HUMAN RIGHTS SHOULD BE ASSESSED SEPARATELY FOR EACH COUNTRY - SIMONOVIC

NEW YORK, Nov 5 (Hina) - The latest report by United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Human Rights clearly shows that it is difficult to give the same assessment for the human right situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Yugoslavia and Croatia, Croatia's permanent ambassador to the U.N. Ivan Simonovic said on Thursday. The level of respect for human rights in those three countries cannot be compared, Simonovic said in his speech before the Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly. He objected to the fact that the report by Human Rights Rapporteur Jiri Dienstbier was not taking into account some indisputable facts. Dienstbier's assessment that "the human rights situation has deteriorated in all three countries.....contradicts other reports on the current human rights situation, including the recent Secretary General's Report on Eastern Slavonia". Simonovic recalled several significant results which have been achieved in Croatia during this year. "Upon the successful termination of the mandate of the UNTAES peacekeeping operation, in January Croatia assumed full responsibility in its Danube Region. Close cooperation between Croatia and the UN continued in the form of the UN Police Support Group, which successfully ended its mandate on October 15 this year. Since then, the OSCE mission has taken over the important role of assisting the Government in its constant efforts to achieve not only an objective level of security but a feeling of security and confidence as well". The total number of Serbs who were refugees in Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina or displaced in the Danube Region, and who are now back in their homes in Croatia, exceeds 50,000, Simonovic said. This is the result of the successful implementation of the Return and Trust Establishment Programmes, adopted by the Croatian Government. Croatia favours a separation of the mandate for each of the three countries, Simonovic said adding that the situation in Croatia objectively called for a different nature of the mandate, which should increasingly be redirected towards technical assistance and cooperation. (hina) mm rml