The government unanimously adopted the resolution at its session on Thursday. Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, but with an interpretative statement that reads:
"The Republic of Croatia believes that the aim of the Convention is to protect women from all forms of violence and to prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence.
The Republic of Croatia believes that the provisions of the Convention do not contain an obligation to introduce gender ideology into the Croatian legal and educational system, nor an obligation to change the constitutional definition of marriage.
The Republic of Croatia considers that the Convention is in line with the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, especially with the provisions on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and will apply the Convention taking into account the stated provisions, principles and values of the constitutional order of the Republic of Croatia".
The government has submitted a bill to the Croatian Parliament ratifying the so-called Istanbul Convention.
"The essence of the Istanbul Convention is that the statistics we have, that the total number of murders from 2013-2017 was 195, of which 91 were the total number of murders of women. Of those 91, as many as 63 come from close people, and 46 from intimate partners," said Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.
"Ratification of the Convention will strengthen the legal, institutional and financial framework for solving the problem of violence against women and domestic violence. Stories about financial obligations of a billion kuna are not true. Taking into account the concerns of certain groups in society, those who see some dangers in the content of the Istanbul Convention, we decided to add an interpretative statement. The first sentence of the statement clearly states the essence of the convention, the second will clearly state that Croatia believes that the provisions of the convention do not contain an obligation to introduce gender ideology into the Croatian legal and educational system or a change in the constitutional definition of marriage. This is very important and significant, and we are not making this blindly, but after very detailed and precise consultations with legal experts, where we came to the conclusion that their analyses do not have the legal effects that we can hear in public debate. There is no legal obligation to recognize a third or neutral gender, no legal obligation to redefine marriage, no legal obligation to introduce content into curricula that we may consider to be inconsistent with our values, and in this way we clarify the dilemmas of those who have reservations. There are no hidden intentions. With full responsibly, I suggest that we send this law to the Parliament," explained the Prime Minister, the media reports.
