UN expert on transitional justice to review progress in Croatia

The UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Fabian Salvioli, will carry out an official visit to Croatia from 26 November to 2 December, to examine the progress made in redressing the legacy of serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed during the 1991-1995 armed conflict.

A series of economic and political crises led to the violent break-up of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and its formal dissolution in 1992.

Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were documented during the 1991-1995 armed conflict that affected Croatia and other countries in the region, and led to the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and to several other national, regional and international initiatives in the field of transitional justice.

“My visit aims to learn about and evaluate the measures taken by the authorities in Croatia in the areas of truth, justice, reparation, memory and guarantees of non-recurrence that have been adopted to address the serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed during the armed conflict that engulfed the region,” Salvioli said.

“During the visit, I will seek to have a broad view of the various initiatives taken, identify good practices, gaps and problems, and formulate recommendations in that regard.”

The human rights expert will meet Government officials, representatives of the legislature, members of the judiciary, security forces, the national human rights institution, civil society, victims’ groups, academics and representatives of the international community. He will visit Zagreb, Osijek, Knin, Vukovar and Split.

The expert will present his preliminary findings and recommendations at a news conference on Thursday 2 December at 10:30 am at the Westin Hotel (Krsnjavoga 1, 10000, Zagreb). Access to the news conference is limited to journalists.

The final report on the visit will be presented to the Human Rights Council in September 2022.

ENDS

Mr. Fabian Salvioli (Argentina) was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2018 as the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence. He is a human rights lawyer and professor. Fabián Salvioli is professor of International Law and Human Rights at the School of Law of the University of La Plata. He has lectured in many countries and universities across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. Mr. Salvioli has authored several books and articles on international human rights law. He was member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee between 2009 and 2016, and its President between 2015 and 2016. Mr. Salvioli served twice as member and three times as president of Ad-Hoc Arbitration Courts on Monetary Reparations, within the Friendly Settlement Mechanism of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. He received several honorary titles in recognition of his work in the fields of human rights and education

As Special Rapporteur, Mr. Salvioli is part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

UN Human Rights, Country Page: Croatia

For further information and media enquiries, please contact:

During the mission: Ms. Brenda Vukovic (++41 076-281 9813  / brenda.vukovic@un.org)

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts, please contact Renato Rosario De Souza (renato.rosariodesouza@un.org) or Jeremy Laurence (+ 41 79 444 7578 / jeremy.laurence@un.org).

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