19 women killed in Croatia this year

(Patria) - The Women's Network of Croatia has presented data according to which 19 women have been killed in that country this year.

The Association believes that the Croatian Government has not provided an effective legal and strategic framework for their protection.

"The analysis of femicides in Croatia for years shows that in most cases there were previous reports of violence, threats, and patterns of control.

Women warned of danger, and institutions did not react in a timely or coordinated manner," stated the Women's Network of Croatia today.

They remind that the Croatian Government, despite the obligations from the Istanbul Convention and the new EU Directive on combating violence against women, has not provided an effective legal and strategic framework for the protection of women.

They believe that the 19 murdered women are grounds for the resignations of the Minister of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy, Marin Piletić, and the Minister of the Interior, Davor Božinović.

In the statement, they ask what is needed to adopt a strategy against all forms of violence against women that would include concrete and effective measures for violence prevention, risk assessment, adequate punishment of perpetrators, and a financial framework for their implementation, as well as the adoption of a law that would protect women from all forms of gender-based violence.

They also emphasize that, according to international standards, femicide is predictable and preventable when the system functions, and they state that solutions already exist in other countries.

The Women's Network also states that organizations working with women victims of violence have been proposing concrete prevention measures for years, which the Government, however, ignores.