Croatian experience: from ‘no disability hate crime’ to a policy measure Branka Meić Salie Office of the ombudswoman for persons with disabilities

Disability ombudsman appointed by the Parliament (8 yrs) Protects rights of persons with disabilities - receives complaints Promotes disability rights as human rights (DHC seminars) Monitors – visits institutions, collects data Fights discrimination – asks for reports, gives recommendations and warnings, informs the government and the public, reports to the parliament Independent body for monitoring UN CRPD

From legislation to implementation Criminal code: Hate crime is a criminal offence committed because of race, skin colour, faith, national or ethnic origin, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity of the other person. No. of DHC: 0 ECHR: Djordjevic vs Croatia 2014 – ENIL, ODIHR, Disability ombudsman seminar for DPOs Organisation of self-advocates – annual conference 2015 – seminar for government work group on HC 2016 – seminar for police and prosecution

Why disability hate crime? No data but widespread, not detected? Reported, investigated, prosecuted and punished as ‘regular’ criminal offences? there is disability hate crime in Croatia Different from other hate crimes: We must look for bias indicators and not hatred as a motive Rejection, isolation, fear, violence = threat to security -persons with disabilities experience violence from their environment, in their families and in institutions

Obstacles and way forward Base offence + bias motivation= hate crime (an aggravating circumstance for all crimes ) BUT Some criminal acts – aggravating circumstance if committed against a ‘vulnerable’ group Action plan for implementation of the national plan for combating discrimination from 2016 – 2018: Organise seminars on HC for judges, prosecutors, attorneys, law enforcement and NGOs in particular with regards to hate crimes against national minorities, LGBT persons and persons with disabilities National expertise? Victim support units at courts

Conclusions by police and prosecutors I learnt that hate crime doesn’t mean that a perpetrator feels hatred towards the victim but that the perpetrator selected the victim due to some of his/her characteristics, that is prejudice/bias towards certain persons We gained key knowledge of how to recognize and find indicators that point at hate crime I changed my perception of the disability hate crime in the sense that a motive doesn’t have to entail hatred

Hvala na pažnji! CONTACT: Disability Ombudsman’s Office Savska 41/3, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia Tel. +385 1 6102 170 Fax. +385 1 6177 901 Mail: ured@posi.hr Web: www.posi.hr