Recommendations of the Centre for Peace Studies for the Implementation of the Daraibou v. Croatia Judgment

On April 1, 2025, the Centre for Peace Studies submitted a communication to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in accordance with Rule 9.2. of the Committee of Ministers’ Rules for the supervision of the execution of judgments and the terms of friendly settlements, in the case of Daraibou v. Croatia, application no. 84523/17, proposing measures for the execution of the judgment.

We recall that on January 17, 2023, the European Court of Human Rights, in the case of Daraibou v. Croatia, confirmed that Croatia had violated the right to life of young men who were in the premises of the border police, i.e., under the control of Croatian authorities.
Three young men died after a fire broke out while they were in police custody, and the survivor, Abdeljalil Daraibou, sustained serious injuries and barely escaped with his life from the Bajakovo Border Police Station.
The Court also confirmed a procedural violation of the right to life, thereby reaffirming—this being the second time—that investigations into crimes committed against refugees and other migrants are ineffective.

Through this submission, we provided the Committee of Ministers with an overview of the current situation relevant to the execution of the judgment and, based on that, offered constructive proposals for appropriate measures to implement the judgment and uphold the human rights of refugees and other migrants in the Republic of Croatia—both in detention and beyond.