Various regulations prohibit discrimination, and the Anti-Discrimination Act (ZSD), which entered into force more than 17 years ago, has further strengthened the foundations for combating it in Croatia. However, in addition to good regulations, much more is needed to achieve the values of equality in practice: regulations, policies and institutional practices must achieve real effects in the everyday lives of people, especially those from discriminated and marginalized groups.
The Center for Peace Studies (CMS) has been advocating for the adoption and implementation of better anti-discrimination policies for almost two decades.
This report is part of these efforts. It presents the main results of an analysis of the effectiveness and impact of anti-discrimination policies in Croatia in the period from 2017 to 2024. Like the previous ones, this analysis also assesses the adequacy and effectiveness of the legal and policy framework, as well as institutional capacities for the implementation of anti-discrimination policy. Furthermore, the report also analyzes developments in relation to some specific issues: gender; sexual orientation, gender identity and expression; ethnicity, nationality and race; disability, health condition (including discrimination in the health care system) and age. In order to monitor the effects of the anti-discrimination policy, this report also deals with inequality and other forms of violation of human rights of members of the most vulnerable social groups. The analysis was created as part of the FRED project - For equality and diversity, against racism, which is financed by the European Union through the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Program (CERV). The project is implemented by CMS as the project leader in cooperation with the Ombudsman, the Center for Peace, Non-Violence and Human Rights Osijek and the Irish Network Against Racism (INAR).