Speech by Minister Grabar-Kitarovic at World Child Forum

Welcoming remarks by H.E. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović
Minister of Foreign Affairs & European Integration
Republic of Croatia
World Child Forum
Vancouver, British Columbia

November 19, 2006

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, it is truly an honour and a pleasure to be here with you at the launch of the World Child Forum in beautiful Vancouver. I am also pleased to be here to celebrate the National Day of the Child and to participate in efforts to promote and raise public awareness about the rights of children in our communities and globally.

Tomorrow, the 20th of November is a historic date for children around the world for it marks the anniversary of the adoption of the two most important international documents dedicated to the protection of children and children’s rights - the UN Declaration and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Children are our most precious and cherished asset. In my country we celebrate children not only during the week of October 3rd when we mark the International Day of the Child with numerous special events for children or on the 20th of November, when we celebrate the anniversary of the UN Convention and Declaration on the Rights of the Child – but rather we focus on them each and every day.

The adoption and almost universal acceptance of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has created an international framework for the protection of human rights of children. Unfortunately, this framework is still just a vision and not reality for many children throughout the world, children such as Mary Noori and hundreds of young school girls whom I met on a visit to Afghanistan this past April – children who hope that one day they too will enjoy the rights that many children in developed democracies enjoy and exercise.

Over the past five years, my country of Croatia has undertaken comprehensive national reforms in the field of children's rights. We have adopted a Law on Protection Against Domestic Violence and we appointed the first Ombudsperson for Children, as an autonomous institution to safeguard the interests and welfare of children, promote their rights, and issue recommendations, warnings and initiatives. The Ombudsperson reports to the Croatian Parliament through annual reports about the work of the office and the status of children’s rights in Croatia.

Of course for a country which has gone through post conflict building, this is a tremendously important issue. It has been approximately 15 years since the war in Croatia. At that time many children suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
however, I'm pleased to say we have done a great deal in the are of post conflict resolution and for the rights of the children.

In 2006, the Croatian Government endorsed a comprehensive National Action Plan for Children’s Rights and Interests (2006-2012), with specific national commitments to children.

Croatia also participated in the UN Secretary - General’s Study on Violence against Children, presented to the General Assembly last December. The study produced a global document focused on violence against children and identified the goal of educating nations, communities and national institutions that violence against children is unacceptable in any society and that it is a violation of children's rights.

Croatia’s legislative and practical frameworks already reflect the recommendations of the study and we have ratified key international instruments in the field of children’s rights by abolishing the death penalty, prohibiting corporal punishment at home, in schools or other institutions charged with the care of children, as well as establishing the already mentioned office of an Ombudsperson for Children.

As a result of our progressive efforts to protect children from degrading treatment, mental or physical abuse, Croatia is among only 16 countries in the world with a legal prohibition against corporal punishment.

Ladies and gentlemen the Republic of Croatia will become a member of UNICEF’s Executive Board in 2007. We are looking forward to contributing to the work of UNICEF with a view to further advancing the status of children worldwide. Through the UNICEF Office in Croatia, the Government of Croatia is working with non-governmental organizations to raise awareness about violence against and among children at home and at school through educational programs such as the national "Stop Violence among Children" campaign, launched in more than 220 schools throughout Croatia.

In the 1980s, an advocacy group by the name of Victims of Violence, borne out of a tragedy here in British Columbia coined the phrase “it shouldn’t hurt to be a child”. I know that all of us here today care personally about the future of children not only in our own communities, but around the globe and we will work diligently to protect society’s most innocent victims from pain, mistreatment and abuse in all its forms.

On behalf of the Croatian delegation, I would like to conclude by thanking the International Forum for Child Welfare, British Columbia’s Ministry of Children and Families, the Provinces of Alberta and Ontario and Child Welfare League of Canada for organizing this very important conference. I wish you all much success in your deliberations over the coming days and in your dedicated efforts for children everywhere.

Thank you