On Thursday, 13 May 2021, Ivana Lunka, counselor working at the National Call Centre for Victims of Crime, held an online lecture as part of a series of lectures organized by the team of the National Call Centre for Victims of Crime. The subject of the lecture was Victims rights, and it was held via Zoom and Facebook streaming service. 46 people attended the lecture.
The lecturer spoke on victims’ rights in general, on the historical development of the victims’ standing in criminal proceedings, the international and domestic documents and regulations governing this field, as well as on each of the victims’ rights.
The lecture encompassed the evolution of victims’ rights in Croatian legislature and the institutional framework for victim protection in the Republic of Croatia which operates through the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, Department of victims and witnesses support, the National Call Centre for Victims of Crime and the civil society organisations which operate within the system of support for victims and witnesses.
The lecturer listed the police, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the courts as the institutions victims are in contact with during criminal proceedings, and which are obliged to inform the victims of their rights, and she explained each of the victims’ rights in those proceedings.
The lecturer referred in particular to special categories of victims, whose rights are stipulated in the Croatian criminal proceedings: child victims and victims of sex crime and human trafficking. She referred in particular to broader rights which those categories of victims have, in particular the right to testify via audio-video feeds, the institute of a person of trust and the individual victim assessment.
At the end of the lecture, the lecturer asked the attendees which rights the victims have most difficulty with within the system, in terms of exercising their rights, and whether they believe the victims are always well informed about their rights. She also provided several examples from the National call Center’s line on how victims were unable to exercise their rights as provided them by law.
