Certain unofficial sources lead us to believe that the implementation of the new Ombudsperson Law, drawn up by the work group appointed by the Ministry of Justice, will result in terminating the Office of the Gender Equality Ombudsperson. CESI, an independent feminist organization, has worked hard and cooperated with other women's organizations in order to fight sexual discrimination. Through our actions and influence, we have already managed to instigate various legal mechanism and programs aimed at preventing sexual discrimination. Therefore, we at CESI are strongly opposed to terminating the Office of the Gender Equality Ombudsperson, and bringing sex/gender issues under the overall jurisdiction of the Public Attorney. We fear that the termination of the post of Gender Equality Ombudsperson would lead to a decline in the level of protection from gender and sexual discrimination.

As a result of the merging the two Offices (i.e. that of the Gender Equality Ombudsperson and that of the Public Attorney), legal focus would no longer be on gender and sexual discrimination. Furthermore, this would put an end to what has so far been a successful practice in solving cases and actively fighting discrimination.

We at CESI do not believe that the merger of the two Offices would lead to better law enforcement or implementation of equality politics. We are well aware of the need to increase the capacities of the Public Attorney's Office, but we do not think that is the issue at hand, especially since this need has already been recognized during negotiations on Chapter 23.

Furthermore, the problem of insufficient human, material and financial resources the Public Attorney's Office is facing will not be solved in this way. On the contrary, it will only lead to more problems. The merger would mean more work for the Public Attorney, and this could easily have a negative effect on the level of protection for various minority groups. If the real issue here is money, then we must say it is absolutely appalling that once again, "women" are the injured party. We find it absurd that the Office of the Gender Equality Ombudsperson should be terminated, when gender equality presents one of the fundamental values of the constitutional order of the Republic of Croatia.

Ever since it has been founded, the European Union pointed to gender equality as one the main driving forces behind its social policy. Therefore, numerous specialized institutions aimed at protecting and promoting gender equality, as well fighting against various forms of discrimination, have been established. We should also bear in mind that, during the negotiation process to close Chapter 19, the European Commission insisted on further development and enforcement of the Office of the Gender Equality Ombudsperson. This step presents a mockery of these terms.

Also, let us not forget that the work of the Office of the Gender Equality Ombudsperson is one of the few things commended by the UN´s Commission for Ending Discrimination Against Women (abbr. CEDAW). We believe that consultations with representatives of women's organizations should have taken place prior to the drawing up of the Ombudsman law. We demand a public discussion on the draft of the new Ombudsman legislation. Also, we demand that the principles of the Code of Practice on consultation with the interested public in procedures of adopting laws, other regulations and acts, be implemented accordingly.

This course of action points to a lack of political will to achieve gender equality, as well as a complete neglect of the facts pointing to the present lack of equality in Croatia. There is a clear horizontal and vertical segregation between men and women at the labor market: the majority of the unemployed and the underpaid are women; women get promoted less often; they are often exposed to some form of harassment in their work place; unlike men, women who are employed are still expected to fulfill their familial and domestic obligations.

Women are underrepresented in bodies of legislative and executive power. The degree of women's participation in bodies of local and regional government declines according to the government level: from county level (21.4%), to city (20.7%) and district (12.2%) which is the lowest. Furthermore, the country is still facing numerous problems concerning violence against women, and women's reproductive health, while portrayals of women in the media are often stereotypical. Some of the more burning women's issues include: gathering and presenting gender-related information in court procedures, membership in supervisory and management boards of public firms, and the problems of women in ethnic groups.

We demand that necessary steps be taken to prevent the termination of the Office of the Gender Equality Ombudsperson.