Croatia was supposed to submit a report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 2009, but did so only in 2013. The government was late an entire reporting period in submitting the report, and nongovernmental organisations were not consulted during the preparation of the report even though that was recommended by the Committee, activists of the Women's Network told a press conference.
The Network submitted a shadow report to the CEDAW Committee, and representatives of the Network recently presented it to the CEDAW Committee in Geneva. Members of the CEDAW Committee raised a series of questions concerning women's rights in Croatia, and a government delegation, led by the Head of the Office for Gender Equality, Helena Stimac-Radin, did not answer a single question, the activists said.
The members of the Committee highlighted the negative influence of the Church, the inefficiency of the existing mechanisms, namely legislation on gender equality and discrimination prevention, and the poor implementation of special measures to counter discrimination against women.
As for political participation of women, the Committee members expressed concern over the introduction of preferential voting because it nullified the effect of election slate quotas, said Sanja Juras of the Kontra NGO promoting lesbian rights. They particularly raised the problem of legislation relating to cases of discrimination and violence against lesbians, noting that the police are not protecting victims but are acting in favour of perpetrators, she added.
Bojana Genov of the Women's Network said that the Committee expressed concern about the small number of sexual education classes in schools, access to contraceptives, and the fact that hospitals in Croatia do not perform abortions at women's request.