Round table “CRP Sisak – your support in fighting against discrimination”

The round table “CRP Sisak – your support in fighting against discrimination” was held in Sisak in the hotel Panonija on 28 of September 2012. The round table was organized as a part of the project “Equally Diverse” implemented by the Croatian Employment Agency in partnership with the Governmental Office for Human Rights and National Minorities and the Office of the Ombudsman.

The Civil Rights Project Sisak has become a regional contact point in fighting against discrimination within this project in the region “Central Croatia,” including the counties: Sisak-Moslavina, Karlovac, Međimurje, Krapina-Zagorje, Varaždin, Koprivnica-Križevci, and Bjelovar-Bilogora.

The round table aimed at informing the general public in this region about the discrimination and how to suppress it, as well as to liaise with regional stakeholders in the labour market and with judicial and state bodies for the future cooperation in fighting against discrimination. The round table was attended by representatives of legislative bodies, government bodies, private companies, public notaries, UNHCR, and others.

At the beginning of the round table Anita Košar Ulemek, Legal Assistant of CRP Sisak informed all that, employees of CRP Sisak involved in this project, passed two days trainings and attended two-day workshops; one in the fourth Elementary school in Varaždin, and workshop organised in ADRIADIESEL Ltd in Karlovac.

President of the CRP Sisak, Milana Kreća presented activities of CRP Sisak since its establishment. She pointed out that CRP Sisak has provided its services to 15 000 beneficiaries, and has dealt with 45 000 cases.

Silvia Trgovec Greif, a consultant in the Ombudsman office has presented antidiscrimination legislative framework in Croatia.

Lana Velimirović Vukalović from the Governmental Office for Human Rights and National Minorities has presented the work of that office, with emphasis on the Roma Decade.

Dunja Čurčija legal adviser of CRP Sisak at the end presented the role of CRP Sisak as a contact point in this project, and listed examples of discrimination noticed in the office. She has also presented CRP’s pattern when working with such cases and shared info about positively resolved cases. She has concluded that the majority of complaints lodged by CRP to the Ombudsman office are related to the work of the state administration, the judiciary, public institutions and other legal persons, after the beneficiaries were unable to exercise some of their rights.

CRP Sisak will continue its work in relation to the discrimination in accordance with the agreement made by CRP Sisak and the Ombudsman office on 5th of April 2012.