Croatia Urged to Set Human Rights Example at UN

Activists and experts have called on Croatia to promote and protect human rights and freedoms at home as well as abroad after the country was elected by the UN General Assembly as a new member of the Human Rights Council last week.

In its candidacy for the role on the 47-member council, Croatia pledged in particular to protect and promote women's rights and combat gender discrimination and gender-based violence, as well as tackling hate speech, all forms of discrimination and fostering the rights of refugees and migrants.

Sandra Bencic, head of the Zagreb-based human rights NGO Centre for Peace Studies, told BIRN that these pledges "sound like something Croatia should advocate in Croatia".

"These are exactly the fields Croatia is especially weak in protecting. Regarding gender issues, our research has shown negative results according to all indicators: higher unemployment rate, the huge gender pay gap despite higher education, carrying the burden of social services at home and in the community and catastrophic political representation," Bencic said.

In terms of women's rights, Bencic pointed out that the right to an abortion is somewhat limited in practice in Croatia, even in cases of medical necessity.

Women's rights groups have criticised access to abortion in Croatia, where the majority of doctors do not carry out the procedure in public hospitals.

Amid heated public debate and numerous public protests against abortion, the country's Constitutional Court will soon hand down a decision on the 1978 law permitting abortion.

Bencic said that Croatia should enhance its reputation as a Human Rights Council member "by setting an example" at home.

Drago Zuparic Iljic of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies in...