Most EU countries made little effort to resolve documented rule of law issues, allowed existing shortcomings to go unaddressed, or even made things worse in all areas assessed, ‘Liberties Rule of Law Report 2023’ (Report) finds. Exceeding the scope of the European Commission’s annual rule of law audit, Liberties’ Report lays out the most striking developments concerning justice, corruption, media freedom, checks and balances, civic space and systemic human rights issues in 2022 as compiled by 45 human rights organizations in 18 countries across the EU. The Report is the most in-depth ‘shadow report’ exercise to date on the rule of law by an independent civil liberties network in the EU.

Exactly two weeks ago, on 17 January, the European Court of Human Rights confirmed in the case of Daraibou v. Croatia that Croatia had violated the right to life of young men who were detained in the premises of a border police station, that is, who were in the hands of the Croatian authorities.

Yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a second judgment finding that Croatia is violating human rights of refugees and other migrants. It brought a tiny fragment of justice to the three deceased persons and the seriously injured Abdejalil Daraibou, who were at the time in the police station and under the authority of the border police, and whose right to life Croatia violated.

The first National Conference on the Promotion of the Rights of Migrants and Refugees in Croatia was held at the Sheraton Hotel on Wednesday 7.12., a conference that was designed, implemented and led by migrant and refugee activists: human rights advocates, and integration experts. The activists were supported in preparations and logistics by the Centre for Peace Studies as part of the European project 2incING, designed with the aim of strengthening the advocacy capacities of refugees and migrants.

The Decision on December 8, 2022, by the Council of the European Union to admit Croatia into the Schengen area despite substantiated reports of frequent breaches of EU and international human rights law by Croatian authorities and its border guards shows disregard for the EU’s commitment to fundamental rights, 8 leading human rights and humanitarian organizations said today.

Croatia's Schengen accession is on the agenda of today’s meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council. If ministers vote in favour, it will be despite ample evidence of systematic human rights violations at Croatia’s borders, as well as breaches of the Schengen acquis itself.

National report on state of the art of cultural policies for the integration of migrants - Croatia; as a part of the international project MIGRarts. 

During September 15 and 16, 2022, a partnership meeting was held in Rome, Italy. The meeting was attended by partners implementing the MIGRarts project - Ligue de l'enseignement (France), Community Development Institute (North Macedonia), ARCI (Italy) and Center for Peace Studies (Croatia).

On 22 September, the Centre for Peace Studies and the Human Rights House Zagreb filed a submission to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in accordance with Rule 9.2. of the Rules of the Committee of Ministers for the supervision of the execution of judgments and of the terms of friendly settlements in the case, a proposal of measures for the execution of the judgment M.H. and Others v. Croatia no. 15670/18 and 43115/18. 

The Centre for Peace Studies co-signs the statement of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, which warns of the danger of adopting the Regulation addressing situations of instrumentalisation in the field of migration and asylum.