ENDING CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE – INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS, CROATIAN CRIMINAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND PREVENTIVE STRATEGIES

Abstract

Sexual abuse of children is a pervasive social issue that affects children with different social background, age and family settings, an issue that crosses national boundaries. The global prevalence of child sexual abuse (hereinafter: CSA), coupled with the possibility of identifying shared conclusions regarding the nature and consequences of this profoundly harmful phenomenon, underscores the need for a coordinated agreement on effective strategies and interventions. Considering the above, recent years have seen the adoption of various international instruments aimed at preventing and combating the sexual abuse of children. Starting with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, followed by the Lanzarote Convention, continuing through EU directives, a comprehensive international normative framework has been established. In recent years, EU has significantly strengthened its normative framework for the suppression of domestic and gender-based violence and outlined effective preventive strategies. Previous research has demonstrated that the obligations arising from convention-based law have served as an important catalyst for Croatian criminal law reforms over the past two decades. An examination of the legislative amendments to the 1997 and 2011 Criminal Code reveals that sexual offences against children underwent a number of separate revisions in terms of legislative drafting. Given the exceptionally intensive normative activity in the field of sexual offences against children, this paper will specifically examine whether the interventions undertaken so far have sufficiently aligned national solutions with international guidelines and whether there is scope for further reform.