SARAJEVO DIFFICULT - HELSINKI COMMITTEE SARAJEVO, June 25 (Hina) - The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia-Herzegovina warned on Wednesday about a feeling of uneasiness and insecurity among the majority of Sarajevo's Croat
population, saying that Bosnian Croats view the capital as increasingly less their own.
SARAJEVO, June 25 (Hina) - The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
in Bosnia-Herzegovina warned on Wednesday about a feeling of
uneasiness and insecurity among the majority of Sarajevo's Croat
population, saying that Bosnian Croats view the capital as
increasingly less their own. #L#
In a document entitled "Multiethnicity and Multireligiousness
under Attack", delivered to Hina in Sarajevo, the Helsinki
Committee says it decided to probe into complaints about recent
incidents against the Croat population, especially following
warnings by Cardinal Vinko Puljic to Paddy Ashdown, the
international High Representative in the country, the throwing of
stones at St. Ante's Church on Easter, and provocation to which the
Catholic School Centre in Sarajevo has been exposed.
Committee representatives held talks with representatives of
Bosnian Croat political parties, the Catholic Church, cultural and
educational institutions, and Sarajevo police. Part of them
assessed as primarily unfavourable the constitutional status of
Croats in Bosnia, including in Sarajevo, because one people, they
said, had been given special status. This was in reference to the
Bosnian Serb entity and the fact that Croats in the Federation were
viewed as less equal than Muslims.
The position of Croats in Sarajevo was evaluated as typical for
members of a minority people, regardless of which part of Bosnia
they live in, the direct result of this being the Muslims' wish to
completely dominate the capital.
Croats are insufficiently represented in Sarajevo Canton
authorities. Sarajevo is the home to about 20,000 Croats, which is
one-third of the pre-war figure. Croats make up for less than three
percent of the entire staff in all public companies in the capital.
A Croat is the director of only one such institution -- a veterinary
clinic.
Owing to slim chances of finding employment, Croats are leaving the
Bosnian capital in droves, while families prefer to send their
children to school outside the city.
The poor standing of Croats in Bosnia is also due to the intolerant
policy of national parties, the Helsinki Committee says. Another
aggravating circumstance is the lack of dialogue among religious
communities, and where it does exist, the interlocutors are not
priests who are in direct contact with the people. The media are a
problem apart. Searching for sensations, they contribute to
poisoning the overall climate.
Intolerance is also typical of the school system, particularly in
the language policy and history teaching.
Police and the justice system in Sarajevo Canton are insufficiently
determined in punishing ethnically-motivated assaults and
vandalism. Police complain courts are slow and indecisive in
processing charges files for such crimes.
For the reasons outlined above, the Helsinki Committee for Human
Rights in Bosnia-Herzegovina has decided to publicly recommend
that political parties distance themselves from any form of
violence, condemn the language of hatred, and protect ethnic
minorities.
State authorities have been recommended to set up a commission for
truth and reconciliation as soon as possible, and religious
communities to start dialogue on interreligious relations and
promote interreligious tolerance.
The media have been recommended to abide by rules of professional
journalism, and police and the judiciary to enforce the law
strictly and indiscriminately.
(hina) ha sb