October 2020 – News Digest from ‘Victim and Witness Support Service Croatia’
- In cooperation with the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration and with Ministry of the Interior Victim and Witness Support Service Croatia signed an Agreement on cooperation in the implementation of a pilot project for the establishment of referral system for victims to the VWSSC/National Call Center for Victims of Crimes -116 006. With the signing of that agreement, a pilot project began to provide more systematic support to victims of crime. After reporting a crime to the police, if the victim agrees, victim will be contacted by the staff of the National Call Center for Victims of Crime. The implementation of this pilot project will provide to victims of crime with the necessary support and assistance from the moment the crime is reported to the police. The pilot project will be implemented during 2022 in cooperation with the Police administration of Koprivničko-Križevačka and the Police administration of Zagreb, VII. Zagreb police station.
- National Call Center for Victims of Crimes won the first European award for the quality of youth volunteering. The award was awarded for the first time this year. (https://www.europeanvolunteercentre.org/eqyvol-award )
- National Call Center for Victims of Crime in 2022 continued its work and is making efforts to introduce a new tool for providing support to victims and witnesses of crime in Croatia – chat service. From July 1, the implementation of the new project CHAT for Victims, which the VWSSC, as the holder, is implementing in partnership with the Center for Legal Resources, Validity foundation, PIC, Colegio Oficial de Psihologia de Madrid and Victim Support Europe, began. The kick off meeting was held on the 23rd of September in Zagreb. CHAT for Victims project aims to introduce a new tool, chat, through which the availability of support will be made available to people with disabilities.
- At the Zagreb Innovation Center (ZICER) on September 21 and 22, a two-day conference “New tools in providing support to victims and witnesses” was held in organization by the Victim and Witness Support Service Croatia. The conference was held on the occasion of marking the ninth year of existence and work of the National Call Center – 116 006 helpline and the sixteenth anniversary of the founding of the Victim and Witness Support Service Croatia. The topic of the first day of the conference was related to people with disabilities, while the topic of the second day was dedicated to new tools in the system of providing support to victims and witnesses. This year, the VWSSC opened a call for nominations for the award for improving the support system for victims and witnesses, which it plans to award to the most outstanding individuals every year. During the conference, VWSSC presented winners for improving the support system for victims and witnesses based on nominations to Anamarija Drožđan Kranjčec, head of the legal team of the Women’s Room – Center for Sexual Rights, Anita Matijević, an employee of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia, and Nikica Hamer Vidmar, head of the Victim and Witness Support Service at the Ministry of Justice and Administration of the Republic of Croatia.
