On October 27 a conference "Good Practices and Policies on the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Young People" took place in Zagreb. What are the good practices and policies and who and how cares for the reproductive and sexual health and rights of youth, we had the opportunity to hear from experts from Europe and the United States, the local representative from the Office of the Ombudsman for Children and the Institute for Public Health and of course, from the youth themselves.

Conference was attended by over 80 representatives of Family Centres, ministries, the Institute of Public Health, high schools, pupils' homes...

The first of the speakers was Maja Gabelica Šupljika from the Office of the Ombudsman for Children, who has, in an interesting presentation, detected all the problems and challenges facing the Office in connection with the sexual health of young people. Some of the problems are the lack of legal framework for protection from violence in teen relationships and distribution of child pornography produced by children themselves (a.k.a. adolescent sexting). Health education was also scrutinized in the discussion, namely, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports has given up from introduction of a special program in school health education that was to include sexual education

Research presented by the Office of the Ombudsman showed that sexual education is exactly what youth is lacking. The kind of education that would suit the needs of youth, where young people are subjects not objects, where the teaching is done through conversation, workshops, interaction. Education and youth advisory work with young people should involve professionals, psychologists who are not as well their teachers. The foundation for work with youth is definitely trust. Youth should be able to confide to a skilled, trustworthy person, because only on such a basis a cooperation with youth can be achieved and ensure their participation.

Trust as one of the important aspects of working with youth was also the topic of Emina Osmanagić from "Youth Friendly Centre XY" from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In addition to the principles of confidentiality, Youth Friendly Centre XY bases their work on the following principles: staff is sensitized to work with young people, there is continuous education of staff, visits to the Centre (Service) are confidential, friendly and free of charge, visits to the Centre are prearranged - no waiting or meeting with other clients, young people who visit the Centre are accepted and treated in accordance with: friendly approach, flexible term and ability to continue using the service, clinic is in the neighbourhood of other organizations, so that no one can identify where the young persons actually go to .

Most importantly, the rights of clients and the needs of health workers are respected.

Emina Osmanagić emphasized an issue that is crucial in communicating with youth and likelihood that young people will use the services they are offered. And that is the name of the centre/counselling service. In order for youth to accept the centre as a place where they can receive advice and assistance, the centre should have a "friendly", "youth friendly" and "youth" in the name. Experience has shown that young people more reluctantly turn to the centre which has a focus on "family planning" and related derivatives. Family planning, in time when they begin to engage in sexual relationships is not their priority, the centres are in fact, necessary so that they do not get in to a situation when they would be needing a "family plan" earlier than they really want it and before they are mentally, physically and emotionally ready for it.

Besides local experiences and expert views on the current conditions in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, the experiences coming from the West were especially educational.

Julie Wareing from Brook Centre from the United Kingdom presented the work of a centre that has been running for more than 50 years. Brook Centre has 18 branches throughout the UK and annually 200 000 of young people turn to them for help and / or advice. The basic principle of the Brook centres is focusing on young people and putting young people first.

To quote J. Wareing, it is literally necessary to "get under the feet" of youth, telling them "we are here for you, please contact us if you need information, if you have a problem, if you want to get educate".

It is important to talk with young people, hear what they want what are their needs. Only in this way, young people will gain confidence and want to approach the Centre.

Christina Rogala from RFSU -Sweden association for sexual education, presented the work of an organization with an emphasis on the combination of services for young people and work on advocacy for sexual and reproductive rights.

Christina Zampas from the Centre for reproductive rights in the United States spoke about the sexual education as a human right.

It was interesting to compare these two presentations. C. Rogala spoke about the experiences of the organization that operates for more than 70 years and which still has a lot of work, even in such an advanced country as Sweden, where sex education in schools is present for decades and young people have wide access to "youth friendly" services .

On the other hand, C. Zampas commented on the decision of the European Committee of Social Rights, which has, in the case of a legal suit (by CESI and Interrights, related to lack of sexual education in schools) decided that the situation in relation to sexual and reproductive health and rights of youth is not "severe enough" that it would constitute a violation of the European Social Charter.

In other words, the rate of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases is not alarming.

C. Zampas, in a non diplomatic tone addressed the decision as "shameful", effectively comparing it to the example of literacy; if there is over 90% of literate people in  a country, does that means that we need to close all the schools, because we no longer need them?

Finally the short version of what might be called the most provocative presentation at the conference.

Anka Grzywacz from the Polish branch of the international organization "Catholics for choice" presented the "Catholic guide to issues of religion and sexuality in modern times".

Presentation of the "sex-negative ideology" view that prevails in church circles was rather interesting. Official Church would prefer sex education, if at all there, to be put in the frame of abstinence, and all other related sexual activities directed to reproduction.

Real life people, Catholics do not live in that way. So, the problem usually occurs because of the discrepancies of the clerical hierarchy and the actual needs of the members of the church.

Fortunately, the Catholics worldwide live by their conscience, use contraception, masturbate, and live blessed as lesbians and gays, allow their children to receive accurate information regarding sexual health.

According to A. Grzywacz time will tell when the official church will begin to answer to the real needs of its followers in the modern age.

Until then, it seems that having "Catholics for choice" branch in Croatia would not be a bad idea?