FOREIGN MINISTRY ON CROATIA'S MEMBERSHIP IN U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

ZAGREB, May 4 (Hina) - Member-countries of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) decided with a majority vote at a session in New York on Thursday that Croatia should become a member of the United Nations' Commission for Human Rights for the period 2002-2004, the Croatian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday. The adoption of a resolution on human rights in parts of South-East Europe, which ends the mandate of UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Croatia and the country's joining the Commission for Human Rights confirms that Croatia has advanced from the status of a monitored country toward its active role in international organisations, the statement reads. The U.N. Commission for Human Rights was established in 1946 as part of the ECOSOC. The Commission holds six-week-long annual meetings in Geneva, during which it discusses human rights violations in all U.N. member-countries and new models of promotion and protection of human rights and encourages countries to respect basic human rights and freedoms. The Commission has 53 members which are elected for a period of three years, in line with regional distribution: Africa (15 countries), Asia (12 countries), Latin America and the Caribbean (11), West Europe and other Western countries (10) and East Europe (5). At its Thursday session, the ECOSOC elected Croatia one of the 53 countries of the U.N. Commission for Sustainable Development. This commission was set up to monitor progress in the implementation of Agenda 21, adopted at U.N.'s Rio de Janeiro global conference on environment and development in 1992, the statement reads. (hina) rml