GOVT ADOPTS BINDING INSTRUCTIONS FOR RETURN OF REFUGEES

( Editorial: --> 3852 ) ZAGREB, May 14 (Hina) - The Croatian Government on Thursday unanimously adopted Binding Instructions for issuing documents needed for the application of the Procedure for the Individual Return of Persons who Left the Republic of Croatia. Binding Instructions complement and additionally clarify some regulations from the Government Procedure for the Individual Return, which has been applied since April 27. The Government also established a nine-member task group to draw up a Programme for the Return and Care of Displaced Persons and Refugees within 30 days. Binding instructions clarify the procedure for issuing documents in cases when a person can prove that they are a Croatian citizen as well as in cases when they are not able to prove it. The document also explains the establishment of Croatian citizenship for persons accused of war crimes. The first regulation of the Binding Instructions enumerates cases in which a person who wishes to return to Croatia can prove their Croatian citizenship, on the basis of which they acquire the right to be given travel documents which will enable their return. Citizenship can be obtained if a person has a citizenship certificate, a valid ID or passport, a former Socialist Republic of Croatia citizenship certificate or if they are in the book of citizens, which is checked by the Interior Ministry. Binding orders also bring some 15 sorts of documents which "can serve in establishing the citizenship status". On the basis of these documents or "other convenient ways", the Interior Ministry will within three months at the latest establish the citizenship status of the applicant and inform the interested party through a competent diplomatic mission. The Binding Instructions confirm the right to return for persons who have Croatian citizenship and are accused of war crimes, but also add that their return "does not exclude the possibility of criminal prosecution for the said acts". However, it is added that the procedure for obtaining Croatian citizenship will be "temporarily stopped" until a valid court ruling on whether the applicant committed war crimes or not is made. Citizenship applications by war crime indictees who do not have Croatian citizenship will be refused "because it is against the national interests of the Republic of Croatia to grant citizenship to persons against whom criminal proceedings for war crimes are being conducted". At Thursday's Government session, Deputy Prime Minister Ljerka Mintas-Hodak said that the Binding Instructions eliminated the "uncertainties" which had arisen in connection with the Procedure for the Individual Return of April 24. The international community then judged that the Procedure for the Individual Return was contrary to the Constitution and that is why it suspended its participation in the Conference on Reconstruction and Development in the Republic of Croatia and considered other forms of pressure. "We need to adopt Binding Instructions in order to establish clear and practical procedures and requirements for issuing Croatian documents to those who have left Croatia," Mintas-Hodak said, adding that the international community did not raise any objections to the new document. She said that these Binding Instructions would be sent to diplomatic missions and authorised bodies of the Interior Ministry. Foreign Minister Mate Granic welcomed the Binding Instructions and the decision to work out a programme for the return and care of refugees. "These two documents will help remove the pressure from the international community towards Croatia regarding displaced persons," Granic concluded. Minister for Reconstruction and Development, Jure Radic, reminded the Government that on April 24 the Croatian Parliament had instructed the Government to work out a programme for the return and care of refugees and displaced persons, and to submit it to the Parliament. The programme should provide for a voluntary, individual and gradual return, said Radic. The programme will be submitted first to the Government and then tabled for parliamentary procedure. It must be ratified no later than two days before the Conference on Reconstruction and Development in the Republic of Croatia. The conference will most probably be held in September, Radic added. The task group to draw up the Programme for the Return and Care of Displaced Persons and Refugees is headed by Stjepan Sterc, Assistant Minister for Reconstruction and Development. The group will draw up the programme in cooperation with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (hina) jn rm/mrb , . 141756 MET may 98