II.1.   Description of the organisation:

The organisation is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation dealing with direct protection of human rights, monitoring proceedings carried out by competent institutions of the courts and supreme authorities in establishing human and minority rights as well as civil rights and interests.

The organisation is in function since 1994 and was registered three years ago, under the name it bears today.

As part of its programme, the organisation deals with the protection and promotion of human rights, encourages the development of peace and democracy: social, political and economical.

Apart from specialising in the field of direct protection of human rights for people whose elementary rights have been abused, the organisation monitors and represents clients in procedures before bodies within the state authorities and courts of law at state and local levels.

The organisation operates within Croatian territory and co-operates with organisations from the former Yugoslavia region, as well as, with similar organisations in Italy: Time for peace.

It operates independently within Croatia just as it does within the Coalition of non-governmental organizations for the protection of human rights: it consists of organisations such as AC-Altruist Centre, GON-Građanski otpor nepravdi i nasilju (Civil resistance against injustice and violence) and DOZAŽ-Dalmatinski odbor za afirmaciju žena (Dalmatian Committee for the recognition of women).

Active members of CERD compile of lawyers, medical practitioners, economists, and sociologists.

CERD is represented as a legal body, by its president.

Number of members:  48

Members abroad: 12

Number of employees; None

Financing sources of the organisation: 

Donations, membership fees, and contributions

II.2.  Description of the activities the organisation deals with:

Main concerns are:

-       Direct protection of human rights; offering/administrating legal protection, representing clients at legal proceedings and before government administration bodies, indirectly observing development of court proceedings and participation in court hearings as a public or legal representative, intervening in cases when the clients rights are unmistakably discriminated and the client is denied the right of a court hearing.

-       Informing the Ministry of Justice, submitting reports to the courts and urging courts to speed up legal processes in cases where expiration of legal proceedings is probable, lobbying through the media, organises public meetings, debates and press conferences and arranges meetings with court judges and presidents.

-       Initiates improvement of work in court administration, insists on implementing greater responsibility be given to court judges or sanctioning judges who are in violation of article 17 of the Convention, observes the justness of the courts (duration of legal proceedings, protecting the clients interests during legal proceedings).

-       Observing, enquiring/investigating and analysing, parallely, the institution of legal proceedings by local courts with similar cases in order to co-ordinate procedures and accomplish harmonious law practising at all court level, urging the court to speed up conclusions of cases, suggesting more efficient methods with solving lawsuits such as negotiating settlement between concerned parties.

-       Observing, enquiring/investigating and analysing the corruption in the local, regional and state governmental institutions and public sectors.

Apart from these activities, CERD especially monitors procedures where the concerned party is a woman and who is not represented by a lawyer like that in cases of distribution of assets in a divorce case, legal procedures and activating lawsuits.

Besides the 1.500 cases that CERD is monitoring or are representing, CERD observes changes in the law, suggest to Parliament and to the Government quality legal solutions, propose amendments, move for enquiries into the legality of judgement or law regulations in order to co-ordinate same with those of the Constitution and of the Convention.

CERD advocates for principle equality amongst the people before the law and in all courts, opposes discrimination towards civilians just because they are of some other race or his belonging to some other religious community, being of another gender and of his social status.

CERD’S monthly reports on actual violation of human rights is presented to the domestic public, to state’s Parliament and Government and foreign missions stationed in Croatia. CERD, in particular, takes care of the helpless, the poor and the weak, of those who have suffered discrimination, poor people who have no money to pay for a lawyer. In these cases, CERD represents them in court free of charge.

Besides detecting forms of discrimination against human rights in the courts of law and by government and state authorities at all levels, they encourage the authorities to cooperate with civil sectors and NGOs, observe the work of state and local institutions of authority, caution negligence and lobbying dismissals, support/encourage the development of a plural civil society of equality amongst all people in the community, encourages positive discrimination of the minority groups, appreciation of the differences, debate and discuss about ways of solving conflicts peacefully and with much tolerance in a cultivated language.

The groups we aim for are: the helpless, the poor, women, civilians banished from their homes in war times, members of the minority – namely, all of those whose human rights have been violated and whose rights they try to re-establish through state authority bodies and courts of law.

Consequently, CERD activities boil down to:

-       field work: responding to appeals from people in danger, analysing situations, plan strategies and scheme ways to solve problems

-       media work: debates, round tables, press conferences, meeting with chiefs of police, court judges and presidents, ministry delegates, publicly mediating and lobbying, speaking to the public on the streets, distributing leaflets prepared prior to public events or protests.

-       Regularly informing state and international organisations, suggesting solutions

-       Writing legal solutions and proposals 

-       co-operating with NGOs with the country and in the world, directly through a certain destination or through the electronic media

-       co-operating with organisations who promote the same goals as those of CERD

-       offering legal protection: giving legal consultation, composing and submitting complaints to domestic courts of law and, as well, to the European courts.

-       offering protection to victims of violence

-       in some special cases, dwellings are found for them, away from the area where the incident occurred

-       investigating the corruption in state’s and public institutes

Projects/Programmes that are in the course of realization:

-       Monitoring court procedures in relation to Article 6 of the Convention for protection the  

             Human Rights

-       The return of properties to war evacuees and realization of guaranteed constitutional civil rights; Resocialization of returned war evacuees

-       Opening an office for the purpose of work with clients in need of our services

-       Organising educative lectures on rights to victims of violence and terrorism

-       Enforcing prevention methods in preventing violence and conflict between ethnic groups

-       Legal aid to impoverished civilians and returned war evacuees

-       Co-operation with state institutions legislative bodies, courts and executive authorities

-       Projects involving peaceful intervention and non-violence

-       Stimulating employment, problems relating to the process of globalization

-       Acclimatization campaigns and integrating into the European Community

With public campaigning and mediating civilized values and by way of an international network of NGO-s that operate within the member countries of the EU, we have contributed towards Croatia coming closer to European integration.  

We believe that we have contributed to reduce inter-ethnic hatred, and “prepare ground and climate” for the return of war evacuees, and the improvement of protection, and encouragement of human rights.