Promising Practice

Ombudsman’s Annual Report

The Croatian Ombudsman’s annual report is prepared annually and is based on complaints received, fieldwork and desktop research and data collected from several hundred stakeholders. It contains an analysis of administrative data (complaints) on discrimination concerning all grounds stated in the national Anti-Discrimination Act, joint statistics from three special ombuds institutions and a comprehensive overview of the types of citizen complaints received, along with descriptions of the most prominent cases and the outcome of the Ombudsman’s work on the subject. Along with an analysis and assessment of the status of protection of human rights and freedoms in Croatia, the report contains recommendations for removing systematic shortcomings and irregularities and an assessment of the degree to which the competent bodies have implemented earlier recommendations.
Country
Croatia
Type
Institutional and structural guidelines
Foster inter-institutional cooperation
Build up data hub
Build institutional capacity
Facilitate effective use
Operational guidelines
Ensure comprehensiveness
Mainstream equality data
Ensure regular and timely data collection
Enhance validity and reliability
Ensure representativeness
Improve comparability
Category
All grounds / Cross-cutting

 


In this page:


Why was the practice needed?

According to the Anti-Discrimination Act, the Ombudsman/woman is the central equality body. In this capacity, the Office of the Ombudsman/woman has the responsibility to collect and analyse statistical data on discrimination concerning all of the grounds stated in the Anti-Discrimination Act, to inform the Croatian Parliament of the occurrences of discrimination on these grounds in his/her annual report (and, when required, special reports), to conduct surveys concerning discrimination, to give opinions and recommendations, and to suggest appropriate legal and strategic solutions to the Government of the Republic of Croatia.

How was it implemented?

The annual report is based on complaints received, fieldwork, research and data collected from several hundred stakeholders, including public authorities, civil society organisations, trade unions, employers, universities, churches, religious organisations and many others. Monitoring of discrimination and equality issues happens throughout the year, on the basis of receiving direct complaints from citizens, initialising the Ombudsman’s own proceedings and cooperation with stakeholders.

In the annual report, the Ombudsman provides an analysis and assessment of the situation regarding the protection and promotion of equality. As the Ombudsman is a national equality body, data on all 17 protected grounds under the Croatian Anti-Discrimination Act are included. The report also contains joint statistics from three special ombuds institutions that include information about gender of complainants, grounds, areas and structure of entities that the complaint was directed against. It also contains a comprehensive overview of the types of complaints received from citizens, along with descriptions of the most prominent cases and the outcome of the Ombudsman’s work on the subject.

The report is presented to the national parliament and contains numerous recommendations on how to advance the level of protection of human rights and equality. The government has the opportunity to give feedback on the recommendations and content, and the report is available for public use, its findings being regularly reported widely by the media.

Outputs

  • The annual report for 2020 contains an analysis and assessment of the state of protection of rights and freedoms in the Republic of Croatia; the situation related to certain forms of violations of the rights of individuals or certain social groups; the extent to which the bodies acted in accordance with the Ombudsman’s previous recommendations, opinions, proposals and warnings; and a list of the Ombudsman’s recommendations for the elimination of systematic shortcomings and irregularities that lead to violations of the rights of citizens as well as the occurrence of discrimination.
  • Annual reports from previous years can be found at this link.

Key success factors

  • Appropriate legislation (Constitution, Ombudsman Act, Anti-Discrimination Act).
  • Independent and autonomous status of Ombudsman, legal provisions allowing access to files and documents.
  • Available funds and staff.
  • Cooperation with stakeholders and experts at national and international levels, especially the Agency on Data Protection.

Technical information

  • Data sources covered: Administrative data; Complaints data; Diversity monitoring
  • Areas of life covered: Employment; Education; Health; Social Protection; Housing and living conditions; Access to goods and services; Hate crime; Others: Judiciary, rights of national minorities, citizens’ status rights, employment and civil service relations, retired persons and the elderly, age-based discrimination, property discrimination, energy poverty and access to water, utility management and public collection of mixed and biodegradable communal waste service, demographic crisis and migration, homeland war veterans and civil victims of war, right to privacy, property legal relations, construction, right to healthy life, persons deprived of liberty and functioning of national preventive mechanism.
  • Target audience: Target actors (public authorities, civil society organisations, trade unions, employers, universities, churches, religious organisation, general population). Target groups (vulnerable groups and individuals that may face discrimination on the basis of one of the 12 grounds in the Ombudsman’s mandate (race or ethnic affiliation or colour, language, religion, political or other belief, national or social origin, property status, trade union membership, education, social status, age, health status, genetic heritage)).
  • Duration: Annual
  • Geographical scope: National
  • Leading institution: Pučka pravobraniteljica (Ombudsman of the Republic of Croatia)
  • Other organisations involved/consulted: Public authorities, civil society organisations, trade unions, employers, universities, churches, religious organisations
  • Financial & human resources: Budget: It cannot be estimated, as it is part of the regular year-round work of the institution; Source of the budget: State budget; Staff: Almost all staff (55) are in some way involved in making the report, nine especially focused on discrimination issues; Development: Part of the regular year-round work of the institution

Contacts

Pučka pravobraniteljica (Ombudsman of the Republic of Croatia)
info@ombudsman.hr