Miren Špek
Executive Board Member
Miren was born in 1980 in city of Osijek in today’s Republic of Croatia. His early childhood was interrupted by war, and thus had strong influence in future development and stands in life. Miren graduated from the Faculty of Law in Osijek and was the 2001/2002 winner of the University Rector’s Award for the seminar work on the topic “Responsibility of healthcare workers and healthcare institutions for harm committed.“.
In 2008, Miren worked as occupational therapist in the Home for the Elderly and Infirm in Osijek, where he learned how to communicate with elderly people and to understand the needs and the possibilities of the elders and people with disabilities in specific situation. His path in victim and witness support started in 2011, when he became Volunteer of the Victim and Witness Support Service Croatia. Miren worked as a volunteer until 2013, where he provided support to witnesses and victims at the County Court in Osijek, in the Department for Support of Victims and Witnesses. During his volunteering, he gained basic and specialised skills in providing legal and emotional support to victims and witnesses.
Since 2011, Miren was employed at the Center for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights in Osijek as a war crimes trial monitor. As a trial monitor, he attended national and international trainings (International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague) and held specialised trainings in Croatia in the field of criminal law and procedural law in relation to victims and witnesses, their position, legal and procedural problems and how to provide informative and legal support. In 2013, Miren conducted the project “Civil Victims” in which they worked with civilian victims of war to research how they could exercise their rights (including field work, namely the interviewing family members of civilian war victims). In 2013, he worked as a researcher on the project “Human losses 1991-1995” in the area of Eastern Slavonia. Other publications under his name include: “Characteristic that marked the decades – 2000-2011“, “Support system for victims and witnesses in war crimes trials” and “Prosecution of war crimes – Guarantee of the process of dealing with the past in Croatia” (ISBN: 978-953-7872-09-0).
Since 2016, Miren is the Executive Director of the Victim and Witness Support Service Croatia. During his first mandate, he worked on the reconstruction of the organisation, its programmes, volunteering coordination and public outreach. The organisation’s offices expanded from two to five, with the most recent opening in city of Varaždin, including and a Counselling Centre for victims of domestic violence.
