Human Rights Committee Reviews Croatia

In March and September of 2009, the Center for Reproductive Rights, together with the Center for Education, Counseling and Research (CESI), and Interights, submitted shadow letters on Croatia to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which reviewed Croatia’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights at its 97th session in October 2009. The shadow letters provide information on Croatia’s systematic failure to provide comprehensive, non-discriminatory sexual and reproductive health education in its schools. In its concluding observations on Croatia the Committee called on the country to ensure gender equality, and increase its efforts to eliminate domestic violence and gender stereotyping, including through public education campaigns.

Although the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports has taken materials with homophobic statements and non-evidence based information on the prevention of pregnancy and STIs off its list of approved text for the 2009-2010 school year as per decision of the European Committee of Social Rights, children are still learning from textbooks containing discriminatory statements and misinformation.

Read the 2009 Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee on Croatia.
Read the decision of the European Committee of Social Rights.