Today, the Council of Europe Expert Group on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) published its baseline evaluation report on Croatia.

The report contains a comprehensive analysis of the implementation of the provisions of the Istanbul Convention in Croatia. It acknowledges the steps taken by the country to comply with the treaty and identifies areas where progress is still needed.

GREVIO highlights several positive legal and policy measures taken by Croatian authorities, which demonstrate the country’s commitment to the implementation of the Istanbul Convention. These positive developments include the adoption of a series of strategic documents to combat certain types of violence against women, and gender inequality, as well as legislative amendments with a view to improve compliance with the Istanbul Convention.

Despite these achievements, GREVIO observes a number of areas where improvement is needed. It stresses in particular the insufficient recognition of the gender dimension in policies to combat violence against women and domestic violence. The report also underlines the need for more policies and measures to support women victims of less visible forms of gender-based violence, the need for specialised services for women victims of sexual violence, the lack of specialist services catering to women experiencing intersectional forms of discrimination, and the insufficient attention paid by the justice system to the impact of domestic violence on child witnesses.
 

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  Press release