GOVERNMENT RELEASES DRAFT REFUGEE RETURN PROGRAMME

( Editorial: --> 3500 ) ZAGREB, June 24 (Hina) - The Croatian Government has released to the public its draft Programme of Return and Care of Displaced People and Refugees, which it adopted last Saturday with approval from the international community. "The Republic of Croatia recognises the inalienable right to return for all its citizens and all persons who can be considered refugees in accordance with the definition of the Geneva Convention of 1951, to which Croatia is a signatory, and in accordance with other valid instruments of the United Nations," reads the document. The draft programme, distributed to reporters on Wednesday, should be adopted by the Croatian National Parliament this Friday, thus preventing the suspension of trade concessions for Croatia at a European Union Council of Ministers meeting on June 29. "All categories of persons defined by the Geneva Convention who this Programme refers to and who for various reasons have left their homes, will have equal rights arising from the returnee status. In regard to exercising the right to return, the Government reaffirms its commitment concerning exercising the constitutional right of owners to use, take possession and freely dispose of their property," the document further reads. The extensive programme explains on some 50 pages the causes and consequences of the refugee crisis in Croatia, the course and costs of its resolution up to now, and estimations of categories and the number of people who should return to or from Croatia in the next five years as well as the methods and dynamics of the return process. The document also contains an addition with nine valid documents which are the basis for implementing the return programme. The programme envisages that by the year 2003 about 220,000 persons will gradually return to or from Croatia, which will cost US$3.5 billion. Of these 220,000 people, 88,500 are displaced persons from the Croatian Danube River region, 40,800 are Croatian refugees accommodated abroad, 63,400 are refugees currently being cared for by Croatia and who want to return to their native countries, mostly to Bosnia-Herzegovina, and 24,000 are refugees, mainly Serbs, who want to return to Croatia. Out of the US$3.5 billion needed for the return of these people, $625 million is needed for the reconstruction of their homes, $390 million for their employment and US$2.5 billion for de-mining. A special section of the programme deals with the return procedure, based on the principle of equality of all returnees, on voluntary return and the principle of public and expeditious work of bodies in charge of return. The programme will be carried out by multi-ethnic commissions which will be formed in places of return immediately after the programme takes effect, that is after its adoption by the Croatian National Parliament. Implementation of the programme on a national level will be supervised and coordinated, in cooperation with the international community, by a nine-member government commission headed by the Assistant Reconstruction Minister. The programme's introduction recalls that at the end of 1992, at the peak of the refugee crisis, Croatia cared for more than 600,000 displaced people and refugees. Their number decreased gradually and today there are 95,000 displaced persons, 140,000 refugees - of whom 38,000 are cared for by the Office for Displaced People and Refugees - and 109,000 returnees to the liberated areas of Croatia. The introduction also recalls that Croatia has spent 6.4 billion kuna (more than a billion dollars) for refugee care, of which 89 per cent was secured from the state budget and 11 per cent from other sources, mainly those of the international community. (hina) jn rml/mbr 242137 MET jun 98