Full Coverage: Croatia

31.05.2006 Dusica Radojcic from Zelena Istra environmental NGO reports for Alert that in international conference will be held in Portoroz, Sloveni, on June 5-6, 2006. The conference, Strategy for Sustainable Development of the Adriatic is organized by the Slovenian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Urban Planning, in cooperation with UNEP/MAP INFO/RAC.

29.05.2006 The Ecotopia Biketour the best known global caravan of its type. It includes activists – primarily youth – from many countries of Europe and the world. This year, for the second time in its 16 years of history, the project includes Croatia. After its start in Lithuania, the Biketour will proceed through Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia and is expected to arrive to Croatia in September 2006.

26.05.2006 The Transparency International Croatia hosts the First European Anti-Corruption Conference of Transparency International that started today on Brioni Islands. The conference, which will be closed on May 28, gathers representatives of national branches of TI from Europe and Central Asia, as well as numerous representatives of the public administration bodies of the Republic of Croatia.

25.05.2006 Yesterday, in Zagreb, the Centre for Peace Studies organized a round-table discussion on the draft-Law on Security and Intelligence System of the Republic of Croatia. The draft has already passed the first reading at the Sabor (Croatian parliament), and the text is now in the process of preparation for the second reading. CMS estimates that there are several disputable points and, yet, there was not wider public debate on the proposal.

24.05.2006 On the occasion of the Second International Day of Fight Against Homophobia, the Kontra lesbian group organized (Zagreb, May 20), a round table discussion on the topic Violence Against LGBT Population: Challenges Faced by LGBT Community and Croatian Society and Overview of Situation in the Region. The European House Zagreb gathered LGBT activists from Croatia, B&H, Slovenia and Serbia, with the aim to attract the public attention to the problem of homophobia in our societies and present the efforts of activists to create safe space for sexual and gender minorities in the unsafe environment.

24.05.2006 Last wednesday, May 17, the Central State Bureau for e-Croatia published, on the occasion of the International Day of Information Society, the results of the Study of Online Availability of Public Services for 2005.

19.05.2006 Zelena Akcija environmental association opens a job competition for the position of Administrative Assistant. The Deadline for Application expires on May 25, 2006.

17.05.2006 Last week, "Vecernji list" daily published an article on the recently arrested suspects of several armed robberies and brutal murders, which gives an interesting view of the motives of their brutality. The suspects are, namely, all HIV positive, a fact which, according to the daily, makes them insensitive to humanity and the value of human life, because of their iminent death. Such a comment provoked strong reaction from the Croatian Association for HIV (CAHIV).

16.05.2006 The European Commission opened a public call for application of projects under its PHARE 2005 Multi-beneficiary Programme on "Small Projects Programme". Deadline for application of projects expires on July 7, 2006.

15.05.2006 The National Foundation for Development of Civil Society, GONG, USAID, European Centre for Nonprofit Law and AED, in cooperation with the Central State Administrative Bureau, organized a gathering last Monday, May 8, to discuss the topic "Croatian Foundation Legal System: Do we need new Law on Foundations?" If the gathering was to answer that question, the answer would, undoubtedly, be yes.

15.05.2006 Last Wednesday, May 10, 2006, Transparency International Croatia organized a round-table discussion in Zagreb, to discuss the topic of “Financing of Political Parties and Election Campaigns”.

12.05.2006 The 4th Congress of the European Greens Party, held last weekend in Helsinki, adopted two resolutions giving full support to the efforts of Eko Kvarner association regarding the construction of LNG terminal in Omisalj, as well as the activities of Zelena Istra’s activities to prevent the construction of golf courses in Istria.

10.05.2006 The amendments that introduce the term «hate crime» in Croatian Criminal Code, proposed by the Legal Team of Iskorak and Kontra Associations, were adopted by the Sabor (Croatian parliament) Committee for Human and National Minority Rights at its session of yesterday, May 9, 2006. The amendments were adopted by a majority of votes, while the Committee Members from the Croatian Democratic Union abstained from voting.

10.05.2006 The Ars Aevi Centre for Contemporary Arts from Sarajevo and the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) presented, last Monday, May 8, the series of appeal poster “Identify!” (Srebrenica: Podrinje Identification Project) in Dubrovnik, at the facilities of the Otok Gallery, ran by the Lazareti Art Workshop. The posters were created by the Ideology Creative Team from Sarajevo.

09.05.2006 The Working Group charged with the preparation of negotiations with the EU on the Environmental Chapter, upon a proposal by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, will include three representatives of Croatian environmental associations: Jagoda Munic from Zelena Akcija (Zagreb), Ljiljanka Mitos Svoboda from Osjecki Zeleni (Osijek) and Ljiljana Prebanda from the Sunce (Split).

08.05.2006 According to “Vjesnik” daily of Friday, May 5, all 9895 students accommodated in the student dormitories in Osijek, Rijeka, Split, Varazdin, Zadar and Zagreb will have internet access in their dorm rooms, starting at the beginning of new academic year 2006/07.

05.05.2006 The Gender Equality Office of the Government of Croatia open a competition for funding for associations that work in the area of gender equality. Associations will be able to apply projects that contribute to finding solutions for problems in the area of gender equality. The projects should be implemented by February 28, 2007, at the latest.

05.05.2006 Osjecki Zeleni environmental association sent an open letter to the Administration of the Osijek-Baranja District and the City of Osijek, and accused them of refusal to implement the Law on Access to Information and that apply the principle of “adminstrative silence” to violate the basic right of the citizens to participate in decision-making on issues related to environmental policies and activities for improved quality of living on local, regional and national level.

05.05.2006 A debate on the topic War Crimes Trials in the Context of the Need to Face the Past is scheduled to take place on May 16, 2006, at Osijek’s Centre for Peace, Non-Violence and Human Rights (Zupanijska Street 7). The occastion will be used to present the new issue of the “Kultura mira” (Culture of Peace) magazine, completely dedicated to the subject of war crimes trials.