VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVB #0025/01 0151508
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151508Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8919
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000025 
 
DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER 
STATE FOR DRL/IL TU DANG, EUR/SCE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI USAID HR
SUBJECT: UPDATE OF WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR: CROATIA 
 
REF STATE 184972 
 
¶1. Summary: Croatia has a strong institutional and legal framework 
for protecting the rights of minors and a good track record of 
taking action to prevent child labor.  Problems are isolated and 
infrequent.  Most reported abuses occur in the entertainment, 
hospitality, retail, industrial construction and media sectors.  The 
State Inspectorate  enforces child labor legislation. End Summary. 
 
------------------------------ 
Legal and Regulatory Framework 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2. The Labor Law sets the minimum age for employment at 15 years; 
children ages 15 to 18 may work only with written permission from a 
legal guardian.  Children under 15 may work or participate in 
artistic or entertainment functions (such as film productions) with 
permission from the parent or guardian and the labor inspectorate, 
provided that the work is not harmful to the child's health, 
morality, education, or development.  The Ministry of Economy, 
Labor, and Entrepreneurship (MELE) enforces the minimum age of 
employment.  According to stipulations in the Labor Law and the 
Occupational Safety and Health Act, children under age 18 are 
prohibited from working overtime, at night, under dangerous labor 
conditions, or in any other job that might be harmful to a child's 
health, morality, or development.  Minors under age 18 are expressly 
prohibited from working in bars, nightclubs, and gambling 
establishments.  The Family Law contains provisions for the 
protection of the rights and welfare of children.  The Children's 
Ombudsman coordinates government efforts to promote and protect the 
interests of children and is obliged to report any findings of 
exploitation to the State Attorney's Office.  The Constitution 
prohibits forced or bonded labor, and the Criminal Code bans 
individuals from forcing children to beg.  The minimum age for 
conscription into the military is 18.  Croatia signed and ratified 
ILO Convention 182. 
 
¶3. The worst forms of child labor may be prosecuted under different 
statutes in Croatia.  The Criminal Code outlaws international 
prostitution, including solicitation of a minor, and prohibits 
procurement of minors for sexual purposes.  The law also forbids 
using children for pornography.  Article 178 (1) of the Criminal 
Code indicates that international prostitution pertains to 
"[w]hoever tempts, recruits or instigates the other person to 
provide sexual services for profit in a country other than the one 
of whose residence or citizenship that person is," and Article 178 
(2) indicates, "[w]ho compels another person by using physical 
force, or induces that person using threats, or by deceit to go to a 
country other than the country of that person's residence or 
citizenship, to provide sexual services for money..."  The Criminal 
Code includes Trafficking of Persons and Slavery as a separate 
criminal act with a minimum prison sentence of five years and a 
maximum sentence of 15 years, when a child or a minor is involved 
and prescribes for imprisonment of 3 months to 3 years for 
perpetrators who knowingly use TIP victims. 
 
------------------------------ 
Implementation and Enforcement 
------------------------------ 
 
¶4. The Labor Inspectorate of Croatia implements and enforces child 
labor legislation.  The office employs 111 labor relations 
inspectors, who are responsible for enforcing labor laws and 
regulations and 104 labor safety inspectors.  Special attention is 
paid to the employment of minors.  In addition to following up on 
complaints of possible violations, the Inspectorate also conducts 
unannounced site inspections.  Such inspections have intensified 
resulting in an increase in the number of issued violations. 
However, the Inspectorate concluded in their last report to the 
government (2007) that the courts often do not hand out sentences in 
accordance with the seriousness of the violation. The Labor 
Inspectorate has ordered the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry 
of Health and Social Welfare to search for and process violators 
more stringently and called for better cooperation between social 
agencies and police.  In a separate decision, the GoC ordered the 
Labor Inspectorate to increase inspections of establishments that 
employ minors. (See paragraph 18 for data). 
 
¶5. Legal remedies available to government agencies for enforcing 
child labor laws are regulated by the following: 
-Labor law; 
-Regulation on work for which minors may be employed and types of 
employment allowed only after confirmation of physical ability 
(published in National gazette 59/02); 
-Law on Work Safety; 
-Criminal Law; 
-Law on Children's Ombudsmen; 
-Law on Legal Defense; 
-Law on Elementary Education 
-Law on Juvenile Courts; 
-National Program for the Protection of the Best Interests of 
Children 2006-2012; 
-National Plan for the Suppression of Trafficking of 
Children(2005-2007); 
 
¶6. Fines for violating child labor laws range from 1,000 HRK ($150) 
to 100,000 ($18,000), depending upon the gravity of the violation. 
According to the Office of the Ombudsman for Children, the 
regulations are, for the most part, adequate and effective, but work 
continues on new regulations to increase the effectiveness of 
protecting children's rights.  In 2006, amendments to the Criminal 
Law included increased minimum fines for violations as well as 
increased jail sentences for crimes in connection with sexual abuse 
of minors.  The amendments were intended to send a stronger message 
to the public, particularly since the courts have frequently been 
lenient towards offenders. 
 
¶7. Croatia has reached general global standards in regard to 
addressing and investigating violations.  The National Program for 
the Protection of the Best Interests of Children (2006 -2012) 
includes proposals for developing legislation that regulates the 
types of work and employment of children to further protect children 
from economic exploitation and employment that could be harmful to 
their development and health. 
 
¶8. Increasing education and awareness of the problems of child labor 
and other children's issues is done in accordance with the laws and 
national plans.  In 2006, judges were educated about the changes in 
the courts' authority in application of the Family Law. 
 
¶9. The National Plan for Suppressing Trafficking of Children 
includes a protocol for the exchange of information between 
authorities in cases of trafficking, publication of a handbook for 
police officers and social service workers for recognizing 
threatening situations and for the creation of databases that would 
include child victims and current court cases.  The Children's 
Council of the State Institute for the Protection of the Family 
monitors and promotes the application of the Convention on the 
Rights of the Child. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
Social programs and government initiatives 
------------------------------------------ 
¶10.  The Ministry of Science, Education and Sport offers high 
schools a choice of 15 prevention programs, one of which covers the 
economic exploitation of children.  Each school picks the programs 
that address problems faced by children in their communities.  A 
Ministry of Education official stated that, because exploitation of 
children for economic purposes is not statistically high in Croatia 
and is not currently seen as a threat, the topic is covered, but the 
schools do not usually include the program that covers that issue. 
According to representatives of UNICEF and Djeca Prva (a 
coordinating NGO for 30 child related issues NGOs), there are no 
programs currently offered for preventing the worst forms of child 
labor outside of the scope of the activities provided for under the 
National Action Plan for Children and the National Plan of 
Suppressing Trafficking (See paragraph 14) and existing legislation. 
 Representatives from both organizations said this is not a problem 
they directly cover, nor is it a prominently reported problem; 
however, both stated that statistics are lacking. 
 
¶11. Based on the Convention on Children's rights and the 
Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, every child living in 
Croatia is guaranteed and obligated to receive education.  According 
to official statistics from the Ministry of Science, Education and 
Sport, in 2004 enrollment was 96.5 percent.  The Ministry's goal is 
to have 98 percent enrollment by 2010.  The Elementary Education Law 
(1990) requires eight years mandatory education for children, 
beginning at age six.  Children generally complete compulsory 
education at age 14; however, most Croatian children remain in 
school until age 18.  Enrollment statistics are based on the number 
of students formally registered in primary school and therefore do 
not necessarily reflect actual school attendance.  Recent primary 
school attendance statistics are not available. 
 
¶12. Currently, the education system provides special schooling for 
children with special needs in order to prepare them for work in the 
trades sector.  The education system also provides vocational 
education at the high school level for all students interested in 
learning a trade. 
 
¶13. Some ethnic Roma children face obstacles to continuing their 
schooling, such as discrimination in schools and lack of family 
income.  The Office for National Minorities has a special program 
for the inclusion of Roma children in the education system in 
Croatia.  According to the 2003 National Program for Roma, the 
primary obstacle to primary school is poor Croatian language skills. 
 In response, the government has committed funding to support 
additional Croatian language teachers and pre-school instruction for 
Roma children, as well as a meal program in the schools.  Croatia 
also initiated the program, "Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015," to 
better document and aid the Roma minority community. 
 
---------------------- 
Government Initiatives 
---------------------- 
 
¶14.  The Ministry of Family, Veterans' Affairs and Intergenerational 
Solidarity developed the National Program for the Protection of the 
Best Interests of Children for 2006-2012, which provides preventive 
and protective measures for children with regard to all types of 
sexual abuse, including commercial sexual exploitation.  The 
government is currently preparing an updated National Plan for 
Suppression of Trafficking in Persons from 2009-2011. The updated 
National plan is to include all chapters from the previous National 
Strategy that expired in 2008. 
 
¶15. The trafficking operational plans through 2008 were implemented 
and implementation reports to the government were approved and 
accepted. The new National Plan 2009-2011 will further the 
implementation of goals and objectives as follows: legislative 
framework, identification of the victims, prosecution and 
penalization of perpetrators, prevention, education and help and 
assistance to the victims, inter-ministerial and inter-sectoral 
cooperation and international cooperation.  Police screen all 
illegal migrants for TIP evidence.  Local social welfare centers 
provide assistance to all minor TIP victims.  Croatia has 
legislation in place that establishes special procedures for cases 
where victims or perpetrators are minors. A government established 
shelter for victims of trafficking exists; IOM provides assistance 
and support to victims.  The government also conducted in-service 
police training on trafficking-recognition, funded a national 
hotline for victims of trafficking and anti-trafficking awareness 
campaigns, and co-sponsored with several NGOs a number of prevention 
programs on the trafficking of persons. 
 
¶16. The GoC implemented the "National Plan for the Suppression of 
Trafficking in Children from 2005 - 2007," which also covered areas 
already mentioned in the GoC National Programs and Operational 
Plans. The GoC is currently working on updating the plan, taking 
into consideration special needs of children and principles from the 
UN Convention on the Rights of Children.  In 2006 the GoC organized 
and funded training in cooperation with local NGOs that targeted 
social workers in reception centers responsible for assistance and 
protection of illegal minor migrants. The Child Trafficking 
Prevention Program is implemented by the Center for Social Policy 
Initiatives, a national NGO, in partnership with the Ministry of 
Labor and Social Welfare, the Ministry of the Interior, and IOM. 
Modules have been developed on child trafficking, child 
exploitation, sexual exploitation of children, child pornography, 
and the worst forms of child labor.  Teachers have been trained to 
use the program, and a pilot project is underway in five elementary 
schools in Zagreb.  The government also works with international 
organizations to assist trafficking victims and cooperates with 
other governments in the region.  According to the Ministry of 
Justice, through 2007 Croatia will be participating in a regional 
program implemented by ILO-IPEC on combating child labor in the 
Stability Pact Countries, with a special focus on the worst forms of 
child labor. 
 
----------- 
Recent Data 
----------- 
 
¶17. Statistics on the number of working children under age 15 in 
Croatia are unavailable.  Children are employed in the hospitality, 
retail, industrial, construction, and media (film and reality 
television) sectors.  Roma children reportedly are being forced to 
beg and are also vulnerable in the agricultural sector.  Reports 
indicate that Croatia is primarily a transit country and, to a 
limited extent, is also a source and destination country for 
trafficking of children for commercial sexual exploitation. 
 
¶18. The most recent data available for the worst forms of child 
labor are for 2005 and include seven persons reported for exploiting 
children for pornography, seven persons charged and 16 sentenced 
(this includes cases from previous years) of which five were 
sentenced to jail and 11 received a suspended sentence (New data 
will be available February 1, 2009) .  In 2007 the State Labor 
Inspectorate recorded 163 violations of labor-related laws involving 
89 children under the age of 17. Of these violations, one involved a 
child under the age of 15. Violations occurred mainly in the 
hospitality, tourism, retail, food, industrial, services and 
construction sectors (New data will be available March 2009).  The 
violations include the employers withholding work contracts, not 
being in possession of individual permission for employing minors, 
not granting proper break times (daily and weekly), endangering the 
health of a minor, employing a minor under the age of 15, keeping 
minors over-time, scheduling minors to work during night hours and 
not properly registering minors for health and pension benefits. 
 
¶19. According to analysis of violations during this and previous 
years, the Labor Inspectorate has determined that violation of 
children's rights in employment is not a common occurrence.  Embassy 
Zagreb's conversations with government officials and NGOs support 
the conclusion that the worst forms of child labor are infrequent in 
Croatia and that the state mechanisms to address them are 
effective. 
 
BRADKTE