ZAGREB, March 21, 2018 – The cabinet of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković that will convene on Thursday is expected to put forward a bill to the parliament on ratifying the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) and an accompanying interpretive statement.
The statement is likely to underscore that Croatia considers that the aim of the convention is to protect women against all forms of violence and to combat domestic violence. Also, the statement is about the compliance of the Istanbul Convention with the Croatian Constitution and provisions on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms and says that there is no obligation of introducing gender ideology or redefining the Constitution’s definition of marriage as a union of a man and a woman.
On Tuesday evening, a large majority of the HDZ presidency was supportive of PM Plenković and the planned ratification, and on Wednesday, junior partners in the ruling coalition joined in the support.
On the other hand, activists who oppose the convention have announced a protest rally in Zagreb for Saturday against the document which was endorsed by the Council of Europe on 11 May 2011 in Istanbul and which has so far been ratified by 24 members of the 47 Council of Europe member-states. Of the 28 members in the European Union, 14 have ratified the convention to date.
