ZAGREB, Sept 22 (Hina) - A Deputy Prime Minister and the head of the Croatian government's gender equality commission, Zeljka Antunovic, on Saturday presented a report on the elimination of discrimination against women to
representatives of 19 non-governmental organisations.
ZAGREB, Sept 22 (Hina) - A Deputy Prime Minister and the head of the
Croatian government's gender equality commission, Zeljka
Antunovic, on Saturday presented a report on the elimination of
discrimination against women to representatives of 19 non-
governmental organisations. #L#
The commission organised a debate on the report, which covers the
period from 1994 to 2003, before it would send the document to the UN
Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women.
According to the paper, headway has been made in institutionalised
mechanisms for the protection of gender equality in the recent
years. Pertinent laws have been harmonised with European norms in
order to improve the protection of women. This has also been
achieved thanks to good cooperation between the government an
NGOs.
Participants in the debate pointed out the adoption of a gender
equality law, the appointment of ombudswoman for the gender
equality in the near future and the elaboration of a programme for
encouraging women's entrepreneurship.
One of indicators of the progress is an increase in the number of
female MPs in the parliament. After the first parliamentary
elections, only five percent of seats were occupied by women, while
now women account for 22 percent of the current MPs, Zeljka
Antunovic said.
Lovorka Marinovic from the International Migrations Organisation
voiced satisfaction with the significant improvement of the legal
protection of women and with efforts aimed at countering the white
slavery in the last 12 months.
(hina) ms