President of the Republic Attends Event Marking National Day to Combat Violence against Women
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended an event marking National Day to Combat Violence against Women, which is commemorated each year in memory of three women killed in the Municipal Court of Zagreb on 22nd September 1999. “May it never happen again”, President Milanović said after laying a wreath and lighting a candle in front of the courtroom where the crime took place.
In his address President Milanović said that this crime was to some extent a result of the culture of violence that engulfed Croatia at that time. “But considering that we are a country that got out of a war a few years earlier, a real war, the culture of violence in Croatia as compared to other countries in our vicinity was somewhat under control. There weren’t as many bombs as elsewhere, there weren’t street killings, there weren’t horrible crimes like the one that was committed here”, the President stated, recalling the killing of three women in the Zagreb courthouse.
“This will be a permanent stain and a painful reminder of what could happen when rage and hatred, mostly in men, prevail”, he warned and added that the responsibility of men is crucial. “It begins in the family, where the State cannot and should not have too much control. That’s where all the nice things, all the dangerous things and all the bad things are learned. And in school”, the President added, and noted that he sees the difference in the upbringing, especially of boys, in Croatia. “In relation to my time, when other rules and other codes of conduct existed, and today when violence in and around the school is watched and analyzed very closely. That’s good! We’re not quite where we were and things are getting better”, he noted.
“In any case, in this man’s world we have to teach boys when they are still small that problems are not solved by force and fists and that they should channel their rage and energy in an acceptable way, if possible in a less offensive way and certainly not violently”, President Milanović concluded.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta