The IHF regularly issues annual reports on the human rights situation in a number of countries. The report on Croatia was released this week together with reports on 15 other countries, including Austria, Albania, Belgium, Canada, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Armenia. The report focuses on a number of topics ranging from freedom of expression, free media, rule of law and independence of the judiciary to freedom of religion and rights of homosexuals and asylum seekers.
"Similar to the past few years, Croatia made moderate progress in the field of human rights during 2004. In many aspects, progress was frustratingly slow, but an overall positive trend could be discerned," reads the report.
The deeply unsatisfactory situation of returnees (mostly of Serbian ethnicity) and frequent abuses against the Roma population remained major concerns, but there was increasing public readiness to react to such violations of human rights, it is stated in the report.
The parliamentary elections held in late 2003 represented a return to normal in so far as radical political groups were largely marginalized in public life. However, right-wing radical groups remained active and it appeared that the fact that some segments of the electorate were disappointed with the new government - composed of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) - worked in their favour.
The HDZ government that took up office at the end of 2003 made more explicit attempts than its predecessor to instrumentalise the media and individual journalists for political purposes. In particular, it tried to re-establish political control over the Croatian public broadcaster, HRT, the IHF said, citing cases of ministers phoning news editors and trying to exert influence on their editorial policy. These cases resulted in public protests led by NGOs and the media, the report said.
Last year saw several cases of civil society and the media successfully exerting pressure on the authorities by revealing full facts about scandals involving highly positioned officials. As a result, several officials had to resign, the IHF said, citing as an example the case of free-lance journalist Helena Puljiz, whom the Counterintelligence Agency unsuccessfully tried to blackmail into cooperating with it.
Although the country"s media legislation was reformed in 2003, it still had shortcomings, the IHF said, citing as an example legal provisions on media coverage of election candidates imposing an obligation on electronic media to give an equal amount of coverage to all election candidates. The privatisation of the television market is cited as a positive example of changes to the media legislation.
A Penal Code provision on defamation was amended so as to make it easier for journalists to defend themselves against defamation charges in court. Despite this positive development, it remains a concern that defamation continues to be criminalized, the IHF said.
The IHF regrets that serious and professional journalism was often sacrificed for sensationalist and scandalous reports and considers the low quality of journalistic work one of the main problems of the Croatian media.
The Croatian judiciary is still burdened by a large number of unsolved cases, it said, citing as a positive example courses which the Justice Ministry organised for judges and the opening of four court departments to conduct war crimes trials.
As in previous years, the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church had a strong influence on nationalist and conservative political parties regarding various political and social issues, the IHF said, adding that the legal situation of "nontraditional" religious communities remained problematic.
The social situation in the country was difficult due to a large number of unemployed persons, low maternity allowances, and the outstanding issue of the state debt to pensioners.
The process of returning property to Croatian citizens who fled to Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war remained problematic, the IHF said, adding that Croatia still lacked legislation regulating relations between property owners and tenancy holders.
The new HDZ government made efforts to establish a respectable reputation with regard to minority rights and its members repeatedly made statements in favor of tolerance and respect for ethnic diversity, which contributed to a positive societal atmosphere. However, the situation of the Serb and Roma minorities remained deplorable. Although the government had good intentions, it did not take enough concrete measures to prevent discrimination against Serbs and Roma, it is stated in the report.
Organizations promoting the rights of homosexuals received threats on an almost daily basis, the IHF said, adding that the Catholic Church repeatedly used fierce and intolerant language against homosexuals, including in media statements.
Only seven criminal charges concerning racial and other forms of discrimination were raised in the period 2001-2004, the IHF said. During the year, efforts to extol the Ustasha movement included public parades, the erection of monuments, the promotion of lyrics, and revisionist interpretations of historical events.
In mid-2004, a new law on asylum seekers was adopted. During the year, 141 requests for asylum were submitted and all requests were rejected, reads the report.