ZAGREB, July 3 (Hina) - The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Croatia on Thursday condemned a discriminatory decision barring a Croatian Serb boy in Vukovar from playing at a soccer tournament on
the basis of his national origins.
ZAGREB, July 3 (Hina) - The Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Croatia on Thursday
condemned a discriminatory decision barring a Croatian Serb boy in
Vukovar from playing at a soccer tournament on the basis of his
national origins. #L#
The decision to bar the 14 year-old boy was made by the tournament's
organising committee with the support of some local war veterans'
associations.
The spokesman for the OSCE Mission to Croatia, Alessandro
Fracassetti, said the incident was unacceptable and went against
reconciliation efforts and inter-ethnic tolerance.
"Discrimination in all forms is unacceptable in an open,
multiethnic society. Children above all should be protected from
these types of incidents," said Fracassetti.
He added that the incident highlighted the need for "full
enforcement of the Constitutional Law on National Minorities
(Article 2), specifically prohibiting discrimination on the
grounds of sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or
other opinion, national or social origin, association with a
national minority, property and birth or other status".
Fracasseti reminded that anti-discrimination provisions were also
enshrined in the Croatian Constitution and that Croatia last
February ratified an anti-discrimination protocol to the European
Convention on Human Rights.
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, Prime Minister Ivica Racan,
Croatian Football Federation president Vlatko Markovic as well as
the leaders of several war veterans' associations have also
condemned the episode in Vukovar.
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