The Women's Network of Croatia has called on the government to urgently adopt the announced amendments to the Penal Code to define femicide as a gender-based crime, warning that this year alone nine women have been killed, which proves lack of an efficient policy for the prevention of violence against women.

An analysis of available data, made by independent expert Dunja Bonacci Skenderovic, shows that the perpetrators of all nine murders are men, with seven women having been killed by persons close to them, of whom five were killed by their partners, said the Women’s Network, which brings together 30 civil society organisations.

The last case happened on Friday in Velika Gorica outside Zagreb, where a 64-year-old man killed his 64-year-old wife and his 84-year-old mother, after which he committed suicide.

The Women’s Network also pointed to the case of a former head of the Pozega-Slavonia County Social Welfare Institute, who was arrested for domestic violence.

“How can we expect women to report violence to competent institutions when we are witnessing cases like these? This is yet another confirmation of a lack of an efficient policy for the prevention of violence against women and domestic violence. The victims of violence are being sent the message that they have every reason not to trust the system, which does not recognise the victim,” it warned, asking why the Penal Code has not been amended, as promised by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, to define femicide as a gender-related killing.

The Women’s Network demands the urgent adoption of amendments to the Penal Code and the implementation of 17 recommendations by the Committee of the Parties, signatories to the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, based on a report by the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), for the adoption and implementation of strategies, plans and laws for the prevention of gender-based violence and femicide.

The NGO also demands the criminalisation of any form of violence against women, noting that it is also necessary to define gender-based violence and introduce adequate mechanisms of prevention through a comprehensive national strategy.