Dear colleagues and partners, the office of the Centre for Peace Studies will not be open in the period from May 27, 2023 to May 31, 2023.

In case of urgent need, send an email to cms@cms.hr, thank you.

Today, on 18th April 2023, a new lawsuit was filed at the Constitutional Court of Croatia, for an ineffective and inadequate investigation into a pushback case, by a group of refugees who were victims of a particularly brutal pushback from Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in October 2020 which included severe violence and sexual assault. 

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 illegal entry of police officers into the premises of the environmental association Zelena akcija/FoE Croatia in Zagreb, which took place on Monday evening, is inadmissible and represents a gross violation of police authority. FoE Croatia, the Center for Peace Studies and Gong will request an investigation from the competent institutions!

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.

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.

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.

On November 30th, BEST consortium partners will hold an international conference in Brussels and online, at Atelier 29. 

The coalition of Croatian civil society organizations invite you to ONLINE conference Countering Shrinking Civic Space and Creating Enabling Environment for Civil Society in the EU which will be held on November 24 and 25, 2022, which will be held via the platform ZOOM.