At the end of 2008 the City of Zagreb donated a building for the Human Rights House in Zagreb. The House of Human Rights is established by several of the leading human rights organizations in Croatia and will provide a common space for the associations for regular activities and joint programmes.
On the international Human Rights Day the house was officially opened. Slobodan Uzelac, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Activities and Human Rights; Luka Mađerić, Head of Goverment Bureau for Human Rights; Milorad Pupovac from Parliamentary Commitee on Human Rights; Norwegian Ambassador Terje Hauge, Maria Dahle from the Human Rights House Foundation and Sanja Sarnavka greeted the audience at the opening ceremony. “We intend to develop cooperation with other Houses all over the world – Geneva, Sarajevo, London, Moscow, Vilnius, Oslo and other cities”, Sarnavka said, adding that some of the houses in the Balkans have quite a long history, like the House of Human Rights in Sarajevo, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year.
Vesna Pusić
The House of Human Rights will provide citizens with free legal advise, round-table discussions and lectures. Although all of the founders intend to keep their autonomy, they will agree on common projects based on cooperation. The importance of the project was recognized by the Government of Norway, which donated part of the funds for reconstruction of the houses and their adaptation into a functional facility for all citizens on Croatia interested in promotion and protection of human rights. The Human Rights House in Zagreb intend to be a human rights defender with special focus on freedom of expression, freedom of organization and freedom of assembly.