On 8 October 2025, the Croatian version of the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) course on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse was launched in Zagreb.

This tutored course, adapted to Croatia’s legal framework, aims to strengthen capacities of professionals working for and with children and contributes to Croatia’s commitment to establishing the Barnahus – a leading European response model to child sexual abuse seeking to coordinate parallel criminal and child welfare investigations, with all relevant services under one roof, to prevent secondary victimisation of children.

The course was adapted with the support of the Croatian Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation and the Croatian Judicial academy, as part of the European Union - Council of Europe joint project “Implementing the Barnahus model in Croatia”.

The launch event gathered a first cohort of twenty professionals, including advisors, judges, and prosecutors from county and municipal courts across Croatia.

This group will benefit from a three-month personalised training led by tutor Lara Barberic and supported by Judge Lana Petö Kujundžić of the High Criminal Court and Judge Dijana Rizvić of the Municipal Criminal Court of Zagreb. The programme combines international and national standards with practical Croatian case studies.

The training aims to:

• Enhance the knowledge and skills of professionals to  detect, respond to, and prevent child sexual abuse in a child-friendly, gender-sensitive, and rights-based manner.
• Promote better co-ordination across sectors involved in child protection — ensuring that legal, medical, and social responses are aligned and mutually reinforcing.
• Encourage the consistent and effective application of international standards, in particular those set out in the Lanzarote Convention, across all relevant institutions in Croatia.
• Foster a professional culture that sees children not as passive recipients of protection, but as rights-holders whose voices and best interests must be at the heart of every decision and intervention.

In her welcoming address, Ana Kordej, Acting Director at the Croatian Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation, reiterated Croatia’s commitment to opening future Barnahus units. She was joined by Tomislav Briški, General Secretary of the Croatian Judicial Academy, and Zaruhi Gasparyan, Head of Co-operation and Capacity Building Unit, Children’s Rights Division of the Council of Europe, who stressed the training's importance in safeguarding children’s rights.

Marlena Jukić, Croatian representative to the Committee of the State Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Committee) and Acting Head of Sector for Criminal Law Regulations of the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation of Croatia delivered a keynote presentation on the Lanzarote Convention, highlighting  various monitoring rounds that Croatia participated in and the specific recommendations made to the country.

 Programme