Their demand was backed by outgoing President Ivo Josipovic, who said at a campaign rally in Zagreb that he had been advocating ratification of the convention for a long time but that unfortunately it had not happened. He said that this was a task for all politicians, stressing that institutions of the state must respond to "any sign of violence".
The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, entered into force on August 1, 2014 and is binding on all the states that have ratified it.
The Centre for Women's Studies, one of the organisers of the campaign in Croatia, said that, according to UN statistics, one billion women worldwide experience violence. It said that the focus of this year's campaign was on insufficient institutional support for combating violence, and called for ratification of the convention.
UN statistics show that one in four women experience some kind of violence during their life, especially after they turn 16, said the Centre's coordinator, Rada Boric. She said that the situation in Croatia was not different, adding that 33 women in Croatia had been killed in violence over the last ten years.
The campaign is being held in over 200 countries worldwide, with activists "rising, protesting and dancing for justice". In Croatia, it is being held in Rijeka, Krizevci, Koprivnica, Cakovec, Bjelovar, Pula, Zadar, Split, Osijek and Slavonski Brod. Organisers said that more and more towns were joining the campaign every year.