ZAGREB, April 8, 2019 - The association "Domino" has published Croatian translations of two picture books that deal with the topic of same-sex families by American author Lawrence Schimel, who writes both in Spanish and English, and instead of a classical book launch, it will organise two workshops on different types of families and the importance of LGBTQ literature for children.

The two picture books depict everyday situations from the lives of children and their pets in same-sex families.

The picture books, entitled "Pronto por la manana" (Rano ujutro, Early in the Morning) and "No es hora de jugar" (Ovo nije vrijeme za igru, It's Not Playtime), were translated from Spanish into Croatian by Nikolina Židek, while the illustrations were made by Latvian author Elina Braslina.

The books will be presented at two workshops for parents and children, to be held in Zagreb's "S.S. Kranjčevic" and "Bogdan Ogrizović" libraries.

More news about human rights in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 23, 2019 - Some of the gender equality indicators in Croatia, such as the number of boys and girls enrolled in primary and secondary schools, continue to be good, however, there has been no significant progress on other indicators such as labour market equality, female entrepreneurship, the role of women in politics and business, the status of Roma women, inequalities between rural and urban areas and the inclusion of the LGBT community, shows a gender equality analysis of the World Bank.

The analysis has detected the biggest gap in the possibility to make economic earnings considering the fact that a large number of women, youth, pensioners and members of minority groups do not have access to the labour market.

The unemployment rate among women is 19% higher than unemployment among men, and women account for 57.4% of groups that lack access to the labour market, it was said at a presentation of the World Bank analysis in Zagreb.

Women in Croatia are educated successfully at all levels, including institutions of higher education, but that does not automatically mean a higher rate of their participation in the labour market.

There is a huge gender gap among workers in Croatia, shows the report, presented by a World Bank senior expert on social development, Tara Sharafudeen, and World Bank data processing expert Paul Andres Corral Rodas.

Compared to 71% of employed active men, only 61% of active women have a paying job. For women the situation changes in the course of life - initially the level of their employment is similar to men's but in time their participation in the labour market declines.

Men in Croatia earn much more than women. The average monthly pay for women accounts for around 88% of the average pay for men, and women who work earn less than men throughout their life.

The pay gap leads to a gap in pensions, which is why after leaving the labour market women face social exclusion, poverty and financial dependence on their spouse or partner.

As many as 32% of women in Croatia aged 25-64 have been inactive due to obligations related to care while only 12% of men do household chores.

Poverty among elderly women is 35% higher than poverty among elderly men, which is especially worrying considering estimates that elderly women will be making up 15% of Croatia's population by 2035.

The Roma minority is the most socially excluded minority group, and inequality starts early for Roma girls and grows stronger in time. As many as 78% of Roma girls leave school early compared to 60% of Roma boys. Only 6% of Roma girls complete secondary or a higher level of education as against 24% of Roma males. With an 82% rate for women and a 72% rate for men Croatia has Europe's second highest rate, after Spain, of Roma who are not included in the education system, labour market or some type of training. Roma women in Croatia do the least paying jobs in the entire Southeast Europe.

LGBT persons in Croatia face a high level of discrimination, violence and harassment which significantly exceeds the EU average. According to the World Bank report, in 2012, 60% of LGBT respondents said they had been victims of violence and harassment, often in public places, and more than a half said they avoid public places as they do not feel safe there. One in four respondents who had a job in the period of 12 months before the survey felt discriminated against at work in the previous year for stating their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Croatia has one of the lowest employment rates in the EU and women are much less likely to become entrepreneurs than men. Only three percent of women aged 25-29 are entrepreneurs. Older women are more inclined to start their own business and the rate is slightly higher (8.5%) in the 60-64 age group. At the same time, only 12% of households have women in the highest positions.

Gender Equality Ombudswoman Višnja Ljubičić said that society has the duty to provide equal opportunities of success to men and women because the entire society benefits from that.

More news about gender equality in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, February 8, 2019 - The Rainbow Families civil society group, which brings together same-sex couples and LGBTI individuals who have children or want to become parents, has filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court asking it to assess if the new Foster Care Act is in line with the Constitution and calling for putting an end to discrimination against same-sex couples.

The Foster Care Act, in force since January 1, is discriminatory and paradoxical because it has left out same-sex couples from the definition of foster family despite numerous comments from experts and members of the public during the process of public consultation on the law, the association's coordinator, Daniel Martinović, told a news conference.

He warned that homosexuals can adopt and become foster parents if they are single but they cannot do so if they exercise their legal right to enter a life partnership. The same goes for bisexual persons, who can become foster parents if they are married but not if they live in a life partnership, Martinović said.

He added that the Foster Care Act also regulated the right to provide foster care for adults - elderly persons and persons with mental and other disorders - but that LGBTI persons in a life partnership could not apply to provide foster care even for the elderly members of their families.

The association's attorney, Zrinka Bojanić, said that if the Constitutional Court ruled that the current law was in line with the Constitution, interested couples would file individual lawsuits with the European Court of Human Rights.

"If that court rules that their rights have been violated, Croatia will have to amend its legislation to implement the ruling. That is the way national laws are changed in situations when politicians are incapable of doing it for various reasons," said the attorney.

More news on the human rights issues in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, December 8, 2018 - The civil society association called "Rainbow Families", which brings together LGBT activists, will ask the Constitutional Court to assess if the new foster care law was in line with the Constitution, saying that the law was discriminatory against an entire population group, as it did not enable same-sex couples to be eligible to provide foster carer to children without adequate parental care.

The foster care law that has caused disputes in the ruling coalition was voted in on Friday, with 72 members of parliament voting in favour, four against and six abstaining.

MPs of the Croatian People's Party (HNS), a partner in the ruling coalition, who made their support for the bill conditional on the adoption of an amendment giving same-sex couples the right to provide foster care, abstained from the vote. Independent MPs Tomislav Saucha and Mario Habek abstained as well.

The opposition did not take part in the vote in a show of protest against the way the ruling majority functions.

MPs Dragana Jeckov and Boris Milošević of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) voted against the bill, as did Italian minority and independent MP Furio Radin, and Mirando Mrsić of the Democrats party.

Prejudices, political calculations and intolerance have prevailed, despite the appeal of over 200 Croatian scientists and experts, the NGO said in a press release, expressing hope the law would change as soon as possible.

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ZAGREB, November 25, 2018 – MOST party leader Božo Petrov said on Saturday that children are born and raised in an emotional and physical union of a man and a woman and that the parliament should take that into account when making decisions on adoption and foster care. Commenting on a bill on foster care and the possibility of giving same-sex couples right to provide foster care, Petrov said that children's interests should be above any other interests. He stressed that children raised by "substitute parents" were stigmatised and that if raised by same-sex couples, they would be stigmatised even more.

If homosexuality was generally accepted in society, there would be no need for gay parades, he added.

Petrov also commented on the decision by the Conflict of Interest Commission to launch proceedings against Prime Minister Andrej Plenković who failed to declare his relationship with Igor Pokaz at the time of his appointment as ambassador to the United Kingdom and the fact that he was the best man at Pokaz's wedding, as well as on the Commission's decision to launch proceedings against Environment and Energy Minister Tomislav Ćorić.

"I believe that an office-holder must not use their position to help people close to them get hired," Petrov said, adding that he hoped the commission would do its job at least in that case and that its decision would not be influenced by political pressure.

Petrov also said that considering the way the commission was formed, the latest case seemed to be more about power games within the ruling coalition than about a serious approach to dealing with conflict of interest.

As for current disputes in the ruling coalition, Petrov said that politics should not be about "blackmail potential".

For more on the MOST activities pn these and other issues, click here.

ZAGREB, November 24, 2018 - Ombudswomen for human rights, gender equality and children and the head of the government's Gender Equality Office on Friday welcomed a foster care bill aimed at deinstitutionalising children and adults, preventing institutionalisation and improving the quality of family foster care, but said that foster care by same-sex couples should also be allowed.

Gender equality ombudswoman Višnja Ljubičić sent her comments on the bill to its sponsor, applauding the bill, but during a public consultation she and other institutions, civil society organisations and citizens pointed out that life partners and informal life partners were left out of the definition of a foster family, her office said in a press release.

Ljubičić believes the exclusion denies those partners equal status and equal opportunities for the exercise of their rights, which is contrary to the gender equality principle. Since the Social Welfare Act speaks of accommodation in a foster family, which is not defined under said law but will be defined under the Foster Care Act, there is no reason not to include life partners and informal life partners among foster families, Ljubičić says.

She recalled that under the Life Partnership Act, a family is not composed only of married or common law couples but life partners and informal life partners as well.

Children's ombudswoman Helenca Pirnat Dragičević said the most important thing in protecting a child's best interest was to make sure that a foster family provided them with the best possible care. "It is therefore crucial to make a good evaluation of the competencies of foster parents, of their dedication and readiness to care for the child in a good and committed way. We don't doubt that same sex couples can provide a child with good care, i.e. the quality of care is not contingent on their sexual orientation," she added.

However, same sex couples still face very pronounced prejudices and sometimes extremely hostile views due to their sexual orientation, so in society we must work on preventing that, she said.

Human rights ombudswoman Lora Vidović's office told Hina they were in favour of allowing same sex life partners to be foster parents.

The head of the government's Gender Equality Office, Helena Štimac Radin, said the Office fully supported all rights of same sex couples. "Since we have the Registered Partnership Act, we in the Office believe those rights should be honoured, although said law is not in our remit," she added.

For more on the LGBT rights in Croatia, including the issue of foster care by same-sex couples, click here.

ZAGREB, November 20, 2018 - The civil society association called "Rainbow Families", which brings together LGBTIQ activists, called on Tuesday on members of the Croatian parliament to amend the final foster care bill so as to enable same-sex couples to be eligible to provide LGBT foster parenting to children without adequate parental care.

Such definition of foster carers will put Croatia in the group of developed European countries such as Germany, Spain or Ireland that treat equally all its citizens regardless of their sexual orientation, the NGO said.

On 31 October, the government sent to parliament a final bill on foster parenting, and the wording of the proposed legislation prompted the NGO to ask for enabling partners in civil partnership concluded under the life partnership legislation, to be foster carers.

The NGO says that "long-standing and extensive research has proved that there is no difference in the development of children brought up by heterosexual or same-sex couples, and therefore there are no scientific grounds to restrict same-sex couples' right to access to professional evaluation if they are fit to foster children."

The NGO finds it humiliating that the legislation enables individuals to have access to the procedure in which they can be declared fit to be foster carers, however, partners from civil partnerships seem not welcome.

The NGO says that on 6 July, the parliament refused to endorse a conclusion which would have called on the government to prepare a solution whereby partners in civil partnerships would not be discriminated against when submitting requests for foster parenting.

The NGO also points out statistical figures indicating that foster carers in Croatia are older and older.

It once again underscores that figures from the USA show that same-sex couples in that country foster children six times more than heterosexual couples, and thus present an important resource in the USA for providing care for children without appropriate care from their parents.

For more on LGBT issues in Croatia, click here.

Lord Ivar Mountbatten is the first member of the extended British royal family to enter into a same-sex marriage.

A Brazilian tourist was denied accommodation due to sexual orientation.

ZAGREB, July 4, 2018 – An association called "Rainbow Families" on Wednesday said that Croatia systematically discriminated against same-sex couples when it comes to providing foster care for children who cannot live with their own parents, although some same-sex couples have passed all psychological and social tests and fulfilled the high criteria to be assessed as suitable to foster.