Open letter to Čović: BiH should help protect women in Croatia – human life has no price

Saša Magazinović, MP in the House of Representatives of BiH Parliament, sent an open letter to Dragan Čović, Chairman of the BiH Presidency, regarding how BiH should help protect women in Croatia – human life has no price.

- I believe you are following the situation in neighboring and friendly Republic of Croatia, concerning the problems with the ratification of the Istanbul Convention – the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. As you know, Bosnia and Herzegovina ratified this Convention 4 years ago, and our institutions have taken very important steps in this area, and I believe that in the spirit of good neighborly and friendly relations, we are obliged to provide expert and technical assistance to the Republic of Croatia to help them find an internal consensus that will lead to the ratification of this extremely important Convention.

As a member of the Commission for the Achievement of Gender Equality of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, and a member of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, I was deeply shaken by the images of protests where citizens of the Republic of Croatia demanded that the ratification of the Convention be a step forward towards the protection of girls and women, in the way it was done in Bosnia and Herzegovina 4 years ago.

The resistance of certain circles in Croatian society, as well as the misunderstanding and fear of implementing the Convention, is incredible and astonishing. I believe that we, who have successfully and without problems gone through the ratification process, should provide support to our neighbors to catch up with European standards in the protection of human rights. The mere fact that over 300 women in Croatia have been killed due to domestic violence in the past 10 years obliges us to do so.

Therefore, I ask you to use the regular and frequent communication of the BiH Presidency, and especially you personally with the state leadership of the Republic of Croatia, to discuss this topic and concretely help them. It is our obligation to embrace the citizens of the Republic of Croatia in this sensitive moment for Croatian society and show through our example that it can be better. I believe that your message to the Government of the Republic of Croatia, the Parliament, and the President that they should hear the voice of the vulnerable, but also the voice of the protesters, and start addressing the problems of Croatian citizens instead of dealing with global issues and problems in the region, would have a great effect and benefit for both the country and the citizens of our neighboring country.

It is superfluous to comment on the ideological and religious arguments for rejecting this Convention. It is enough to look at the list of countries that have already completed ratification, and it will be clear that such arguments do not hold. I recently heard opposition due to the "high cost of implementing the Convention" in Croatia, and also in Ukraine, where I worked with the Council of Europe team advocating for greater state engagement in combating domestic violence, including through the ratification and implementation of the Istanbul Convention. The governments of Ukraine and Croatia must understand that human life has no price. I believe that such a message on behalf of the BiH Presidency and in your personal name would be helpful.

I propose that you agree with political partners in power on a package of technical and expert support for the Republic of Croatia, and assign the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees of BiH and the Agency for Gender Equality of BiH, taking into account their work results, to lead these activities. I am sure that the institutions of the Republic of Croatia, as well as the Croatian people, will be grateful for this engagement.

I believe that the Bosnian-Herzegovinian representative in the Croatian Parliament, Dr. Božo Ljubić, who chaired the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament when the Istanbul Convention was ratified and voted "yes" with us, can also provide great assistance. I remind you that the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament, which you led, also ratified the Convention at that time, and unanimously.

Finally, the President of Croatia has spoken on several occasions about the need for the emancipation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and offered assistance in that regard. Now that a kind of emancipation of a part of Croatian society is needed, neither you nor the other two members of the Presidency have the right not to help our neighbors make a step forward in the fight against violence against women and domestic violence, the biggest since 1979, when the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women came into force – the letter states.