ZAGREB, March 31 (Hina) - The Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) has become a non-governmental organisation which is recognised and considered important in the development of civilian society, said HHO president Zarko Puhovski at a
ceremony marking the organisation's tenth anniversary.
ZAGREB, March 31 (Hina) - The Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) has
become a non-governmental organisation which is recognised and
considered important in the development of civilian society, said
HHO president Zarko Puhovski at a ceremony marking the
organisation's tenth anniversary. #L#
In his address, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic pointed to the
important and irreplaceable role of the HHO in the protection of
human rights and the development of democracy and civil society in
Croatia in the past ten years.
The same stands were voiced in a letter sent to the participants of
the ceremony by Prime Minister Ivica Racan.
Puhovski said 16,272 citizens had sought protection by the HHO in
the past ten years, of which some 25% received it.
Puhovski explained such a small success rate with the fact that
citizens had turned to the organisation in moments of desperation
when they could get no protection anywhere else.
He slammed the incumbent government for not having replaced the
"old incompetent administrative apparatus which allegedly dealt
with human rights, but in reality sabotaged attempts to protect
human rights".
Bozidar Novak, one of the founders of the HHO, recalled that the HHO
had been the first to collect and publish all documents about the
International Criminal Court and had regularly informed the
Croatian government about violations of human rights during the
Homeland War.
"Had the authorities paid more attention to those reports, we would
have less problems with the Hague tribunal today," Novak said.
Numerous representatives of the executive and the legislative
authority and the judiciary were present at the celebration at the
National and University Library in Zagreb.
(hina) lml sb