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Article 1(1)(a) and (b) of the Convention. Anti-discrimination legislation. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of the Anti-Discrimination Act on 9 July 2008 (Official Gazette 85/08), which defines and prohibits direct and indirect discrimination “in all its manifestations” (sections 2 and 9(1)), both in the private and in the public sectors. The Act provides protection against discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic affiliation or colour, gender, language, religion, political or other belief, national or social origin, property, trade union membership, education, social status, marital or family status, age, health condition, disability, genetic heritage, native identity, expression or sexual orientation (section 1), thus covering all the grounds enumerated in Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention as well as a number of additional grounds pursuant to Article 1(1)(b). With regard to the grounds of pregnancy and maternity, the Committee notes that the new Labour Act, adopted in December 2009, prohibits an employer from refusing to employ and from dismissing a pregnant woman (section 67(1)) and the Gender Equality Act of 15 July 2008 (Official Gazette 82/08) provides that “less favourable treatment of women for reasons of pregnancy and maternity shall be deemed to be discrimination”. The Gender Equality Act also prohibits discrimination in relation to “balance between professional and private life” (section 13(1)(6)).

The Committee notes that the Anti-Discrimination Act creates a category of “more serious forms of discrimination” which includes multiple discrimination and repeated and continued discrimination, and provides that such elements should be taken into account by the courts when determining the compensation for the victim and the fine for the perpetrator. The Committee notes further that this Act covers, inter alia, work and working conditions; access to self-employment and occupation, including selection criteria, recruitment and promotion conditions; access to all types of vocational guidance, vocational training, professional improvement and retraining; education; and social security, including social welfare, pension and health insurance and unemployment insurance (section 8). The Labour Act also prohibits explicitly direct and indirect discrimination “in the field of labour and labour conditions, which includes selection criteria, employment and promotion requirements, vocational guidance and training, additional training and retraining” (section 5(4)).

The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the legal and practical measures taken or envisaged to implement the relevant anti‑discrimination provisions of the Labour Act, the Anti-Discrimination Act and the Gender Equality Act with regard to equal opportunities and treatment in employment and occupation. It further asks the Government to indicate the manner in which the provisions regarding the most serious forms of discrimination are being applied in practice.

Articles 2 and 3. Gender equality in employment and occupation. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of the new Gender Equality Act on 15 July 2008. The Act provides for sanctions – fines from 1,000 to 1 million Croatian kuna (HRK) – in case of violation of its substantive anti-discrimination provisions (sections 31–38). It also provides for the adoption of action plans for promoting and ensuring gender equality on the basis of an analysis of the status of men and women every four years (section 11(2)) and specifies that all employers, whether public or private, shall “incorporate anti-discrimination provisions and measures with a view to achieving gender equality in their acts” (section 11(5)). Furthermore, according to this Act, social partners shall, in the course of collective bargaining and in collective agreements, comply with the provisions of the Act and measures aimed at ensuring gender equality (section 11(6)). The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the implementation of section 11 of the Gender Equality Act, including on any action plans adopted and implemented and on measures taken by public and private employers to ensure gender equality and their impact on the employment of men and women.

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the measures taken with a view to strengthening women’s entrepreneurship within the framework of the National Policy for the Promotion of Gender Equality 2006–10. It further notes that statistics published by the Central Bureau of Statistics in 2010 show that the Croatian labour market is highly gender segregated. In 2008, men represented more that 70 per cent of the workers in agriculture, forestry and fishing, mining and quarrying, manufacturing, energy and supply, construction, transportation, and more than 55 per cent in public administration, whereas women represented more of 70 per cent of the workers in education, health and social services, and financial and insurance activities. In this respect the Committee welcomes the repeal of the Ordinance on jobs not permitted for women (Official Gazette 44/96) further to the entry into force of the new Labour Act on 1 January 2010 and the absence in this new Act of a general provision on jobs which women must not perform, unlike in the former Labour Act in its section 63(1). As regards the nature of jobs performed by women, the Committee notes that, according to the Government’s report, despite the lack of official statistics, unofficial data show that there are only 6 per cent of women in managerial positions in the private sector. While encouraging the Government to pursue and strengthen its efforts to support women’s entrepreneurship, the Committee asks the Government to take measures to address effectively the horizontal and vertical occupational segregation between men and women in the labour market, including measures aimed at promoting women’s access to a wider range of jobs and providing them with a wider choice of educational and vocational opportunities. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the measures taken to that end, including measures taken to improve the access of women to posts of responsibility and management positions, both in the private and the public sectors, and their impact. As regards the public sector, the Committee requests the Government to provide more specific information on the number and proportion of female civil servants and civil service employees in posts of responsibility.

Equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation of the Roma. The Committee notes the measures taken in 2007 and 2008, pursuant to the National Programme for the Roma/Action Plan for the Decade of Roma Inclusion, relating to the employment and training of persons belonging to the Roma national minority. The Committee welcomes in particular the production and dissemination of a leaflet, both in Croatian and in Roma language, explaining the rights and obligations of unemployed persons and providing guidelines on job search. The Committee notes that the Croatian Employment Service implemented special programmes, which included an education component, in which 436 persons participated (2007–08). The Committee further notes that according to the data provided in the Government’s report at the end of 2008, 4,390 members of the Roma community were registered with the Employment Service. The Committee estimates that this number does not reflect the total number of unemployed persons of the Roma minority – the total Roma population being estimated by the authorities to be between 30,000 and 40,000 persons. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the main obstacle for the members of the Roma minority to access employment is their low level of education. In this respect, in its report following his visit to Croatia in April 2010 (CommDH(2010)20, 17 June 2010), the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe called upon the authorities to eliminate any tendency of segregation of Roma pupils and to reinforce their pre-school education in order to increase the currently extremely low percentage of Roma pupils who have completed elementary school education. He also encouraged the adoption of targeted professional training measures. The Committee can only but emphasize the importance of education and vocational training to improve future access to the labour market and asks the Government to take all the necessary measures to ensure equal access to education, including pre-school education, for Roma children, without discrimination. The Committee further asks the Government to strengthen its efforts to promote employment opportunities and to ensure equal treatment of the Roma in employment and occupation, including by adopting specific measures concerning the employment of Roma women. Please also provide specific information on the work of the Commission for the Monitoring of the Implementation of the National Programme for Roma with respect to non-discrimination in employment and occupation, as well as any available recent statistics on the number of men and women from the Roma community in the labour market, in particular the estimated levels of employment, unemployment and self-employment.

Article 3(d). Access of minorities to employment under the control of a national authority. In the absence of a reply by the Government on this matter, the Committee reiterates its requests for information on the following:

(i)    the efforts made by the Government to promote and ensure access by members of national minorities to public employment in the framework of the Civil Service Employment Plan;

(ii)   the progress made in achieving recruitment targets concerning minorities; and

(iii)  the current ethnic and gender composition of the civil service.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.