The Status of Women in Croatia

The primary objective is to provide telephone advise to women about their rights and advise as to methods to protect and act on their these rights. A second objective is to educate women and provide information on how to represent themselves and obtain further information from relevant sources such as state institutions, womenĘs groups and human rights organizations.

B.a.B.e. also provides lists of women lawyers who are skilled in dealing with womenĘs legal issues. For women who are unable to pay, Legaline offers some free legal representation.B.a.B.e. has contacted all women attorneys in Zagreb and twenty percent of them have agreed, in the case of need to represent women free of charge or to represent them for a reduced fee. This is an encouraging number , given that there are no womenĘs initiatives within the profession. The women attorneys are developing a network of lawyers who are prepared to devote their attention to womenĘs legal and human rights cases.

A further objective of the Legaline project is to review and identify the deficiencies in Croatian laws as they relate to women by examining the telephone calls made by women to the Legaline. On the basis of problems complained of, the B.a.B.e. team can evaluate the limitations of the Croatian legal system and advocate for changes which would protect and promote women rights.

REPORT ON TELEPHONE CALLS TO LEGALINE:

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Since its initiation, Legaline has received approximately 500 phonecalls per year. In most cases women inquire with several questions. During the first six months of Legaline's operation, the majority of the telephone calls from women related to violence they were subjected to, most often by their partner. The violence was generally within the context of a joint household and hidden from the publi c eye. None of the calls were related to the work place. In almost all cases the violence was over a prolonged period, some as long as 15 to 20 years. All women reported verbal abuse in the form of insults, cursing, shouting, threats, often escalating into physical assaults which in some cases resulted in the infliction of serious bodily harm. Few of the women had reported the violence before to a nyone in authority and many had never spoken of it to anyone.

When asked why they had not reported the violence to the police, to the courts, to their doctor or social service center, most women indicated that they were afraid. They were afraid that the perpetuator would become more violent, they were afraid they may be killed, they were also ashamed that they had been victimized and finally they did not trust the institutions to deal with the problem. Tho se that had reported violence complaints to the police were not taken seriously. Officers did not want to intervene because it was a private matter between spouses. The police did not want to respond to the complaint until something happens.

The police, when they did receive a complaint, often did not inform the relevant bodies. And, when a charge was finally brought, it was brought before the Court for minor offenses which fined both the victim and assailant for disturbing the public peace and order.Women rarely report violence to the District Attorney. The reasons they cite for this are as follows: the ineffectiveness of the prolo nged and often exhausting judicial proceedings, their lack of belief that anything positive change will flow from the exercise. Compounding this problem is the apparent lack of understanding that the judicial system - both from the perspective of the judges and the lawyers have for the issue of violence against women.

For similar reasons women rarely report to social services. Women do not feel that social workers are trained to deal with violence against women and they do not have the tools or mechanisms in place to protect women from violence in the home.

If women complain to anyone, it is often to a physician. Under the existing law, a physician must submit a criminal report against the perpetuator of violence. For this reason, women may not disclose how the injuries occurred. However, even when they do, many women indicated that physicians often fail to report the crime. Also, as with the other professionals mentioned above physicians demonstrate little if any sensitivity to women who suffer from domestic violence.

Finally, many women decline to institute criminal proceedings in the case of domestic violence because of the nature of the assault. It usually takes place in private where there are no witnesses. Women are fearful that they can not prove what happened - it is his word against theirs, and they will be made to look a fool or worse. If there are any witnesses normally they are his friends and they will protect him or simply refuse to testify. Many women, when asked why they did not take the matter to court will respond that their partner has good connections in the legal system and nothing would come of it.

Conclusion:

It is clear from above that the legal system consistently fails to protect women from violence. Many forms of violence against women in the home, or in public are not treated as criminal acts by the criminal code of the Republic of Croatia. For example, according to the Criminal Code it would be difficult to characterize as violence against women insulting forms of address, disdainful behavior to wards women, shouting, threats, or curses. Furthermore, stalking, telephone harassment, sexual harassment are not even contemplated as criminal. Forbidding women to leave their homes, communicate with friends or relatives, expression of dissatisfaction by threats or the forbidding of women to accept employment are not acknowledged by the legislation to be violence against women.

The only crimes defined by the criminal code which can be applied to domestic violence cases are insult, assault and battery. However, the legislation prescribes a civil suit as the appropriate remedy. The costs of a civil suit are borne by the plaintiff and it is almost impossible to imagine how a civil suit could provide any fair or just resolution in the case of domestic violence. A further a nd aggravating circumstance is the exceptionally long and complex nature of the proceedings. Even in those rare cases where a woman may instigate criminal proceedings against the perpetrator, the time bar often expires prior to the finalization of the case. Added to the procedural problems is the workload of the first degree court and the absence of a separate court to deal with issues of domestic violence. The net result is a systemic failure of the judicial system to effectively address the issue of violence against women.

FAMILY LAW

Divorce

Divorce is often linked to domestic violence. The process of divorce commences with reconciliation attempt through a Social Service Centre. The reconciliation attempt is mandatory in all cases except when the parties do not have minor children, either of their own, adopted or where children of whom parental rights have been extended and the parties have agreed to a divorce. If the reconciliation a ttempt is unsuccessful, the women would file her divorce action in the court of first instance.

The divorce resolves all questions concerning the dissolution of the marriage, custody, including care and upbringing of the children, access to the children and support payments for the spouse. In deciding to initiate a divorce, women have expressed fear that their spouse may react with violence against them or their children or simply take the children away from the woman.

A further difficulty lies in the high cost of the process which in the first instance the plaintiff must pay, with little probability she will ever recover her costs. The divorce process will last on average one to two years.An abusive spouse often reacts aggressively when confronted with a divorce petition. In many cases the women with her children are forced by their husband to leave their ap artment. There is no legal mechanism to grant the woman exclusive possession of the matrimonial home pending the divorce proceedings. Women often encounter great resistance from their spouse which may include threats to the children's safety, threats to take the children away from her, allegations in court that she is an unfit mother and hence not capable to have custody of the children. A common complaint from women is the husbands who have access to the children under an access agreement with Social Service Centre is that either the children are neglected or left with his parents. The other common complaint is that the children are kept longer than was allowed for under the access agreement. Women report that even in court custody disputes which they ultimately win they are reduced to a e cannot be issued without both parties being heard in court.

The Act on Marriage and Family Relation provide that social workers should represent the interests of the children in a divorce proceeding. The Social Service Centers should provide their opinions on which parent should be granted custody and access. Women have complained that Social Service Centers lack the experience and understanding of the issues in relation to domestic violence to provide such opinions. The Centers have proposed access in cases where the father have been violent to her or the children or is suffering from serious mental illness and one case permitted access in a situation where the husband had tried to kill both himself and the child.

ALIMONY

Child support

When children are involved, the courts issue a decision on alimony in all cases. The decision is made on the basis of the child' s needs and the ability of both parents to support it. Other support obligations and additional earning opportunities are also taken into consideration. The parent who has not been given custody is obligated to pay a fixed percentage of the monthly salary as alimony. If the person concerned does not have fixed monthly income, the alimony is set to a fixed percentage of the minimum wage in the Republic of Croatia. In order to protect the child' s interests, the court is authorized to set an amount higher than the amount applied for. Usually, between 20 and 30 per cent of the salary is payable for each child, or 70 to 100 per cent of the minimum wage in the Republi c Croatia. We always recommend that women seek a fixed percentage of the minimum wage because the amount in question can be precisely determined every month. In cases in which a percentage of actual salary is awarded, there have been cases where the parent simply stops working, rendering the award worthless or cases where the parent takes a private job and reports lower earnings than actually rece

Support for a marriage partner

An award can be issued by the court during the divorce proceedings for alimony to be paid for the support of one of the marriage partners. This occurs where the partner seeking such support cannot find employment; or is not capable of working; and has no income; or has no property which could be a source of income.Women have often stayed at home to care for children and the household during the course of the marriage. When the marriage breaks down these women often find themselves working outside the home for the first time in their life. The employment that is available to them is usually low paying with the result that they have less money to contribute to a pension over a much shorter time. These women have few prospects other than poverty. The system does not recognize and compensate women for the work they had performed in the home by raising the children and maintaining the household.

Division of Property

Parallel with divorce, or after it has been finalized, there is a regular process for division of joint property. In cases where the parties cannot reach decision, either party can file a claim for the division of the property of the marriage with the court.This court process has complex probative proceedings. Namely, the matrimonial property is divided according to the contribution of each of t he parties in the attainment of joint property. The joint property of the parties comprises all the property they have attained during the marriage by work.

The process of dividing property can also be started during the marriage. It is often the case that women are forced to leave the family home when divorce proceedings are instituted. The husband may transfer joint property to hide or conceal it. In such cases, the woman can ask the court to issue a prior injunction banning the transfer of the joint property and/or to ask that her personal chatte ls be delivered to her. Both these measures are difficult to enforce due to shortcomings of the executing process (see page 7). Women are often not informed of their rights regarding joint property. Often their husbands assure them that he is sole owner since the property is in his name and he paid for it with his income. Many women may not appreciate that the law provides that all property of the marriage is joint property regardless of whose name it is in. Women are deemed to have contributed to the joint property of the marriage by caring for children and maintaining the household.

A new proposal in the Act on Marriage and Family relations envisions that the joint property of married couples shall be divided equally. It remains unclear whether it will be possible to prove entitlement to a different share.

The claim for division of the martial property is almost always submitted by the woman because women are generally forced to leave the house upon filing a divorce. In regards to the car, the practice is that the husband keeps it, as, after all the car was his anyway!.The court costs for such suits are very high, and further depend on the value of the joint property. If the woman is dissatisfi ed with the decision of the first instance, she has to pay an equally high amount for the appeal. And in this case, too, it is difficult to ensure the refunding of her costs. The legal procedure in question is very complex. Normally she would need assistance of a lawyer, which causes the costs for such cases well to exceeded the paying capabilities of most women.

Enforced Execution

In reality, after a long civil procedure women can end up with a court decision which leaves her powerless: a court orders alimony to be paid, but he refuses to pay; the joint property has been divided, but he remains in the sole possession of the property; the court issues an eviction order against him, but he remains on the property. At the end of each proceeding, the defendant has been ordered to refund the costs incurred to the plaintiff, but he pays nothing.

In such cases a process of enforced execution follows, which is set in motion at the request of the plaintiff in civil proceedings. The plaintiff now has a new role - that of a creditor. Naturally, in this process, too, all the costs are borne in advance by the creditor, and later, if the court sees justification, it will decide in her favor and order the debtor to refund them to her. If debtor does not refund the costs incurred, the court may order the debtor to pay the costs of the executive procedure. If the debtor still does not cover the costs, the women may institute yet another process of execution. And so on, ad infinitum.

Court tariffs in executive procedure are half those incurred in civil proceedings, but only at first glance. Half the tariff payable on the original claim is payable for the claim for execution, but the other half has to be paid with issue of the decision on execution which is made at the very beginning of the process. In the end the executive procedure amounts to the same costs as the civil pro cedure. The debtor in executive procedure has at his disposal almost unlimited recourses to delay, and to evade a legally effective and enforceable court verdict! He can enter objections almost interminably. He can also enter objections without any proof that he has paid out the creditor in full.

As the court in executive procedure is not authorized to discuss the facts which have arisen after issue of the civil judgment, but only in civil procedure, the debtor then has to enter a new civil procedure in order to prove facts.

The debtor has various ways to hide the property which is subject to the executive procedure, and thus outwit the court and the creditor (who knows that this is not real state of affairs, but is powerless to prove it). Such deceits can also result in discontinuation of the process.

In one case a husband threw his wife out of the house. She brought a suit against him for trespass, was successful in her claim - received judgment in her favor - and he was ordered to hand over the house keys. He did so, but in the meantime placed locks on all doors inside the house, so that she could enter only the passageway. The woman had to bring a new suit and the procedure had to be conduct ed again from the very beginning.

LABOR LAW

The sharp rise in the number of calls connected with labor law commenced after the new Labor Act came into force (January 1, 1996). Because of the privatization process and new regulations in the field of labor law, women have been experiencing less security regarding their jobs and economic situation in general.

There were a number of calls received from women employed by private employers, complaining that some of their basic rights were being denied to them, such as the right to weekly rest days and annual leave for the prescribed length. But they do not dare to do anything for fear that they will be fired. In some cases women who are employed by private employers are being paid less than was mutually agreed when they took the job in question.

Generally, practice is that women are registered at the minimum wage, so that the payroll taxes will be minimal. As a result women will be entitled to only minimum pensions. Further there is a growing trend for private employers not to register at all, and consequently their workers are left with no rights whatsoever.

A large number of calls relate to the rights arising from pregnancy and maternity leave, particularly in connection with remuneration of salary during this period, and to Mother Nurturer rights. Under the new Labor Act a woman with four of more children has status as Mother Nurturer and is entitled to certain benefits such as: salary, health and disability protection and recognition of working y ears in lieu. However, while these benefits have been enacted there are no corresponding budgetary provision of the funds to implement them.

Generally, the new Labor Act gives women -and mothers in particular- ostensibly increased protection and benefits, such as maternity leave until the child is in the third year, Mother Nurturers' salaries and job protection. In practice, however, these rights fixed by law are difficult to realize. Furthermore, such rights only make it more difficult for women to find employment and achieve economic independence. Employers do not want to employ women who will be absent from work as Mother Nurturers with the employer being left responsible for her benefits. The new Labor Act also gives employers increased authority regarding dismissal of workers. This has intimidated working women and placed real limits on their ability to object to their employer labor practices and their ability to grieve any violations of their labor rights including complaints of sexual harassment in the work place. The Labor Act makes no provision for protection of women from sexual harassment, coercion and molestation in the work place. There are also no mechanisms built into Act by which women are ensured equal opportunities in employment and professional promotion, advancement or training.

The enforcement of labor rights is in the regular court way of a suit, and labor disputes are treated in the same way as any other civil procedure, with the exception that there are no court tariffs on cases of this type.

COURT COSTS AND TARIFFS

A tariff is payable in all court procedures: civil, extra-judiciary, criminal, administrative, entry into court registers, enforced settlements proceedings, and bankruptcy and liquidation proceedings. Tariffs are payable on almost all applications to the courts: including suits and legal remedies as well as proposals for undertaking some process actions, court settlements and other actions before the courts. The Act provides the court will not hear cases for which court tariffs have not been paid.In October, 1995 the new Act on Court Tariffs drastically increased the tariffs payable. Prior to October, 1995 the lowest court tariff payable amounted to Kunas 300 (app. 90 DEM) and the highest was Kunas 450 (app. 130 DEM). This is in sharp contrast to the new tariffs which sets lowest tariff at Kunas 100 (app. 30 DEM) and the highest at Kunas 10 000 (app. 3.000 DEM).

The Act provides for exemptions from the payment of tariffs if you fall into one of the following categories: the Republic of Croatia and state authorities; persons and bodies acting with public authorization; employees and labor disputes; war invalids; the wives, children and parents of those killed defending Croatia; those missing and taken as prisoners of war; displaced persons and refugees; ho lders of social assistance entitlement cards; humanitarian organizations and organizations which are engaged in the protection of the disabled and families of those who died, and missing and/or taken prisoner during the performances of humanitarian activities; and, foreign states if contemplated by international treaties or under a condition of reciprocities.

The court may further exempt other parties from the payment of tariffs in which cases where the party's income is below a certain level determined on the basis of a certificate issued by the Tax Administration Department of the Ministry of Finance and on that declarations made by the party that neither she or her spouse own property or a motor vehicle which is less than five years old.

The system of court tariffs organized in this way puts many women in a position which they are unable to assert their rights before a court. Civil proceedings filed for the determination of the division of martial property are usually filed by women as the plaintiff. Thus it is the woman who is obliged in advance to pay the tariffs, notwithstanding she may have been thrown out of her apartment, sometimes without means of support and often with children. As these proceeding are usually relate to the division of real property and as the plaintiff claims that she is the joint owner of the real property together with her husband she is not entitled to an exemption from payment of the court tariff, because she does not fulfill the requirement of the Act that she not be the owner of real prope rty.

Furthermore, in any civil procedure or execution procedure related to property of any considerable value, the court tariff itself normally exceeds the average monthly salary of a citizen of the Republic of Croatia and almost always the monthly income of most Croatian women.

In our opinion the fact that the Act does not include exempt from payment of court tariffs, minors who take part in the proceedings and women with low income who file divorce and property claims is one the Acts' omissions and shortcomings.

The tariffs set for both private claims in criminal proceedings and for court decisions and legal remedies clearly deter women from approaching the courts and severely restricting what access women may have to the judicial system to adjudicate their claims and thereby limiting women rights to participate meaningfully within a civil and democratic society.