Draft:Nevenka Lastrić-Đurić

Nevenka Lastrić-Đurić was appointed State Secretary for the Ministry of the Interior[1] by the Government of the Republic of Croatia on July 17, 2024. She assumed office on August 3, 2024.

Prior to her appointment, she worked for the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Justice as the Legal Advisor for Central, Southern and Eastern Europe at the United States Embassy in Croatia. As a regional advisor, she promoted international cooperation and delivered targeted technical training and assistance to U.S. foreign law enforcement partners, prosecutors and judges in order to counter transnational criminal threats and encourage long-term institutional change. She helped direct and implement U.S. foreign policy and mission goals concerning the combatting of cybercrime and crypto-related fraud across the region. She has also published a paper in the Croatian Annual of Criminal Sciences and Practice titled ‘’The United States Approach to the Investigation and Prosecution of Cybercrime and Cryptocurrency Crime’’.

She graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb. Her master thesis was published as a scientific article in the Russian Law Journal – ‘’Legal Protection of Sexual Minorities in International Criminal Law’’. As part of the Erasmus program, she also attended Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium. For her contribution to the scholarly discussions on international human rights and strengthening the rule of law, she received an alumni scholarship from the American University in Washington D.C. and completed her postgraduate studies where she obtained her master's degree in public international law and international human rights.

Her professional career began at the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels where she worked for a Member of the EP. After Brussels, she moved to the United States where she worked for the War Crimes Research Office of the American University as a research assistant and provided legal analysis to international criminal justice mechanisms. Following this, she worked as a private law clerk to the Honorable Charles N. Brower, providing legal analysis and support in investor-state dispute settlements, including the Russian-Ukraine Bilateral Investment Treaty in connection to the annexation of Crimea.

She passed the Croatian bar exam and worked as a lawyer in private practice.

She is a member of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS), the oldest Croatian political party, as well as an alumna [2]of the Academy for Political Development (APD).

She speaks Croatian, English, and German.




References

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  1. ^ "O ministarstvu". mup.gov.hr. Retrieved 2024-10-22.
  2. ^ "Alumni : APR" (in Croatian). Retrieved 2024-10-22.