Istanbul Convention enters into force in Croatia

ZAGREB, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) — The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as Istanbul Convention, which was ratified by the Croatian Parliament in April, came into force on Monday.
Many preventive measures have been envisaged for domestic violence and for women, including staffing of professionals in centers for victims of violence.
Croatia will provide 69 million Croatian kuna (10.7 million U.S. dollars) this year for the construction of shelters for women victims of violence, and the same amount is foreseen for the next year. Now Croatia has 19 shelters for women.
In Croatia, 90 percent of violent cases against women qualify as misdemeanor offenses, and the Convention envisages changing legislation to ensure that any violence against women and domestic violence is more seriously sanctioned.
According to data from the Ministry of the Interior from 2013 to 2017, a total of 91 women were killed by their partners in Croatia.
Work on the Istanbul Convention began in 2008, and experts from Croatia participated in the final text. The Convention entered into force on Aug. 1, 2014, but has not yet been ratified by all Council of Europe member states.
Before the ratification in Croatia, there was a long debate on the text of the Istanbul Convention, and the conservative circles were accused of mentioning “gender ideology” in it. For the ratification of the Croatian Parliament, 110 deputies voted, while 30 were against and two abstained.