Skip to main content

ChildHub INSPIRE Series: Development of Child Protection Rights in Courts in Croatia

Sources
Tdh
Status
Ongoing course

We are happy to invite you to the last session of the Childhub INSPIRE webinar series! On Thursday, 9 May, an excellent speaker from Croatia will discuss how legislation is the key in preventing and responding to violence against and among children. This webinar is in line with INSPIRE Strategy 1:

INSPIRE Strategy 1 - Implementation and Enforcement of Laws Legislation can be a key part of preventing and responding to violence and promoting respect for children’s rights. The effective enforcement of laws that define and prohibit all forms of violence against children may deter violence and ensure justice for the victims. Different types of laws address the various risk factors for violence in a child’s life, including the misuse of alcohol and access to weapons. Laws alone do not reduce violence, but their effective implementation and enforcement supports and strengthens all INSPIRE strategies to end violence against children.

About the webinar:

Join us in learning how court and judicial practices affected lawmaking in Croatia, and contributed to reducing violence against children. According to Judge Petö Kujundžić, even the best laws do not automatically guarantee that children will be treated well or in a way that prevents further stress in the courtroom. It is the duty of judges and prosecutors to learn about and promote child-friendly approaches when communicating with children in a professional capacity. It is essential for this group of professionals to know the interview methods that result in children recanting the best possible accounts of what occurred, while avoiding further victimization. Experience has shown us that proper interview procedures in a child-friendly environment, with an educated examiner, are a winning combination for a professional judge and prosecutor.

All court professionals should ask themselves the question: How can I work with children in a manner that shows full respect for her/his dignity?

About presenter:

For more than three decades, Lana Petö Kujundžić has extensively contributed toward the protection of human rights, especially those of children. As a judge, she has actively worked on protecting the rights of children and juveniles, both as offenders and victims, in the cases pending before her and in the development of the new laws. She is President of the Department for Juveniles in the County Court of Zagreb. As the President of the Association of Juvenile and Family Judges and Specialist she has organized more than 50 seminars on the topic of children rights, and 2 international conferences, introduced the Stop program in 2012–2018 for restorative justice in Zagreb for the misdemeanor treatment of children. She participated in drafting of the following laws: the Juvenile Courts Act, the Law on Execution of Criminal Sanctions for Juveniles, and the Ombudsman for Children Act. She is occasionally lectures at the Faculty of Law Zagreb, Osijek, Rijeka and Split, School of Social Work, Judicial Academy, the Bar Academy and Police Academy, and is a regular participant and presenter at international conferences and congresses of criminologists, victimology, criminal and juvenile laws.

About the INSPIRE series:

The INSPIRE package represents an evidence-based approach to revitalizing, focusing, and expanding current multi-sectoral efforts to prevent and respond to violence against children. It was developed in collaboration with the WHO, CDC, the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, PEPFAR, PAHO, UNICEF, UNODC, USAID, Together for Girls, and the World Bank. The package is based on a convergence of the strategies these agencies and partnerships have been recommending, and presents the best available evidence.

The seven strategies are:

  1. Implementation and enforcement of laws
  2. Norms and values
  3. Safe environments
  4. Parent and caregiver support
  5. Income and economic strengthening
  6. Response and support services, and
  7. Education and life skills.

These seven evidence-based strategies are complemented by two intersecting strategies: multi-sectoral coordination, and monitoring & evaluation. The core INSPIRE document has been complemented by a detailed INSPIRE Implementation Handbook that sets out how to select and implement interventions from each of the seven strategies, and a compendium of indicators by which to measure their impact and uptake.

All INSPIRE materials and recordings of our past webinars are now available in this series!

How to Register

Watch the recording at https://childhub.org/en/child-protection-webinars/childhub-inspire-series-development-child-protection-rights-courts