Croatia/ 4.2 Specific policy issues and recent debates  

4.2.4 Cultural diversity and inclusion policies

There are 22 officially organised minorities in Croatia: Albanians, Austrians, Bosnians, Bulgarians, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Jews, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Poles, Roma, Romanians, Russians, Ruthenians, Slovaks, Slovenians, Serbs, Turks, Ukrainians, and Vlachs. All official minorities receive state support through the Government Office for Human Rights and National Minorities. The total population of Croatia is 4.43 million. According to the 2001 census, Croats made up 89.63% of the population and 7.47% were ethnic minorities (the remaining % did not respond to the census). The political and legal basis for the enjoyment of civic rights by representatives of national minorities is derived from the Constitution (1990, rev. 2001, 2010) and Constitutional Law on Rights of National Minorities (2002, rev. 2010). Minorities have elected their representatives in the Parliament through a special electoral unit, and currently there are 8 representatives elected according to the rules of relative majority. 

Minority cultural activities are predominantly traditional, e.g., preserving language, nurturing folk traditions, music and art, organising exhibitions, acting and reciting groups. The cultural activities of the Jewish and Italian minorities are two exceptions, for which interest in the cultural life of Croatia is more general. The cultural activities of other minorities seem to awake little interest.

The Ministry of Culture supports various programmes through the distribution of grants in all art and cultural fields. Reference libraries for national minorities are: City Library Beli Manastir (Hungarian); Public Library Daruvar (Czech); City Library "Ivan Goran Kovačić" Karlovac (Slovenian); City Library Pula (Italian); Public Library Našice (Slovak); Library "Bogdan Ogrizović" Zagreb (Albanian); Libraries of the City of Zagreb (Rutheninan and Ukranian); City and University Library Osijek (Austrian), and the Serbian Cultural Association "Prosvjeta" (Serbian). The Ministry also provides support for the establishment of the Serbian Cultural Association "Prosvjeta" and the Jewish communities in Zagreb.

Several bilateral agreements on cooperation in the field of culture and education include references to the cultural needs of national minorities and the activities of their respective associations and institutions.

In 2011 the Slovakian Cultural Centre was established in Našice (the focal city of the Slovakian minority in Croatia), according to the reciprocity principle as a similar cultural centre of the Croatian minority is already established in Slovakia.

The Ministry of Culture supports programmes proposed by national minorities based on their artistic or cultural excellence and that follow the procedure and criteria which applies for all other programmes. However, there is a special fund for supporting activities and projects by national minorities, administered by the Government's Council for National Minorities, which includes also cultural projects in the fields of arts and heritage, media, events and festivals as well as various projects promoting education, social cohesion and intercultural dialogue. The government has also adopted a National Programme for the Support of Roma activities and programmes (and an Action plan Decade for Roma Inclusion 2005-2015) which includes special provisions referring to education and cultural activities of representatives of the Roma national group.

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