STATE DEPARTMENT ISSUES REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN CROATIA

( Editorial: --> 8716 ) WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Hina) - In 1997 Croatia registered significant improvements in certain fields regarding human rights, but the overall behaviour of Croatian authorities in that field remained poor, the U.S. State Department said in this year's report to the Congress on the state of human rights in the world. The report's 30 pages on Croatia, in the category of countries in development which caused special concern to the U.S. administration, analyses the respect of human rights in many categories, including the independence of the judiciary, the state of the media, relations towards minorities, and the rights of women and children. In a comment on the report's section referring to Croatia, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for human rights John Shattuck said that even though the State Department had welcomed improved cooperation with the war crimes tribunal, Croatian authorities had used domination over media and control over the judiciary and the electoral process to exert pressure and push aside the democratic opposition. According to the report, the influence of the authorities limited and weakened the independence of the judiciary which, in combination with the President's extensive constitutional powers, the prevailing domination of the Croatian Democratic Union Party (HDZ), the absolute control of television, and continued concentration of power in a one-party central government, was turning Croatia's nominally democratic system into an authoritarian one. The report condemned the ruling HDZ party for denying the opposition the possibility of equal competition at elections, and relayed the assessment of the presidential election made by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an assessment which questioned the election's fairness, primarily due to control over electronic media.. According to the State Department, serious violations of the rights of the Serb minority continued, although in minor number, including abuse, discrimination in the judiciary, employment, housing and the right to vote. The report positively assessed the issuance of citizenship documents and the enabled return of Serbs displaced within Croatia, but criticised obstructions to the return of Serbs who fled the country. Measures by which the Croatian Government have ensured the trust of local Serbs include employment contracts and the appointment of a significant number of local Serbs into bodies of local and central authorities, said the report. Individual instances in which members of the police and the armed force violated human rights was also mentioned in the report, as well as the fact that no political murders or systematic government-backed abuse had taken place. The State Department assessed that Croatian authorities had used the judiciary and other administrative bodies to exert selective pressure on the media, and changes to and manipulation of laws, as well as economic pressure, to control the political life. As regards investigations and arrests, Croatia is criticised for frequent non-compliance with the right of the accused to have an attorney, while the judiciary is criticised for being burdened with administrative issues and political pressures. Concerning the media, the State Department assessed that Croatian state authorities limited the freedom of most print and electronic media. The authorities' political, legal and economic pressures on newspapers and journalists brought to autocensorship, the report said. The protection of children was assessed as favourable, but the report noted discrimination of women, at home and at work. The right to religious denomination as well as the free activity of unions were respected, the report on the state of human rights in Croatia concluded. (hina) ha 012044 MET feb 98