ZAGREB, June 21 (Hina) - Participants in a two-day round-table debate on problems faced by refugees and displaced persons with tenancy rights, which closed in Zagreb on Saturday, hope a recent Croatian government decision on providing
housing for refugees is but the starting point for further talks.
ZAGREB, June 21 (Hina) - Participants in a two-day round-table
debate on problems faced by refugees and displaced persons with
tenancy rights, which closed in Zagreb on Saturday, hope a recent
Croatian government decision on providing housing for refugees is
but the starting point for further talks. #L#
Most participants believe the decision is not fair and does not
motivate returns. It was conceived more as a form of social
assistance than the right to equality of all Croatian citizens, the
organiser of the event, "The Return Home" citizens' committee, said
in a statement.
Participants included representatives of the OSCE, the UNHCR, the
International Organisation for Migration, Croatia's justice and
public works ministries, the deputy ombudsman, and NGOs from
Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina (BH), and Serbia-Montenegro dealing
with issues faced by refugees and the displaced and human rights.
"In the legal sense, the Croatian government's decision does not
equate refugees with Croatian citizens who held tenancy rights, or
with persons from BH who enjoyed the same tenancy status and in the
post-war period are undergoing the same process of social
reintegration," read the statement.
It added most participants in the debate were of the opinion more
just solutions needed to be found, in a variety of forms -- from the
restitution of flats whenever possible to a fair compensation.
Unless current solutions are changed, injustices will continue and
many citizens will be irreversibly damaged in their rights, it was
concluded.
(hina) ha sb