ZAGREB ZAGREB, June 20 (Hina) - A two-day round-table debate on tenancy rights of refugees and returnees began in Zagreb on Friday.
ZAGREB, June 20 (Hina) - A two-day round-table debate on tenancy
rights of refugees and returnees began in Zagreb on Friday. #L#
The debate is attended by representatives of the OSCE, the UNHCR,
embassies of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia-Montenegro, Croatian
justice and reconstruction ministries, as well as non-governmental
organisations from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia-Montenegro, and
Croatia.
Axel Jaenicke of the OSCE Mission to Croatia hailed a Croatian
government decision to provide housing for refugees, former
tenancy rights holders, and stressed the organisation's final
assessment of the programme would depend on the results of its
implementation.
The OSCE Mission believes that even though the programme provides
housing to former tenancy rights holders, there are still numerous
open legal issues, Jaenicke said.
He stressed the Mission applauded Prime Minister Ivica Racan's
public call on all refugees to return to Croatia because, Jaenicke
said, a firm pledge from the political leadership was important for
refugees to have the necessary guarantees in making decisions to
return.
Speaking about tenancy rights in Bosnia, the president of the Tuzla
Citizens' Forum, Vehid Sehic, said the issue had almost been fully
solved in the country since it was a responsibility of the
international high representative whose decisions were binding and
always implemented.
Sehic said there were 42,000 Serbs in Bosnia who had fled Croatia
and could not get alternate accommodation in Bosnia.
Attorney Ankica Gorkic spoke about tenancy rights in Croatian
legislation. She said that from the standpoint of international
law, due to how people had been stripped of tenancy rights, one
could speak of violations of the right to a home, fair trials,
efficient legal means before domestic courts and the rights and
freedoms without discrimination on any basis.
An official of the Serb Democratic Forum from Belgrade, Dusko
Ecimovic, said he "cannot support Croatian government's symbolic
changes aimed at alleviating pressures on Croatia". He added the
tone of Racan's invitation to returnees was unacceptable for the
SDF because it sounded like Croatia was giving something to Serb
returnees.
According to Ecimovic, refugees are not asking for anything that
does not belong to them, but rather what does belong to them, not
more or less than what Croatian citizens already have in terms of
tenancy rights.
He explained that meant the restitution of flats on which people had
tenancy rights until December 31, 1990, as well as their
participation in the privatisation of said flats under the same
criteria enjoyed by other Croatians.
This rights must not be restricted or made conditional upon
ownership of other property in areas of the ex-Yugoslavia, or
permanent residence in Croatia, he said.
(hina) lml