Author
According to the LITP, “unaccompanied child” means a third-country national or a stateless person younger than eighteen years of age who entered the Republic of Croatia unaccompanied by an adult person responsible for him or her in the sense of parental care, pursuant to the law of the Republic of Croatia, until placed under the care of such a person, and includes all children who are left unaccompanied after they entered the Republic of Croatia.[1]
In 2023, 12,150 children (7308 boys and 4842 girls) expressed the intention to seek international protection, among them a total of 1516 unaccompanied children, of which 1458 were boys (age group 0-13: 100; age group 14-15: 273. age group 16-17: 1085) and 58 were girls (age group 0-13: 12; age group 14-15: 8, age group 16-17: 38).[2]
A special guardian should be appointed for each unaccompanied child, with the exception of married unaccompanied children over the age of 16.[3]
Time of appointment
According to LITP, the body responsible for social welfare shall immediately appoint a special guardian to an unaccompanied child, who expressed the intention to submit an application for international protection, The special guardian must be trained to work with children and should not have a conflict of interest with the child.[4]
According to the Protocol on Procedures for Unaccompanied and Separated Children, as soon as it is established that a child is unaccompanied or separated, the police officer must take actions to ensure the procedure of identification, which among others includes the obligation to invite a social worker from the competent regional office of Croatian Institute for Social work and an interpreter if the child does not understand Croatian, and to forward a letter to the competent regional office requesting a special guardian to be appointed.
The procedure of identification includes:
- Communication, introducing oneself and informing the child about the country of arrival, his or her guaranteed rights, the appointment of a special guardian, procedures that follow after the child’s identification;
- Collecting personal data and other information about the child;
- Conducting an initial assessment of the child’s needs by completing the form “Initial Assessment of Needs of Unaccompanied and Separated Children” in Annex 1 to the Protocol;
- Steps to be followed in the event of an expression of intention to submit an application for international protection during the identification procedure.
The procedure of identification is conducted by a police officer in the police administration or police station. An interpreter assigned by the Ministry of Interior, a social worker from the regional office of Croatian Institute for Social work and/or a special guardian also participate.
Where the procedure of identification is conducted outside the regular working hours of the competent regional office of Croatian Institute for Social work, the expert duty officer of the regional office takes part in the procedure. He or she must appoint a special guardian, in an oral ruling, to protect the wellbeing of the child and to ensure the implementation of further procedures. If it is found out that the child already has a guardian, the official from regional office or the police officer will call the appointed guardian to take part in further procedures with the unaccompanied or separated child.
The child must be informed immediately about the appointment of the guardian. The procedure for international protection must be conducted by the official from the Ministry of Interior trained to work with children. The guardian has to prepare, on time, the unaccompanied child for the interview and provide him or her with information on the significance and consequences of the interview in a language which it may justifiably be assumed that the child understands and in which he or she is able to communicate. The costs of interpretation shall be borne by the Ministry of Interior. [5]
However, to the Croatian Law Centre’s knowledge, this possibility is rarely used in practice as guardians are not using this legal right.
In 2023, the Croatian Law Centre (CLC) implemented the project “Legal Assistance and Capacity Building for Access to Territory and Asylum in Croatia” with the financial support of the UNHCR. Within the project, legal advices and/or information was provided also to unaccompanied children, although only in a few cases. In addition, it was observed that unaccompanied children were quickly leaving the institutions where they were accommodated and consequently Croatia.
Qualifications of guardians
Until now, no special qualifications were required for the appointment of guardians.
According to the Law on Social Welfare, the previous centres for social welfare ceased to operate on December 31, 2022, and as of January 1, 2023, their duties were taken over by the Croatian Institute for Social Work.[6]
In practice, according to the information available to the Croatian Law Centre, usually employees of Croatian Institute for Social Work (CISW) are appointed as guardians. In some cases, employees of social welfare institutions where children are accommodated are also appointed as guardians as well as employees of the Croatian Red Cross.
In its report for 2023, the Ombudswoman for Children reported that duties of special guardians are very extensive which leads to challenges in practice.[7] A lot of children have no information about their guardian or how to get in contact with her/him, while often their only meeting takes place during the submission of an application for international protection. More frequent contacts are necessary so that children can receive information about family reunification, their rights, available services and enrolment in school. The considerable number of administrative procedures for each child is a significant burden on special guardians. The procedures are complex and require coordination with other services, for example when an unaccompanied child is found and accommodation has to be found for them. This often requires engagement in the night hours and in addition to their regular daily work. In addition, the work of a special guardian includes a series of activities during family reunification or the enrolment of a child in education, and sometimes determining whether persons who declare themselves as legal representatives of unaccompanied children truly enjoy that status. These obstacles lead to special guardians lacking motivation. Due to the need for guardians to possess technical professional knowledge on different areas, there is also a problem of insufficient training. Appointment of guardians and organization of their visit to children take place slowly.
The Croatian Red Cross reported that in 2023 their mobile team conducted 62 visits to institutions where unaccompanied children are accommodated to provide psychosocial support to children and provide material services (such as clothing and school supplies).[8]
The previous updates of the AIDA report on Croatia provide background information on the different trainings and projects related to the unaccompanied children that were organised since 2016.
Capacity and performance of functions
Guardians of unaccompanied children were and still are generally appointed among the employees of the Croatian Institute for Social Work or among employees of social welfare institutions where children are accommodated.
According to the law, the best interests of children should be considered when implementing provisions of LITP.[9] The best interests of the child shall be assessed, taking into account:
- The welfare and social development of the child, and his/her origin;
- The protection and safety of the child, especially if the possibility exists that he or she is a victim of trafficking in human beings;
- The child’s opinion, depending on his or her age and maturity; and
- The possibility of family reunification, etc.
The special guardian of the unaccompanied child shall undertake, as soon as possible after the application for international protection is submitted, all necessary actions to find the family members and reunite the child with the family, if that is in the child’s interest, including contacting and cooperating with relevant ministries, other state and foreign bodies and NGOs. The special guardian is obliged to respect the principle of confidentiality when collecting, processing and exchanging information about the child and family members in order not to endanger their safety.
On the other hand, the LITP prescribes that a guardian shall not be appointed when an unaccompanied child is over 16 years of age and is married,[10] which can be understood that persons from the age of 16 have the capacity “to perform procedural acts” on their own behalf in procedures for international protection.
The Centre for Peace Studies reported that unaccompanied children have insufficient or no contact with guardians in some cases, which leads to inadequate support and access to information and services.[11]
[1] Article 4(1)(17) LITP.
[2] Information provided by the Ministry of Interior, 8 March 2024., See also : Ministry of Interior, Statistics 2023, available in Croatian at: https://bit.ly/3Xr1uYp.
[3] Article 17 (3) LITP.
[4] Article 17 (1) LITP.
[5] Article 17LITP.
[6] Law on Social Welfare, Official Gazette 18/2022, 46/2022, 119/2022, 71/2023, 156/2023.
[7] Ombudswoman for Children: Report on the work of the Ombudsman for Children in 2023, available in Croatian at: https://bit.ly/3zeXcJw.
[8] Croatian Red Cross: Annual report on the work of the Croatian Red Cross in 2023, available in Croatian at: https://bit.ly/3z8D4Jj.
[9] Article 10 LITP.
[10] Article 17(3) LITP.
[11] Information provided by Centre for Peace Studies, 30 January 2024.