The United Nations is represented in Croatia by six agencies, organizations and funds:

• The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF),
• The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR),
• The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),
• The International Organization for Migration (IOM),
• The World Health Organization (WHO) and
• a Liaison Office for the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

60 Ways the United Nations Makes a Difference booklet

The United Nations works for you poster

For the first time since the UN arrived in Croatia, the UN agencies and institutions share a common address. The UN's current premises in Zagreb at Radnicka Cesta 41 were inaugurated on UN Day, October 24th, 2008 by Croatian President Stjepan Mesić, and Deputy Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor. The move to a common premise was made possible by the generosity of the Government of Croatia in a demonstrable sign of its commitment to the UN both globally and in Croatia itself. This commitment was further reinforced in 2007 when Croatia was elected to a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

PHOTO: UN Day 2008 - Inauguration of the UN Common Premises in Zagreb by President Mesic and Deputy Prime-Minister Kosor, 23 October 2008

Increasingly, the UN agencies in Croatia work together on joint programmes designed to assist the Republic in meeting its commitments to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other multinational commitments and conventions. Over the past three years, Croatia has also started on the path as an Emerging Donor and is now starting to provide increased levels of Official Development Assistance through its ministries, embassies, state agencies and through participation in 14 UN International Peacekeeping and Police Missions.

PHOTO: UN Day 2008 - Heads of UN agencies in Croatia, together with staff, with the President Mesic and Deputy Prime-Minister Kosor

The UN agencies work together to draw the public and Government's attention to a number of important international issues, commemorated through World Environment Day, Refugees Day, World Health Day, World AIDS Day, Universal Children's Day, Day of Persons with Disabilities and many others. These events are frequently marked by joined events, joint programmes and fundraising or donations to worthwhile causes.

Croatia does not have a United Nations Development Assistance Framework, but the same consultative mechanism and methodology was used in developing the UNDP Country Programme Document (CPD 2007-2011). The current programme was developed in a highly consultative manner, involving all relevant line ministries, the Central State Office for Development Strategy, local authorities, civil society partners and United Nations agencies. All UNDP-supported interventions in Croatia are fully complementary with the ongoing initiatives of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF country programme document, 2007-2011), UNFPA, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Health Organization, as well as the Country Assistance Strategy of the World Bank and the EU Accession Strategy.

PHOTO: Joint advocacy of the UN Theme Group for HIV/AIDS - Candlelight Memorial on Cvjetni trg in Zagreb, 22 October 2005

Since 2001, the UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS has been the main instrument of UN coordination on HIV/AIDS in Croatia. Members of the UN Theme Group include representatives of: UNHCR, UNICEF, the World Bank, IOM and UNDP, as well as the Secretariat, which is situated at the UNDP Croatia Country Office. The primary objective of the UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS is to coordinate the efforts of the UN system in support of the national response to the epidemic led by the National AIDS Commission with the main goal of maintaining the low prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country.

The EU Accession process offers Croatia opportunities to overcome the social exclusion and economic deprivation still characteristic of war-affected areas. The UN in Croatia has come together to implement a Programme on Social Inclusion and Conflict Transformation in War Affected Areas of Croatia. The Programme is designed to be a model for other Middle Income Countries with post-conflict dynamics, and tackles the endemic social, economic and political exclusion of returnees, minorities, veterans and economically-disempowered women whose marginalization most jeopardizes peaceful coexistence and sustainable return, and risks cementing the emergence of "Two Croatias"; one relatively well off, vibrant and Euro-centric; the other home to the poor, disempowered and excluded. The Programme employs a root cause methodology that pioneers the integration of a community decision-making methodology into socio-economic recovery of war-affected areas through shared needs/interest projects.

The UN has a long experience with ad hoc courts authorized to try war crimes and other major human rights violations (such as in Rwanda, and the ICTY). In partnership with ICTY, UNDP implements a project developing witness and victim support in the Croatian judiciary. The project creates a system of support to witnesses in courts handling major crime cases including those involving corruption, organized crime and murder and war crimes trials, i.e. in cases where extensive witness testimony is paramount. This work also improves public awareness of the rights of victims and witnesses. The UN Mine Action Service, UNDP Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery and UNDP Croatia have been long-time collaborators in supporting Croatia's mine action capacity and it's commitments to demining and mine victims assistance under the Ottawa Convention. As CROMAC graduates from international assistance dependency and demonstrates strong capacity and results, the UN is now supporting it's initiatives to start exporting it's technical assistance, know-how and Croatian manufactured equipment utilized for demining and security operations around the world.

As a signatory state of the Cluster Munitions Convention, signed by Croatia in December 2008, the UN represented by the Country Team is now moving forward to support the country in the safe destruction of all stockpiled munitions, stockpile-management and other arms control-related issues.

Two further joint UN programmes are in the design stage:

- "Reversing the Trend: Removing Barriers to Private Sector Contribution to Inclusive Development" (UNDP, UNIDO and UNESCO) aims to redefine the scope of private sector engagement in inclusive development by creating an enabling legislative and regulatory framework for the private sector to invest, grow and support socially and environmentally-sound jobs and

- "Enabling a fair start: Improving the health and nutrition of Roma children and women in Croatia" (UNICEF and UNDP), built around an innovative and proven communication and facilitation model that connects the Roma population in their communities with the health and social services they require.

The National Human Development Report (NHDR), is prepared by UNDP in Croatia every two years, and contains contributions from other UN agencies. While the 2006 report involved inputs by UNHCR and UNICEF, in the process of preparing the 2008 NHDR on the topic of socio-economic impact of Climate Change in Croatia, the UNDP Environmental governance team collaborated with UNEP, UNFCC and WHO.

PHOTO: Marking of UN 60th anniversary by UN staff in Croatia - construction of wooden container for recycling in the Medvednica Nature Park, 23 October 2005

In close cooperation with the World Bank, EC and other major multilateral and bilateral donors, UNDP will continue to advocate for, and support, greater donor and aid coordination by the Government of Croatia. Collaboration with other UN agencies in Croatia is crucial and will continue, particularly with UNICEF, ICTY, WHO, IOM and UNHCR. As appropriate, UNDP will support coordination events, joint strategy meetings and annual reviews, and this collaboration is expanding to involve joint projects, collective action and joint monitoring and evaluation activities and collective advocacy.