Social Democrat MPs called on the government to secure more permanent funding for domestic violence shelters on Thursday. They also demand that the finally presents a national strategy for achieving gender equality.

“(Prime Minister Andrej) Plenkovic seems to have forgotten that slightly more than two years since the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, we still do not have domestic violence shelters in all of Croatia’s regions, which is an obligation inscribed in the Convention,” MP Sabina Glasovac (SDP) told a news conference.

Out of six new shelters that the government had pledged to open by the end of 2019, only one materialized, she added.

“There are no counseling centres for women who are survivors of domestic violence either. Although penalties for domestic violence have been made more strict, due to insufficient education courts still continue delivering the most lenient sentences (allowed by law) regardless of whether they rule on domestic violence classified as a misdemeanor or a criminal offence,” Glasovac warned.

She went on to say that the government had turned to EU funding to finance shelters, noting that the problem with that type of financing is that the program lasts only three years, so there is no guarantee there will be funding for their continued operation in three years’ time.

“It is true that a toll-free helpline has been introduced for victims of domestic violence, but not enough is being done to help victims in the context of increased violence during the coronavirus crisis,” she said, adding that “there was also no progress in school education about domestic violence.”

“We expect the government to secure systematic financing for shelters to help people who work with victims of domestic violence. I also call on the government to finally put forward a national gender equality policy as Croatia has not had one since 2015, which bears witness to the government and PM Plenkovic’s attitude to women in Croatia and their problems,” said Glasovac.

A few days ago, during a ceremony of awarding a 11.7 million kuna grant from the European Social Fund for the establishment of a safe house for victims of domestic violence in Dubrovnik, PM Plenkovic said that domestic violence “is a serious problem of Croatian society”.

“We have 25 shelters with 346 beds for domestic violence victims. Unfortunately, half of their capacity is occupied, which means that this is a significant problem. We must do our best to eradicate it,” Plenkovic said.