At the initiative of Grozd and some other civil organisations, Collection is Croatia last Sunday 7/12 was a big success:
Over 1500 places were opened for signature last Sunday not only in front of Catholic churches (90% of Croatians are Catholics) but also in front of orthodox churches, Christian reformed Calvinists, Pentecostal and evangelical churches, Serb orthodox churches and Macedonian orthodox churches, as well as Muslim mosks. The Jewish community Beth Israel also supported this initiative. The President of Justicia and Pax Croatia, Bishop Kosic, said "we have now a 30 years old law on abortion (inaugurated during communist time when Croatia was part of Yugoslavia) but since, politicians have not done anything to change this law. In the meantime, science has improved and we know more about the life of the unborn child. Human rights are not good in Croatia and they are jeopardized". The Great Mufti of Croatia Sevko Omerbasic launched the appeal also saying that Human rights in Croatia are jeopardized most of the time in this very moment. He asked all Muslims to sign the petition.
60 organisations are currently supporting the initiative. Some opposition movement protested verbally saying that this initiative was manipulating and misinterpreting the Universal Declaration on Human rights because this initiative was attacking women's right to abortion and homosexual's right to marriage. Parent's movements, which are very strong in Croatia, discredited this affirmation because they clearly showed that such a right is not part neither of Croatian law nor of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Parent's movements and minority groups which do not like value system of most Croatian citizens and try therefore to separate parents from school teaching, had strong discussion: Parent's movements are upholding "parent's prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children", including in school, according to Article 26 of the UDHR.
As there was not enough availability to sign, it has been decided that the collection will go on next Sunday.