UNHCR commends the Government’s efforts to streamline the rights of national minorities
through implementation of the Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities and
recommends to Government to continue to promote awareness about the importance of usage
of national minority languages and scripts. Such policies would contribute to the building of a
tolerant society and encourage sustainable reintegration of returnees.
h) Remaining security issues
UNHCR observed an environment of intolerance and animosity towards the Serbian national
minority, throughout 2016 and 2017. This heightened atmosphere of animosity is
demonstrated in incidents of hate speech, sentiments expressed in media, including social
media, and public use of Nazi-era slogans. The most noticeable incidents involve placing of
memorial plaque featuring fascists’ slogan in Jasenovac, known for being the place of the
biggest and most notorious concentration camp during WWII in the region and public burning
of the Serb weekly Novosti. Perceived stigmatization of Serbs, nationalistic rhetoric, and above
described manifestations may have prevented larger interest for minority returns.
On 20 December 2017, the Croatian Government adopted the National Plan for Combating
Discrimination for the period 2017-2022 and the Action Plan for the Implementation of the
National Plan, covering the period 2017-2019. Both National and Action Plans were adopted
with more than four years of delay as the previous plan expired in 2013. Both documents
highlight the importance of education of public servants and addressing discrimination in the
media and offer comprehensive framework for combating discrimination. However, its goals
can only be achieved through proper implementation. In 2017, UNHCR Croatia, in cooperation with the Implementing Partner Croatian Red Cross (CRC), developed a curriculum
for the promotion of tolerance towards refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless individuals and
returnees. The curriculum is intended for the pupils of 7th and 8th grades of elementary school
and all secondary education under the civics education. To support the implementation of the
curriculum, UNHCR and CRC have also developed a handbook for teachers and accompanying
multimedia materials. Both the curriculum and the handbook have been submitted to the
Croatian Education and Teacher Training Agency in September 2017 for the approval. Once
approved, UNHCR and CRC will organize trainings for teachers and develop more materials
to ensure smooth implementation of the curriculum and the sustainability of the curriculum and
the handbook as tool of promotion of tolerance and creation of welcoming communities. The
main aim of this project is for children to receive information on people UNHCR serves in
protection-oriented, age-appropriate and student friendly manner. Based on the monitoring
results (surveys and teachers feed -back), UNHCR will follow-up the trends in public attitudes.
UNHCR commends the efforts of the Government of Croatia to address the instances of ethnic
intolerance through measures in the Operative Programme for Protection and Enhancement
of all National Minorities as well as the adoption of the National and Action Plan for
Combating Discrimination. UNHCR suggests initiating a national campaign to promote the
rights of national minorities and sensitize the media and public. UNHCR further recommends
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