Croatia

The development of a special antidiscrimination legal framework in Croatia began as a consequence of alignment of Croatian legislation with the acquis communautaire pursuant to duty set in Article 69 of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between Croatia and the EU. Harmonization with key EU Antidiscrimination Directives (Racial Equality Directive 2000/43/EC; Framework Directive 2000/78/EC; Gender Goods and Services Directive 2004/113/EC; and Gender Equality Directive 2006/54/EC) resulted in the adoption of the Antidiscrimination Act (ADA) in 2008, the Gender Equality Act (GEA) in 2003, and a new GEA in 2008. Besides in the ADA as lex generalis and in the GEA as lex specialis, antidiscrimination provisions can be found scattered in numerous statutes of both public and private law, such as the Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities, Same-Sex Communities Act, Same-Sex Persons Life Partnership Act, Labour Act, Act on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities, People’s Ombudsman Act, Act on Protection from Domestic Violence, Criminal Code, etc. Beyond that, protection against discrimination and guarantee of equal treatment is entrenched in the Croatian legal system and forms part of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia and of numerous international agreements ratified by it, such as the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and its Protocols. Being an EU Member State, Croatia adopts the Union’s goals and values of combating discrimination and promoting equality.