Full Coverage: Croatia

30.03.2006 The Croatian Anti-War Campaign (ARK) and the Centre for Peace Studies will organize a round-table discussion ARK Legacy 1991-2005: How to Preserve and Present Material and Immaterial Records of the Work of the Greatest Peace Network in Croatia. The discussion will be held on Wednesday, April 12, 2006, at the National and University Library in Zagreb, from 11:00-14:00 hours.

27.03.2006 The cooperation between the environmentalist groups and the media in providing information to the public about environmental protection was the topic discussed in the workshop held on March 24 in Slavonski Brod, held by representatives of Osijek Greens, on invitation by BEUZ (Brod Environmental Association “Zemlja”).

27.03.2006 The Kulturpunkt Portal reports that the European Cultural Foundation, HIVOS and the Open Society Institute established a new fund for financing of NGOs active in the cultural sector in the Western Balkans countries.

24.03.2006 The Transparency International Croatia presented yesterday, at the Citizens’ Open School in Velika Gorica, the information it gathered on income and expenditures of parliamentary political parties in 2005. TI Croatia also presented the basic principles that should be applied to the financing of political parties and campaigns.

22.03.2006 The Eko Kvarner association believes that the decision of the Government of Croatia to establish a working group for the construction of LNG (liquid natural gas) is wise and sensible. According to Eko Kvarner, the establishment of the Working Group creates the necessary conditions for quality selection of location of the Terminal, provided that all activities of the LNG are fully transparent.

22.03.2006 GONG civil organization, together with 17 other NGOs from Central and Eastern Europe and NIS (Newly Independent States), and under the auspices of ENEMO-European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations, will participate in the monitoring mission of the Parliamentary Elections in the Ukraine.

21.03.2006 The Centre for Peace Studies, Brunkovac Online, Kutina Youth Cultural Centre(KCM), Independent Youth Kutina and Baraka in Kutina organize the marking of the International Anti-Racism and Xenophobia Week, which started on March 18 and will end on March 26, 2006.

17.03.2006 The Croatian Sabor started yesterday afternoon the debate on the Draft-Law on Registered Partnerships. The proposal was submitted to the Sabor by Sime Lucin (SDP) and Ivo Banac (independent). The Draft-Law proposes expansion of rights of same-sex unions, compared to the rights allocated by the existing legislation. The Legal Team established by Iskorak and Kontra associations came out in public and demanded that the legal discrimination of same-sex unions in Croatia is abolished.

17.03.2006 Last Tuesday, March 14, the B.a.B.e. women human rights group presented the results of the EQVIWA media project – the regional action for equal visibility. This is a two-year project that aims to initiate changes of social values and level the visibility of women in public and social space with the visibility given to men in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro.

15.03.2006 In its annual country report on the state of Human Rights in Macedonia released last Wednesday, the US Department of State observed that that there is strong evidence that Roma asylum seekers have been discriminated against in the refugee status determination procedure. Moreover, the discrimination against Roma asylum seekers reflects the general oppression of Roma in Macedonian society.

15.03.2006 A real tsunami of events was noted on March 8 this year. Glas Slavonije weekly reports that hundreds of women organized dusk-till-dawn parties at the Firefighters’ Clubs in Petrijevci and Satnica, while the women of Zmajevci treated themselves to a male stripper show. The “RUTA” women association from the island of Cres organized an exhibition of wedding dresses, while the Sabor (Croatian parliament) presented the members of the “weaker sex” with several dozens of chocolates and red roses.

15.03.2006 Slobodan Milosevic's death means the details of the U.S-led NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and the role the U.S. played in the disintegration of that country will never be scrutinized, argues Jeremy Scahill.

14.03.2006 The unstopable technological development, in addition to the positive, shows us its extremely negative aspects. The ammount of electronic waste is growing at such a rate that many international environmental groups decided to raise the alarm, inviting both manufacturers and consumers, as well as the state institutions, to take urgent measures for control of the electronic waste. The electronics industry grows exponentially. Products such as TV sets, cellular phones, computers and computer accessories, photographic cameras, printers, etc., increase their share of total ammount of communal waste.

10.03.2006 Two days ago, the Central State Office for e-Croatia, governmental office that works on computerization of state administration, organized the first meeting of the Working Group for Preparation of Policy documents related to use of open source software.

09.03.2006 Kneja Cultural Association for Coexistence with the Nature, and Duga Plus association submitted yesterday s proposal to the Administrative Department of Economic Development of Medjimurje District to adopt a decision for prohibition of growing, production and marketing of GMOs on the whole territory of the country.

08.03.2006 Last week, a delegation of the European Youth Forum visited Croatia, on invitation by the Croatian Youth Network. The visit aimed to determine the situation in youth policy in the Republic of Croatia and get introduced with the work of the CYN, as preparatory activity to the procedure for CYN's membership into the EYF. The whole accession procedure takes three years to complete.

06.03.2006 The Open Society Institute Croatia and "Family Centre" Catholic Association organized, on Wednesday, March 3, a round-table discussion on the influence that Catholic Church in Croatia has on policies and legislation in the field of reproductive and sexual health and rights. The debate used, as a starting point, the case-study "The Influence of the Catholic Church in Croatia on Reproductive and Sexual rights and Health Policies from Beginning of 2004 to March 2005”, published in the book Openness of Society: Croatia 2005.

06.03.2006 The Croatian Women Network will award, for the fourth time, the “Maja Miles” award to journalists for contribution to the field of gender equality and elimination of prejudice an stereotypes that prevent women to realize their rights and take full participation in social, economic and political affairs and processes in Croatia.

02.03.2006 The activists of EkoKvarner environmental association continue with their activities related to the problem of LNG (liquid natural gas) terminal that is to be built, according to existing plans, in Omisalj. EkoKvarner activists believe that have achieved the primary goal of the campaign to realize the right to elementary debate on the location of the terminal with the local population.

02.03.2006 Zrinjka Perusko is a senior associate researcher with the Institute for International Relations from Zagreb, where she is the head of the Department of Culture and Communication. She graduated and earned her Ph.D. at the Department of Sociology at Zagreb University School of Philosophy. During the academic year 2001/02, she was a Fulbright Visiting Professor at the Department of Communication and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington, SAD. Perusko taught Mass Media Communications, Political Sociology and Theory of Industrial Democracy, and post-graduate courses in Media and Society and American Media.