KARLOVAC, July 3 (Hina) - A Karlovac-based Human Rights Committee has urged establishing the liability of Reconstruction Minister Radimir Cacic and the replacement of his assistant Lovro Pejkovic over the "catastrophic performance of
the Administration for Refugees, which is headed by Pejkovic" because, the Committee says, "they are trying to keep the results of ethnic cleansing and prevent refugees from returning".
KARLOVAC, July 3 (Hina) - A Karlovac-based Human Rights Committee
has urged establishing the liability of Reconstruction Minister
Radimir Cacic and the replacement of his assistant Lovro Pejkovic
over the "catastrophic performance of the Administration for
Refugees, which is headed by Pejkovic" because, the Committee says,
"they are trying to keep the results of ethnic cleansing and prevent
refugees from returning". #L#
Reacting to the accusations, Pejkovic told Hina on Thursday the
great bulk of property restitution applications would be cleared by
the end of the year and property users accommodated.
According to Committee chairwoman Jelka Glumicic, it is illusory to
think Croatia will join the European Union in 2007 because the
incumbent government, like the previous one, is not showing "real
political will to eliminate discriminatory legal norms and
expedite the functioning of the rule-of-law". This will be the
biggest hurdle to Croatia's EU entry, she says.
The Coalition for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, of
which the Karlovac-based committee is a member, says Prime Minister
Ivica Racan's recent call on refugees to return rings untrue and not
serious because conditions for the return are non-existent.
Pejkovic said today property restitution had been virtually
resolved in Plaski. In Glina it will be cleared by the end of July
and in Petrinja by the end of August, he said.
There are still no solutions for some 20 houses in western Slavonia.
The Agency for Legal Transactions and Real Estate Management
currently has funds to clear 700 houses.
Pejkovic has no doubts the great bulk of property restitution
requests will be cleared by year's end. "The government has created
conditions to deal with the restitution of property to owners and
this is no longer a political but a financial and technical issue,
so this process won't affect the opinion of the European Union, all
the more given that the course of reconstruction and returns is
undisturbed".
According to the latest data of the Administration for the
Displaced, Returnees and Refugees, 19,255 abandoned housing units
were occupied after 1995's Operation Storm and 5,209 remain to be
returned, for which 3,347 applications have been submitted.
(hina) ha sb