"Soon after taking office, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader made a series of policy statements intended to signal a new willingness on the part of the traditionally nationalistic HDZ to undertake necessary human rights reforms. The government"s limited progress to date, however, has resurrected concerns among HDZ"s key interlocutors - including the Serb members of the Parliament who support the HDZ minority government and the chief prosecutor of the ICTY-about whether it can deliver on its promises," reads the report's section on Croatia.
Regarding refugee returns, the report says that "between 300,000 and 350,000 Croatian Serbs left their homes during the 1991-95 war in Croatia, mostly for Serbia and Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. By August 2004, the government had registered 112,162 Serb returnees."
The HRW believes that one of reasons for the slow process of the return was that there was no tangible progress on the issue of lost tenancy rights in socially-owned property. "Croatian authorities terminated the tenancy rights of tens of thousands of Serb families after they fled their apartments during and after the war. In June 2003, the Croatian cabinet adopted a set of measures to enable former tenancy rights holders in Zagreb and other big cities to rent or purchase government-built apartments at below-market rates. In August 2004 the government admitted that the implementation of the scheme had yet to begin."
"A July 2004 decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on tenancy rights in Croatia may limit future progress in restoring Serb tenancy rights. In the Blecic case, the ECtHR upheld Croatian court decisions terminating the tenancy rights of a woman who had left Zadar shortly before the outbreak of hostilities in 1991 and had not returned to her apartment within the six-month period specified by Croatian law at the time."
The HRW also criticises local authorities and the public sector of discriminating against Serb returnees in employment.
The HRW, whose main offices are in New York, commends Croatia for reconstructing damaged or destroyed Serb homes at a satisfactory pace. "In March 2004, the government also extended, until end-September, the deadline for submission of reconstruction claims for those who missed the original 2001 deadline." The process of repossession of houses is also near completion.
Commenting on war crimes trials, the HRW has found fault with Croatia over local courts being biased. "While the prosecution of individuals responsible for atrocities against ethnic Serbs made little progress, trials against ethnic Serbs accused of war crimes continued throughout the country," the report read.
The HRW also criticises the authorities of insufficient cooperation with the ICTY. "The government"s willingness to provide documentary evidence to the ICTY and its efforts to persuade ethnic Croat indictees to surrender to the tribunal were overshadowed by its failure to hand over Ante Gotovina, a Croatian Army general indicted for 1995 crimes against Croatian Serbs."
Citing elements from the European Partnership document on Croatia's preparations for its admission into the European Union, the HRW said that priorities for Croatia also " implementation of the Constitutional Law on National Minorities, enhanced freedom of expression and non-interference in the media, improved government cooperation with the human rights ombudsman, and full cooperation with the ICTY".
The HRW annual report covers the situation in over 60 countries in 2004.