ZAGREB, January 5, 2019 – The Truth about the Istanbul Convention civil society organisation on Friday submitted an appeal to the Constitutional Court, proposing the revocation of the entire procedure of inspecting signatures collected for a referendum initiative to abrogate the Istanbul Convention's ratification in parliament and that a new signatures inspection be carried out by the State Election Commission in the presence of the NGO's observers.

A representative of the NGO, Kristina Pavlović, told a news conference, held outside the Constitutional Court on Friday, that the Public Administration Ministry and the APIS agency applied "bureaucratic formalism" while inspecting the signatures collected for the purpose of a referendum to declare invalid as many signatures as possible.

The NGO has called on the parliament to entrust the State Electoral Commission to conduct an independent check of the signatures and allow its observers to be present during the check.

According to the ministry's data, the Truth about the Istanbul Convention civil initiative submitted 390,916 signatures for its referendum petition, of which 345,942 were valid and 44,974 invalid. A total of 374,740 signatures are required to call a referendum.

Pavlović said more than 33,000 signatures have been declared invalid due to illegible handwriting.

More news on the referendum initiatives can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, November 28, 2018 - The Croatian Chamber of Pharmacists' Ethics and Deontology Commission has decided that a Zagreb pharmacist who refused to issue birth control pills to a patient did not violate the Chamber's code of ethics on contraceptives, Hina learned from sources at the Chamber on Wednesday.

In making the decision on the issue, the chamber invoked an article of its code of ethics which says that a pharmacist has the right to conscientious objection if by doing so, they do not endanger the patient's health and life.

That chamber said that it respected patients' right to be given a medicine and pharmacists' right to conscientious objection and wanted to remind its members of the importance of organising work in pharmacies in such a way to provide all patients with medicines and advice on their use.

Even though in the last five years conscientious objection was cited only two times as the reason for non-issuance of medicines in the pharmacy network, which has 1,187 pharmacies, steps should be taken to make sure that in such rare and isolated cases, patients are not denied the service of issuing a medicine, the chamber said.

Health Minister Milan Kujundžić recently commented on the case, describing it as unacceptable. He said that any patient has the right to obtain a medicine for which they have a prescription in any pharmacy and that a pharmacist "has the right to conscientious objection but not in their workplace."

Chamber president Ana Soldo said that the Chamber's Commission of Ethics was the highest body that can decide on such cases.

"They have made a decision that is in line with our code of ethics and I have nothing to add to that," she said, according to Hina.

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ZAGREB, November 27, 2018 - The Truth about the Istanbul Convention referendum initiative and civil society organisation (CSO) was expected on Monday to inspect signatures collected for a referendum initiative to revoke the convention's ratification in parliament, but it refused to do so claiming that only a partial check of the signatures could be possible under the conditions they were offered.

A representative of the CSO, Kristina Pavlović, said that they had been given the opportunity to check the signatures in the APIS agency that conducted the initial check of the signatures' authenticity and declared 44,974 as invalid, only one month after the results were released by the Public Administration Ministry.

Pavlović said that it was only at a three-hour meeting at APIS that the they were informed of the conditions under which they could check the invalid signatures, namely they were not allowed to use biro pens to make notes nor to photocopy material which, she said, was the only way for the organisation to compare it with its own data to see whether anything had been added to the petition lists after they were handed over to the parliament.

She said this was important since in the few months that elapsed from when the boxes containing the petition lists were transferred from the parliament to the APIS premises, a discrepancy occurred in the number of petition lists in several boxes.

Pavlović said they were also informed that they could not check the signatures that were assessed to be illegible, adding that APIS' conditions for the inspection did not enable a proper check.

She concluded that it was obvious that the government was not interested in proper transparency. "The government is acting like a second-hand car dealer that only shows the exterior of the car and doesn't want to show the interior or the motor or its service booklet," Pavlović said.

The CSO has called on the parliament to entrust the State Electoral Commission to conduct an independent check of the signatures and allow its observers to be present during the check.

According to the ministry's data, the Truth about the Istanbul Convention civil initiative submitted 390,916 signatures for its referendum petition, of which 345,942 were valid and 44,974 invalid. A total of 374,740 signatures are required to call a referendum.

Pavlović said that the CSO had asked the ministry, but without receiving any reply, to specify how many of 33,500 signatures, which is the majority of the allegedly invalid signatures, were assessed to be illegible and how many were amended. She explained that the same handwriting on petition lists can be attributed to volunteers entering the name and surname of signatories to facilitate the signature collection procedure because of the huge interest of citizens.

For more on referendum initiatives in Croatia, click here.

A pharmacy in the Jordanovac neighbourhood in Zagreb has recently refused to issue a women contraceptive pills, invoking the right to conscientious objection, reports Faktograf.hr on November 16, 2018.

“The pharmacist has refused to issue a gynaecologically prescribed contraceptive pill that I use because of a menstrual bleeding issue, as well as a method of contraception. She invoked the conscientious objection principle because she does ‘not support the use of contraceptive pills as a contraceptive method.’ She was the only one working at the pharmacy and there was no one else who could issue me the pills. The employee said I should come in the morning when she is not there. How can she decide this? First, it was the gynaecologists, now the pharmacists, where it will all end?” asked the woman.

Sandra Čelina, the owner of the pharmacy, confirmed that the controversial incident had occurred. “Of course I know about this, I am the head of the pharmacy. It happened because the other employee was sick, but I do not have to answer anything to you,” said Čelina, adding that she had sent her statement to the Croatian Chamber of Pharmacists.

The Chamber said they had received two complaints this month. These two are the only complaints this year. “In the period from January 1 to November 12, one complaint was received concerning an invocation of the conscientious objection by a pharmacist. We are currently in the process of resolving the case before the competent Ethics and Deontology Commission. In addition, we have received a query which does not make it clear whether the drug was not issued due to the conscientious objection or for some other reason in line with the rules (expert opinion that the medicine could endanger the patient’s health, improper medical records, threat or violent behaviour of a patient),” said the Croatian Chamber of Pharmacists.

The conscientious objection by pharmacy employees is defined by the Code of Pharmacy Ethics and Deontology. According to the third paragraph of Article 12, “pharmacists have the right to the conscientious objection only if it does not endanger the health and life of the patient.”

Višnja Ljubičić, the Gender Equality Ombudsperson, noted that the right to conscientious objection was individual. In cases where a worker or a pharmacist in a pharmacy invoke conscientious objection, pharmacies are “obliged to organize their operations in such a way that the use of the right to conscientious objection does not interfere with the work of the health institution or the pharmacy as a whole, which would prevent the provision of specific services.”

Since in the last week’s case the pharmacy in question did not reorganise its work, the gender equality ombudsperson says that the code of pharmacy ethics and deontology has been violated.

“In this particular case, if a pharmacy as an institution as a whole is unable to issue a medicine due to the conscientious objection of its employees, I consider this to be a threat to the user’s health,” concluded Ljubičić.

For more on the conservative movement in Croatia, click here.

Translated from Faktograf.hr (reported by Ana Brakus).

 ZAGREB, November 10, 2018 - A survey conducted regarding non-working Sundays shows that Croatia is the worse EU member state when it comes to work-life balance, with 90% of Croatians supporting introducing Sunday as a non-working day, a conference called "The Culture of (Non)Working Sundays" was told in Zagreb on Friday.

The conference, organised by the European Sunday Alliance with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, underscored that it is open to dialogue in an effort to achieve a solution that will protect workers without encroaching on the interests of employers and tipping the balance in society.

50% of employees in Croatia in 'red zone'

Croatian MEP Marijana Petir presented the results of a survey conducted by the MediaNet agency which indicate that in Croatia, 50% of respondents are employed in the "red zone," that is, they work overtime, and that Croatia is at the very top of the ranking according to Eurostat with regard to working on Sundays.

"Surveys indicate that Croatia ranks last when it comes to work-life balance, scoring only 3.7 on the score level. At the same time, the Netherlands has the highest score that amounts to 6.6 and that 90% of Croatians support introducing Sunday as a non-working day," Petir said.

She recalled that the Retail Act had been amended twice, yet the Constitutional Court quashed both rulings due to objections by retail chains.

Turnover higher on Fridays, 50% lower on Sundays

Despite claims by individual retail chains that their highest turnover is on Sundays and if stores were to be closed on Sundays they would suffer significant losses and would have to fire workers, the Tax Administration's data, however, shows a different picture - turnover is the highest on Fridays and is 50% lower on Sundays compared to Fridays, Petir underscored.

"That is why it is important to launch a dialogue in order to achieve a solution that won't cause a rift again but that we will have a solution that will be at the service of workers without encroaching on the interests of employers," she said.

Petir said that there is no EU regulation concerning weekend work and that that was up to each member state. She called on the government "to ensure a free Sunday for all employees, especially for those working in stores and retail."

The director of the Franciscan Institute for the Culture of Peace, Božo Vuleta, claimed that Sunday and holiday retail trading doesn't have a positive impact on general economic activities but that it does adversely impact the quality of life for individuals, families and society, affecting health, demographic trends, migration, social cohesion and so on.

For more on the conservative movement in Croatia, click here.

ZAGREB, October 31, 2018 - Public Administration Minister Lovro Kuščević said on Wednesday about 130 citizens and four or five associations had applied to see the invalid signatures collected for two referendum petitions but that the People Decide initiative was not among them, adding that this initiative did not care about truth and objectivity, but about the basest politicking.

Speaking on Croatian Radio, he said the government, in order to respond to unjustified attacks on the verification of the signatures collected, had invited citizens, initiatives, and associations to apply to see all the signatures declared invalid. He recalled that there were 40,000 invalid signatures for each referendum question.

Kuščević said about 130 citizens and four or five associations had applied to see the signatures, including the GONG election monitoring NGO and the Croatian Helsinki Committee on Human Rights. "To me, that was a big surprise and disappointment and proof that the People Decide initiative has a purely petty-political approach in pressuring the public," the minister said, adding that this initiative, although the loudest, did not have the morals to apply to see the irregularities that he said were committed during the signature collection.

The People Decide collected signatures for a referendum to change the election system.

Kuščević said the organisers of the other referendum petition, to rescind the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, had applied to see the invalid signatures. He said that perhaps members of the People Decide had applied to see the signatures as individuals but not as an initiative. "This shows how much they manipulate the people who signed the petition and how much they manipulate the public, how much they don't care about the truth, objectivity, but about the basest politicking."

Kuščević said the procedure of allowing access to the invalid signatures would be defined in a few days.

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ZAGREB, October 22, 2018 - The People Decide civil initiative on Sunday called for an independent review of the signatures it had collected in a campaign for a referendum on changing the election system, saying that it suspects manipulation of the signature check that showed last week that not enough signatures had been collected for the referendum petition's two questions on the election system.

ZAGREB, October 17, 2018 - Public Administration Minister Lovro Kuščević said on Wednesday that none of the two referendum initiatives managed to collect the required number of signatures for the petitions for their referenda: one on changing the election legislation and the second on the abrogation of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.

ZAGREB, October 13, 2018 - A protest rally initiated by Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava slightly over a month ago because of discontent with the work of state institutions in prosecuting war crimes started in that eastern town on Saturday afternoon.

ZAGREB, October 12, 2018 - Activists of the civil initiative "The Truth about the Istanbul Convention" insisted on Thursday that they had enough signatures for a referendum to invalidate the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, saying that they would fight with all means available to prove that they had enough signatures, in contrast to media reports claiming the contrary.