GENEVA, March 23 (Hina) - Croatia is dissatisfied with the fact that United Nations have not sufficiently recognised the country's achievements in the area of human rights pushing it in a group of countries along with
Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). Croatia requests that the reached level of the development of human rights be more adequately assessed and that the country be monitored separately from Bosnia and the FRY, said Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic in Geneva on Tuesday. Addressing the 55th session of the UN Commission for Human Rights, Granic conveyed Croatia's dissatisfaction with the fact that the Croatian Government "has never received a report on evaluation" on the country's fulfilling the Special Rapporteur's recommendations, who monitors the human rights situation in Croatia on behalf of the Commission. In terms of the reached level of t
GENEVA, March 23 (Hina) - Croatia is dissatisfied with the fact that
United Nations have not sufficiently recognised the country's
achievements in the area of human rights pushing it in a group of
countries along with Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia (FRY). Croatia requests that the reached level of the
development of human rights be more adequately assessed and that
the country be monitored separately from Bosnia and the FRY, said
Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic in Geneva on Tuesday.
Addressing the 55th session of the UN Commission for Human Rights,
Granic conveyed Croatia's dissatisfaction with the fact that the
Croatian Government "has never received a report on evaluation" on
the country's fulfilling the Special Rapporteur's
recommendations, who monitors the human rights situation in
Croatia on behalf of the Commission.
In terms of the reached level of the human rights protection,
Croatia could in no way be lumped together with Bosnia-Herzegovina
and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatian Minister said.
UN Special Rapporteur, Jiri Dienstbier, has a mandate for
monitoring the human rights situation in the so-called countries of
the former Yugoslavia a part of which are Croatia, Bosnia-
Herzegovina and the FR Yugoslavia, according to the Commission's
provision.
Granic asked the Commission, consisting of representatives of 53
countries, to separate Croatia from Bosnia and FR Yugoslavia in
monitoring the human rights records.
"Aware of the circumstances and difficulties encountered by the
Special Rapporteur in reporting, we still insist a more classified
approach which, I believe, will be practised with the start of the
Project for Technical Assistance and Cooperation that the UN High
Commissioner's Office for Human Rights plans for Croatia and whose
implementation should go ahead shortly," said Granic in his
address.
"We believe that the Project marks the beginning of gradual
transition from monitoring to active engagement of the Office in
the promotion and protection of human rights in Croatia," he said
adding that Croatia had already started talks on defining the
status of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human rights in
his country, conceived as an independent regional office.
Speaking of Croatia's achievements in the area of human rights, he
said a total of 56,000 persons returned so far from FR Yugoslavia,
Bosnia and the Croatian Danube River Area to other parts of
Croatia.
Considering the cooperation between his country and the Hague-
based International Criminal Tribunal (ICTY), Granic said Croatia
has been cooperating most closely with the Tribunal in comparison
to other countries in the region.
He also expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that to date
"nobody has been accused of the crimes committed against Croats in
Central Bosnia."
The minister refuted allegations of the international community
that in Croatia even three years after the Flash and Storm military
and police operations many crimes had not been investigated and
perpetrators remained unpunished.
Granic noted that to date 2,670 cases relating to the Storm
operation had been instigated, of which 278 cases are under
investigation. In 1,306 cases first instance proceedings are under
way, while proceedings have been concluded in 1,086 cases.
The UN Special Rapporteur for Croatia, Bosnia and FR Yugoslavia,
Jiri Dienstbier, is to submit his report to the 55th session of the
Commission in the end of March. It is expected that his report would
be somewhat more favourable for Croatia than the last year's one,
since Dienstbier is to point out certain progress in the process of
the return of Croatian Serbs. Dienstbier will, however, object to
the problem in the conduct of the return of refugees, insufficient
media freedom and unsatisfactory electoral law, since he raised
such objections during his visit to Croatia in the mid-February.
In his address, Granic expressed his conviction that in the run-up
to elections in Croatia the opposition and the ruling party would
reach agreement on the electoral law.
He asked for understanding for difficulties with which Croatia is
faced in the respect for human rights.
"We do not think that we have reached the optimum level in this
respect, but we cannot accept severe criticism disregarding
objective circumstances of a multiple transition that Croatia is
going through - transition from war to peace, from a single-party
state to parliamentary democracy, from the command economy to free
market," Granic added.
On Monday evening Minister Granic met the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees, Sadako Ogata, and asked her for an individual approach to
Croatia in respect to the settlement of problems of refugees. He
also requested that in this year it should be determined who of
refugees would like to return to their homelands and who do not
want. In this way we would be able to get the number of refugees in
the real framework, Granic told Croatian reporters.
(hina) ms