Croatia has taken steps to stop domestic violence against women, but more should be done to address other forms of gender-based violence, reads a report evaluating the country’s efforts in implementing the Istanbul Convention, released on Wednesday.

The Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) has published its first baseline evaluation report evaluating Croatia’s efforts in implementing the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention.

GREVIO analysed information obtained from the authorities and various organisations during a five-day evaluation visit to the country in October 2022.

Croatia signed the Convention on 22 January 2013 and the national parliament ratified the document on 13 April 2018.

GREVIO’s report praises “many Croatian initiatives, past and present”. These include the National Strategy for Protection against Domestic Violence, the National Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality and the National Plan for the Suppression of Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment.

GREVIO says these steps demonstrate the “commitment to incorporate gender equality and the combating of violence against women into the national policy framework.”

GREVIO also welcomes the introduction of a consent-based definition of rape in the Croatian Criminal Code and amendments enacted in 2021 that criminalise image-based abuse and introduced the ex officio prosecution of sexual violence offences, which were previously prosecuted only at the request of the victim.

On the other hand, GREVIO raises issues where improvement is needed to reach higher levels of compliance with Istanbul Convention requirements.

Prejudices and patriarchal attitudes in the criminal justice system

The report furthermore stresses a need to understand the “gendered nature” of all forms of violence against women, underscoring “prejudices and patriarchal attitudes” that still seem to prevail in the criminal justice system, often leading to the qualification of serious incidents of violence as misdemeanours rather than criminal offences, which also results in less dissuasive sanctions.

GREVIO is “concerned” about the absence of comprehensive policies to address other forms of violence against women such as stalking, female genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriage, or forced sterilisation and forced abortion.

The independent group of experts monitoring the situation also raised the issue of an insufficient number of shelters.

“The 25 shelters operating in Croatia provide a total of 346 beds, meaning that Croatia currently falls short of the target of one family place per 10,000 head of population.  Furthermore, due to staff shortages, shelters struggle to provide psychological and psycho-social support to victims, and in-house legal support is becoming less and less available. Another “major concern” is that most existing shelters lack conditions to accommodate women with disabilities, women with addictions and women in need of special medical care,” read the report.

GREVIO also notes the lack of systematic and mandatory training of professionals in social welfare and healthcare systems.

The group  also calls on the Croatian authorities to pay better attention to children who have witnessed or experienced domestic violence, as judges do not always consider violence by one parent against another as a reason to restrict the abuser’s right of access to their child.

The report recommends Incorporating risk-assessment procedures in the determination of custody and visitation rights to determine the best interests of the child.

GREVIO also urges the country to ensure stable, sustainable funding for NGOs working to prevent violence and support victim, set up rape crisis centres and/or sexual violence referral centres, and introduce emergency barring orders in the legislative framework to ensure that in situations of immediate danger measures to ensure the victim’s and her children’s safety can be taken without undue delay, including by removing the perpetrator from the shared residence.