REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

Ombudswoman for persons with disabilities

Number: POSI-1.16.3.-396/12-08-02
Zagreb, 9 August 2012
Human Rights Watch
Subject: Update on the situation of persons with disabilities in Croatia, in particular persons
with intellectual and mental disabilities
Dear Ms. McRae,
Further to your inquiry on the new developments in the area of the protection of human rights
of persons with disabilities in Croatia, in particular persons with intellectual and mental
disabilities, we are pleased to share the information gained through the work of the Office of
the ombudswoman for the persons with disabilities.
In October 2010 the then Ministry of Health and Social Welfare adopted Plan for
deinstitutionalization and transformation of social welfare homes and other legal persons that
provide social welfare services in the Republic of Croatia aimed at deinstitutionalization of
persons with intellectual and mental impairments from 2011 till 2016 (2018).
In 2012 the office of the ombudswoman for persons with disabilities focused its monitoring
visits on homes for psychologically ill adults which are social care institutions where persons
with psycho-social disabilities are placed. During the visits to so far 4 institutions a special
attention was paid to monitoring the implementation of the government deinstitutionalization
plan in practice. In the course of the visits to different parts of Croatia interviews are carried out
with the management and staff of the visited institutions but also with the management and
staff at the social care centers and representatives of local and regional self-governments to
investigate what is happening on the ground. The information received show that the waiting
lists for placement in the visited institutions have not decreased and the number of people that
left the institutions is negligent. There are no efforts being undertaken to secure services which
people placed on waiting lists or those already in institutions would need to stay in their
communities. Deinstitutionalization plan has not been followed by concrete guidelines in
particular fiscal decentralization which is a precondition for developing social services. Unclear
division of responsibilities between the government and units of local and regional selfgovernment further hinders development in that area.

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Zagreb, Savska cesta 41/3, tel. +385 1 6102-170, fax. +385 1 6177-901, www.posi.hr, e-mail: ured@posi.hr

We suggest you request exact numbers of persons with disabilities waiting to be placed into
institutions from the Ministry of Social Policy and Youth.
Not only have new support services not been developed but associations of persons with
disabilities as biggest providers of such services were severely hit by austerity measures
introduced by the government in the first half of 2012. Funding for their activities has been
reduced leading to closing down of some associations. The worst hit were in particular
organization gathering persons with intellectual disabilities who provide whole or half day
programmes of activities for their members as well as other forms of in and out of family
support. The Ministry of Social Policy and Youth this year invited only proposals for projects
securing personal assistance, assistance in class and interpreters for sign language. None of
these services can be used by persons with intellectual disabilities and there were no calls for
proposals for services they need which left those associations without funding. At the same
time government did not secure those services in any other way. Reports from some
associations point that this has already resulted in requests for persons who can no longer be
supported by the associations to be placed in institutions. The ombudswoman for persons with
disabilities warned the Ministry of the unacceptability of such policy but without any
satisfactory result. The situation for persons with psycho-social disabilities is even worse since
out of hospital rehabilitation is non-existent as well as the associations that would work on
developing services they need.
The conclusion from the Annual report on the work of disability ombudswoman for 2011 was
that in order to ensure independent living in the community data basis should be set up,
support needs analyzed as well as system of monitoring needs set up which should be
accompanied by adequate regulatory provisions. Funding should also be secured and allocated
for this purpose but this has so far not been done.
According to the data from the Ministry of health and Social Welfare from October 2011, the
service of professional assistance in the family was used by 259 persons with disabilities. The
very small number of users can only be explained by a lack of service providers.
One example from the complaint received by the Office last year illustrates problems in this
area: a guardian of a person with psycho-social disability asked for a personal assistant that
would help the person to stay at home. Persons with mental disabilities are not entitled to
personal assistance, so the guardian asked for the service of professional assistance in the
family which is secured through social care center. However, there was no organization or
institution that would provide such service. The office inquired about the possibility of securing
this service by a center for rehabilitation in the area. The institution replied that according to
Plan for deinstitutionalization and transformation they are due to transform their institution
into a service provider by 2016 so they will only be able to provide that service starting with
2016.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Zagreb, Savska cesta 41/3, tel. +385 1 6102-170, fax. +385 1 6177-901, www.posi.hr, e-mail: ured@posi.hr
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When it comes to foster families, we have information that attempts are being made to place
persons with disabilities with foster families but in places we visited in Slavonia, Lika and Istria
staff at the institutions reported the local people are not used to providing these forms of care.
When it comes to legal capacity reform, Office of the ombudswoman for disabilities in October
2011 organized a conference with both Croatian and international experts on discrepancy
between the UN CRPD and Croatian practice and called for reform and harmonization. The
conference gathered 340 practitioners from all over Croatia and was supported by the Ministry
of Health and Social Welfare. One of the conclusions of the conference was to set up a working
group that would introduce necessary amendments to the Family Act that would align
legislation with the CRPD.
The office gathered members of academia and professionals from all areas involved in
guardianship matters: psychiatrists, social workers and lawyers who all agreed the change is
necessary. In April 2012 the activities by the office on awareness raising with respect to legal
capacity reform were continued through the launch of conference proceedings were the
government was again invited to undertake necessary legal reforms. The media reported that
the working group to amend the Family Act was set up but only with regards to adoption
proceedings and no experts dealing with guardianship were invited. Following the launch of
conference proceedings, legal experts on guardianship were invited for consultation but the
Office does not have any information on whether the group was formed and with what
mandate.
Director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability for Central Europe Jan Fiala for the
purposes of the Office drafted a proposal on how to implement Art. 12 of the CRPD into the
present legislative framework and this document will be used in further efforts of the office to
initiate change. In parallel to this, another conference aimed at improving practice within the
current regulatory framework will be organized by the office in October this time targeting
psychiatrists.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Zagreb, Savska cesta 41/3, tel. +385 1 6102-170, fax. +385 1 6177-901, www.posi.hr, e-mail: ured@posi.hr
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