Mario Krešić, UNDP Chief Technical Advisor for Justice in Croatia

1. “Lessons learned from
Witness-Victims Support in Croatia”
Presentation by:
Mario Krešić, UNDP Chief Technical Advisor for Justice in Croatia
International Conference
“Judicial Reform and Empowerment of Victims”
Zagreb, 28-29 November 2012

2. Victims of crime
 Victims of domestic violence, rape and sexual crime
 Victims of human trafficking
 Victims of hate race crime
 Children as victims
 Persons with disabilities as victims
 Victims of war crime/Victims of international human rights
law and serious violations of international humanitarian law
 Victims of terrorism
 Victims of organized crime
 Victims of violence
 Victims of property crime
 Victims of road traffic offences
 Vitcims …

3. Victims rights
 To be treated with respect to their dignity
 Information
 Assistance throughout the legal process
 Social assistance
 Privacy
 Physical protection
 Informal dispute resolution
 Restitution and compensation

4. Victims&Witness Support System
Institutions of criminal justice system:
 Police
 Prosecutors
 Courts
 Probation offices
Referrals:
 Public institutions (social care, medical care etc.)
 Non-governmental institutions
 Specialized for different groups of victims (gender based,
children, etc.)
 General victim-support organizations
National Coordination mechanism

5. New momentum!!
EU Directive establishing minimum standards
on the rights, support and protection of
victims of crime (14 November 2012)
 "In criminal justice we have always been
concerned with the perpetrator, not the victim.
We must put these special measures in place,
our goal is to put the victims first.“ (Viviane
Reding, European Commission Vice-President
and European justice commissioner, September
2012)

6. WVS programme and judicial reform
1. STRATEGIC
MANAGEMENT IN
JUDICIARY
9. COMBATING IMPUNITY
AND SUPRESSION OF SPECIFIC 2. INDEPENDENCY,
CRIMES(WAR AND ACCOUNTABILITY,
ORGANIZED CRIME,
IMPARTIALITY AND
CORRUPTION, SEXUAL CRIME)
PROFESSIONALISM OF
JUDICIARY
JUDICIARY AND
FUNDAMENTAL
RIGHTS
6. PROTECTION OF 3. EFFICIENCY OF
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS JUDICIARY
5. ACCESS TO JUSTICE 4. PRISON SYSTEM

7. Witness-Victims Support Project

8. Why witness-victims support ?
1. Rights of witnesses and victims
2. Efficiency of judiciary
 Reducing the number of unresolved cases
 Reducing impunity for crimes
 Disburdening of judges
 Improving public perception on judiciary
3. Volunteer practice
LINK – WHY WVS?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U48cq9ucgXA

9. UNDP and WVS
 UNDP&UN experience
 The “Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for
Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power,” approved by
the General Assembly in 1985
 UNDP recognized model:
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Resolution
1784 (2011) and Recommendation 1952 (2011)

10. UNDP model
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1784
(2011) and Recommendation 1952 (2011):
 “The Assembly further acknowledges the work of the
United Nations Development Programme in Croatia in
establishing witness support programmes which provide
support and advice for witnesses in pilot courts…”
 “The Assembly therefore calls on the competent authorities
in the states and territories concerned (Balkan) to provide
funding for and establish witness support programmes,
using those that have been set up by the United Nations
Development Programme in Croatia as a model, in all
courts dealing with witnesses in serious crimes.”

11. Project results: system changed
 Legal framework changed
 Courts organizational structure changed
 Ministry of Justice organizational structure changed
 Strategic management by Government introduced
 WVS Volunteers introduced in courts

12. Project Results
(May 2008- November 2012: 4.5 years)*
 7 WVS offices (50 % of all county courts)
 14 WVS professionals in courts
 12.050 witnesses and victims were supported
 1.862 war crime witnesses and victims were
supported
 Additional 8.390 witnesses received support by the
telephone (data: March 2012)
* 3 WVS offices started support in 2011 (data for 2 years)

13. 7 WVS offices in courts
Established 2008-2010 :
Established 2010-2011 :
Plans for 2012-2013 :

14. Coordination of WVS system
 National Governmental Committee for Monitoring
and Development of Witness and Victims
Support System
 Sector for Witness and Victims Support in the
Ministry of Justice

15. Volunteers in courts
 Victim and Witness Support Association (VWSA)
 The work of WVS offices is supported by network of young
volunteers organized through Victim and Witness Support
Association (VWSA)
 223 volunteers
 6854 volunteer hours in supporting witnesses in courts (May
2008 – March 2012)
 Court Rule Book regulates the work of the VWS Association in
courts
 Association is a member of “Victims Support Europe”

16. National Information Center
for Victims
 Europeann Commission
Decision 2007/116/EC
on Reserving the National
Numbering Range beginning
with '116' for Harmonised
Numbers for Harmonised
Services of Social Value
 UNDP Project 2012-
2013

17. DOES IT WORK? Recognitions
 Award to the project in
2011 UNDP competition
of 187 countries
 11th Session of Assembly
of States Parties to the
International Criminal
Court (2012)
"Fair, effective, and
reliable justice systems
also reduce fear and
intimidation.
Croatia’s victim & witness
programme, supported by
UNDP, had this effect, and
it has been recognized by
the Council of Europe as
a best practice."
Helen Clark, UNDP

18. Number of victims Sexual Domestic Rape and sex
STATISTICS and witnesses intercourse violence related crimes
supported with child
Zagreb * 2.441 47 143 191
(2008– 2012)
Vukovar** 2.839 166 633
(2008- 2012)
Zadar** 2.509 683 260
(2008-2012)
Osijek* 2.099 156 74 266
(2008-2012)
Rijeka 999 12 57 39
(2011-2012)
Split* 767 2 78 26
(2011-2012)
Sisak** 396 31 14 109
(2011-2012)
TOTAL 12.050 248 1.215 1.524
* Large-size court
**Medium-size court

19. DOES IT WORK? Real stories
 F. Č., the 40-year-old mother of a six-
year-old child, was a victim of
domestic violence for years. She
endured continuous physical and
verbal abuse until her neighbors saw
her husband kick her in the stomach in
front of their daughter and reported the
abuse to police in the Croatian coastal
city of Zadar.
 A few days before the case went to
trial, she learned by chance about the
Witnesses and Victims Support Office
at Zadar County Court.
 Finding someone she could rely on
and trust, and who would “protect” her
from having to face her husband in the
court building by providing a separate
waiting room prior to the trial
convinced F.Č. to decide to testify in
court and to speak out about the
abuse

20. DOES IT WORK? Real stories
 "As an employee of a retail chain, to  Along with her summons,
my greatest regret, I was the witness M.K. received contact
of an armed robbery. It was an information for the Witness
extremely traumatic experience that and Victim Support Office.
forced me to change my job. Four  The day before her
years after the event, I received a testimony she paid the
summons to testify against the office a visit. Branka
suspected perpetrator, and my agony Lučić, the office head, and
started again. For days I could not her assistant Daniela
sleep … fearful of meeting the Čukelj welcomed M.K. and
suspect and of his revenge. I was re- explained the court
living the fear and stress of that day.“ process and what to
expect, even showing her
on a diagram where she
would sit. When she went
to court to give evidence,
M.K. was joined by the
office staff.

21. DOES IT WORK?
Survivors of wartime sexual violence appeal for justice
in Vukovar
“This kind of war
crimes is extremely
difficult for processing,
sometimes even
impossible... I
emphasize, none of Survivors of war rapes Đurđica Pankas and Snježana
Karaula-Manjak
these cases is left UN hosted roundtable, 5 April 2012
forgotten in a drawer
somewhere.“
Davor Petričević, County
State Prosecutor in Osijek

22. Can we do more?
“A life of one woman is the life of all of
us. If someone inflicts pain to one
woman, he has inflicted pain to all of
us. When I listen to stories of these
Vukovar victims, who meet their
rapists every day walking freely down
the road, honestly, I would like to get
a gun.
However, the very fact that these
Eve Ensler, American playwright, 5. April
women suppress this fury
2012. Vukovar at UN hosted roundtable
demonstrates their strength and the
strength of every woman.
I cry every day for all women victims
of sexual crimes in Croatia, Bosnia
and Herzegovina and in the whole
world, I cry and I am not ashamed to
say it out loud.“

23. Next steps?
 Strategy on Witness-victims support
 Roll out of the Witness-victims support offices to
all county courts
 Establishment of witness-victims support units in
police and prosecutor`s office
 Witness-Victims Support Association –
sustainable partner to the Ministry of Justice.
 Referral system strengthen
 National Call Center for victims set up

24. Lessons learned
 Assessment
 WVS Program as part of judicial reform agenda
 Strategic management – National Committee
 Institutionalized structure in the criminal justice
system (employed officers and WVS units)
 Volunteering program in judiciary
 WVS Association & referral system
 Compensation mechanism