EU LAW & GENDER eCLINIC

ABOUT THE PROJECT

A story of a successful lobbying action

“EU Law & Gender eClinic” is a project which is delivered as an outcome of activities introduced by the Jean Monnet Module “EU Law & Gender: Making Equality Effective” (2016-2019), at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb. The project is also a part of teaching activities of the Chair of European Public Law, University of Zagreb. The project provides clinical education and innovative simulation courses based on real-world case studies. The main goal of the EU Law & Gender eClinic includes teaching in form of live and online seminars and lectures for students, but also in form of open access online training made available to CSOs representatives and legal practitioners who can litigate in front of national courts, but have not gone through comprehensive education in EU law and gender equality or have very limited knowledge of EU equality norms. Lectures are designed as a combination of lectures and workshops with practitioners in order to improve the quality of teaching, active learning and raising awareness among students and other participants. All lectures are held by Professor Snježana Vasiljević, and workshops are enriched with guest lectures (distinguished experts such as EU and UN experts, judges, legal practitioners, academics and CSOs activists) who work with students in small discussion groups. During clinical education in last 3 years, more than 200 students participated in both live and online seminars and workshops. Students are confronted with problem situations of the sort that lawyers confront in practice; the students deal with the problem in role; the students are required to interact with others in attempts to identify and solve the problem; and, perhaps most critically, the student performance is subjected to intensive critical review. After completing EU Law and Gender eClinic program, students are trained to provide pro bono legal aid within the University of Zagreb Legal Clinic where Professor Vasiljevic serves as an academic mentor of the anti-discrimination group. In collaboration with the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, after completing the clinical education, students continue the traineeship in their institution. Some students successfuly apply for the traineeship in national or European CSOs and EU institutions. The most successful students are engaged in research projects and one of them has already been published in the Croatian Yearbook of European Law & Policy.

About us

Prof. Dr. Snjezana Vasiljevic, M. Phil (Cambridge), Ph.D (Zagreb) is EU Law Professor and the Head of EU Law and Gender eClinic at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law, Chair for European Public Law. She specialized in European law and human rights at LSE, University of Liverpool, Johannes Kepler Univarsität Linz, Columbia University, New York (2008, 2012) and UCLA (2014). She is an appointed legal expert at the Croatian Parliament and consultant of the Croatian Government in implementation of national human rights program. She also works as a national expert for the Fundamental Rights Agency and Council of Europe and lecturer of the Academy of European Law in Trier. She is the editor of three books and the author of a number of articles and chapters in books.

Meet the eClinic Team

Ana-Maria Sunko, mag.iur. currently serves as a coordinator of the EU Law & Gender eClinic. As the top student in the “EU Law & Gender” course, Ana-Maria was qualified to start her research on gender-balanced boards in the lights of the proposed Women's on Board Directive and their regulation in 2017 under the supervision of Professor Snjezana Vasiljevic. The paper was awarded a Dean’s award in July 2017. The joint research is published in the Croatian Yearbook of European Law & Policy under the title “EU Law & Gender-Balanced Boards: Making Equality Effective”. Ana-Maria is one of the students who completed her traineeship at the Office of the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality. She was the top student in the “EU Law & Gender” course.

Meet the eClinic Team

Nika Bačić Selanec, LLM (UMich) is Senior Assistant Lecturer and PhD Candidate at the University of Zagreb. She specialized EU constitutional, citizenship and migration law at Michigan Law School as Hugo Grotius Research Scholar, and at CJEU as a stagiaire in cabinets of Judge Rodin and AG Sharpston. Her publications include “Who is a ‘Spouse’ Under the Citizens’ Rights Directive? The Prospect of Mutual Recognition of Same-Sex Marriages in the EU” (ELRev 2016); while her article on Syrian refugee crisis (CYELP 2015) was awarded an Odysseus Network recognition for young researchers. Defense of her PhD entitled “A Realist Account of EU Citizenship” is scheduled for March 2019. Nika currently serves as a team management officer.

Materials delivered through the lectures include cases, commentaries, problems, and media portrayals. In order to raise awareness and knowledge of EU gender equality law, teaching and educational materials as well as live lectures in form of webinars are accessible to a broader public through the course web-site and e-learning platforms (Moodle & Edmodo), social media (Facebook page EU Law and Gender Equality eClinic) and YouTube channel.

The gender equality story in Croatia started with drafting the first Gender Equality Act which entered into force in 2003. The head of the working group for drafting the GEA was Dr. Siniša Rodin, Professor of EU Law at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law who currently serves as the Croatian judge to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Siniša Rodin, Snježana Vasiljević and Goran Selanec (currently serves as the judge at the Croatian Constitutional Court) were involved in drafting the first version of the GEA.

Roundtable “EU Law and Gender: Making Equality Effective”

The roundtable “EU Law and Gender: Making Equality Effective”, was held on 27 September 2018 at the Faculty of Law. For the purpose of better visibility and wider dissemination of knowledge, the workshop was supported by the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality and European Law Students Association (ELSA). The speakers were Višnja Ljubičić, Ombudswomen for Gender Equality, Branka Žigante Živković, judge of the Appeal Misdemeanour Court Croatia, Iris Gović Penić, judge at the County Court in Croatia and professor Snježana Vasiljević, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law.

Gender equality workshop for students and legal practitioners

In cooperation with the Association for help and education of mobbing victims, Professor Snježana Vasiljević has conducted a number of trainings and educations for students, legal professionals, civil servants and trade union representatives. Students who completed the course on EU Law and Gender can apply for the internship in the Association mobbing. Professor Vasiljević started her clinical expertise in 2010 by working as a pro bono legal advisor in the Association Mobbing providing free legal aid for victims of sexual and workplace harassment. She has been working as a trainer of trainers in this field in Serbia, FRY Macedonia and Montenegro.

Teaching materials

Same and Different: Discrimination in the EU and Croatia is the first book on gender discrimination in the EU and Croatian legal framework in the Croatian language.

Gender Equality in a Global Perspective looks to discuss whether Gender Equality can be adopted as it has been defined in international documents anywhere, or whether it needs to be adapted in a more local context.

eBook

eBook EU Law & Gender: Making Equality Effective covers issues such as: EU law and gender in global era, Gender-based violence: is the EU a passive observer? EU sexual harassment law: Where is the end of the workplace discrimination saga? Gender assessment of the refugee and migration crisis, Gender policies and gender politics: why women are invisible in the EU political life? Gender, privacy and data protection, access to goods and services.

"Woman's Story"

The Project visibility was also achieved by representation of the Project leader Professor Snježana Vasiljević in the media (newspaper and TV), increasing public awareness about major events relevant for EU law and gender topics.

Human Rights Film Festival Zagreb

in 2016, professor Snjezana Vasiljevic was in charge of incorporating the definition of multiple discrimination into the Council of Europe Guidelines on Human Rights in Culturally Diverse Societies.

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