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STOP the Undemocratic Ratification of the Istanbul Convention.
Croatia is facing the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. Its contraversial parts include gender ideology and the supervisory body GREVIO, which has been given too much authority. These represent a loss of state sovereignty in a legislative, executive, and financial sense.
Please sign this petition to the Prime Minister of Croatia to ask that he STOP the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in Croatia.
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My colleague in Croatia, Ana Marija, just sent me a shocking report about the undemocratic and dangerous ratification of the Istanbul Convention in Croatia.
Please read her report below and sign this important petition. The petition asks Croatia’s Prime Minister, Andrej Plenković, to stop the ratification of the Istanbul Convention.
International pressure to sign the convention has undoubtedly played a role in Plenković’s push to sign. We must show him that there is equal international pressure to not sign the convention… especially in such an undemocratic manner!
Voting on the ratification will happen on Friday, so please sign urgently!
Sincerely,
Caroline Craddock and the entire CitizenGO team
On Friday, April 13th, the Croatian government will vote on the ratification of the Istanbul Convention (IC), the International Treaty of the Council of Europe for the Prevention and Combating of Violence against Women and Family Violence. The IC is the first international document that distinguishes gender as a “social construct,” apart from biological sex (Article 4, paragraph 3 of IC), and assumes that gender and its social dimension are two separate and unrelated realities. The IC, under the guise of fighting for the protection of women and children, imposes gender ideology on the states that have ratified it. The fact is that the ILGA (International Lesbian and Gay Alliance), the largest international LGBT organization in Europe, actively participated in the ratification of the IC, and their submission is officially listed as one of four contributors to the creation of the IC content.
Once the Convention has been ratified, the Croatian Government has no authority to influence the “Independent Body Responsible for Monitoring the Implementation of Istanbul Convention” (otherwise known as GREVIO - Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence). GREVIO is above the law and the state constitution. It is financed by state money, but the State has no supervision or influence on it. GREVIO monitors and influences government and educational politics. GREVIO also determines which NGOs to support in supervising the implementation of IC - the Government has no influence on this.
The ratification of the IC limits the role of parents in child rearing and education, introduces scientifically bogus ideas about gender ideology into the education system, and endangers freedom of religion because of its intolerance towards religious communities that think differently from gender ideology.
During a public hearing announced by the Croatian Ministry of Family and Demography, it was revealed that 80% of civil society organizations and individuals involved were against the ratification of the IC. Despite this, the Croatian Government, headed by a Prime Minister from a supposedly the right-wing party HDZ (Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica – Croatian Democratic Community), has decided to continue with the ratification of the IC, contrary to the will of its own citizens.
The discussion of the IC within the largest Croatian party has revealed the party is truly undemocratic.
The Prime Minister has warned those who opposed ratification that they will lose their political positions. For example, after the political party secretary stated he is against ratification of the IC, he was asked to resign from his position.
The Prime Minister also stated publicly that people who are criticizing the IC don’t know how to read!
In addition, in 2016 the HDZ party stated they are against the imposition of any ideology. Presumably that also means gender ideology. Yet today, the party leaders, headed by the Prime Minister, ruthlessly impose gender ideology against the will of the voters who have put their confidence in them.
At the same time, Croatian media are portraying opponents of the ratification of the Istanbul Convention as opponents of protecting children and women from violence. The BBC has been broadcasting a protest march against the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, involving more than 50,000 people, writing that thousands of Croatians participated in the protest. They said "that polls suggest that two-thirds of Croatians support the convention". In fact, this phone survey commissioned by the Government of the Republic of Croatia involved only 606 respondents, and only 31.9% of them supported the convention in full.
At the same time, more than 50,000 Croatians went to the main square of the Croatian capital Zagreb to show their dissatisfaction with the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. More than 33,000 of them signed a CitizenGO petition seeking more effective enforcement of laws protecting women and children from violence rather than ratifying the IC.
Today there will be another protest gathering in Split, the second largest city in Croatia.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković tried to falsely assure Croatian citizens that the Government interpretation of the IC will prevent introduction of gender ideology into the education system or the financing of civil society associations. The truth is that the interpretative statement has no legal effect, nor can it prevent the arbitrary supervision of the GREVIO Commission.
The protests of numerous citizens, associations, and HDZ party members have not stopped the continued undemocratic behavior of the Croatian government. Some of the founders of the party came from the HDZ party because of Prime Minister Plenković is forcing members to accept the IC and impose gender ideology.
Please sign this petition to the Prime Minister of Croatia asking that he STOP the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in Croatia.
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