the Foreign Minister.

March 2019: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG Ms. Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva: reffered to child abduction from schools.

May 2019: Participated in the Third International Conference in Palma.

June 2019: Human Rights Watch followed up with the Ministry of Education representative, who had attended the Third International Conference in Palma, to encourage Croatia to join the Safe Schools Declaration. The representative responded positively that the government is currently in the process of considering the endorsement of the Declaration.

March 2020: During the Interactive Dialogue: Commission of inquiry on Syria, Croatia referenced to: violations of child rights, including right to education, recruitment, abuse, killings and injuries. Also expressed concern about the targeting of schools and hospitals, in violation of the Geneva Conventions and IHL

October 2021: cosponsored UNSRC2601.

November 2022: Endorsed the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA) on 18 November during an International Conference hosted by Ireland, the leader and penholder behind the Declaration.