ZAGREB, April 1 (Hina) - Croatian Ombudsman Ante Klaric on Tuesday rebutted claims from a report by the U.S. State Department about the human rights situation in Croatia last year. The report notes that national minorities in Croatia,
particularly Serbs and the Romany, are faced with serious discrimination.
ZAGREB, April 1 (Hina) - Croatian Ombudsman Ante Klaric on Tuesday
rebutted claims from a report by the U.S. State Department about the
human rights situation in Croatia last year. The report notes that
national minorities in Croatia, particularly Serbs and the Romany,
are faced with serious discrimination. #L#
"I must reject the assessment that Croatia as a state and the
Croatian people have xenophobic impulses and that xenophobia, as a
general state of mind, rules in Croatia," Klaric told Zagreb's Nova
TV.
He added that isolated incidents could not be described as a general
atmosphere, but as individual cases which happen everywhere in the
world.
Estimating that the Romany in Croatia were the most protected
minority with the most rights, Klaric said that "the relationship
towards the Romany is not only a state issue, but also an issue of
the population".
He explained that some of the Romany's problems, such as education
or obtaining citizenship, mirrored the fact that part of that
minority was "constantly on the move, which is why they cannot be
registered".
Commenting on criticism by the State Department on Croatia's
cooperation with the Hague-based U.N. war crimes tribunal, Klaric
said the cooperation "is being conducted normally".
He added that the government was cooperating with the tribunal in
the case of General Janko Bobetko, but was using all benefits
stipulated by the tribunal's statute and the constitutional law on
cooperation with the tribunal.
Regarding criticisms that war crimes proceedings conducted against
some Serbs were politicised and that courts convicted people in
absence en masse, Klaric said that all those convicted in absence
had the right to a retrial once they became available to the
authorities, in accordance with Croatian law.
Klaric described the criticism about the Supreme Court confirming
such verdicts as meddling into the legal system of a country, a
system which was compatible with those of other European
countries.
"Nobody from the Council of Europe or the European community has
ever reproached us in that sense," Klaric said.
The State Department's report on human rights in the world issued on
Tuesday noted Croatia was a country which had achieved progress,
but still faced serious problems in the field.
The report cites problems regarding war crimes trials against
Croats, discrimination against national minorities, Serbs and the
Romany, and regression in cooperation with the international war
crimes tribunal.
(hina) lml