ZAGREB, Dec 3 (Hina) - The Mission of the Organisation for Security +and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) estimates that the Return +Programme is not functioning well and that the Croatian Government +has not fulfilled specific
commitments it had assumed in adopting +the Programme, OSCE spokesman Mark Thompson said in Zagreb on +Thursday.+ "The Government committed itself to propose by the end of September +1998 changes to laws, in order to ensure the equality of all people +upon return, namely, laws which have discriminatory provisions," +Thompson told a news conference.+ This commitments at this point has still not been fulfilled, and +these discriminatory laws are accompanied by discriminatory +practices and by the irregular implementation of the Return +Programme on the ground.+ "Only some 10 per cent of applicants to Housing Commissions have +actually repossessed their property, and very few
ZAGREB, Dec 3 (Hina) - The Mission of the Organisation for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) estimates that the Return
Programme is not functioning well and that the Croatian Government
has not fulfilled specific commitments it had assumed in adopting
the Programme, OSCE spokesman Mark Thompson said in Zagreb on
Thursday.
"The Government committed itself to propose by the end of September
1998 changes to laws, in order to ensure the equality of all people
upon return, namely, laws which have discriminatory provisions,"
Thompson told a news conference.
This commitments at this point has still not been fulfilled, and
these discriminatory laws are accompanied by discriminatory
practices and by the irregular implementation of the Return
Programme on the ground.
"Only some 10 per cent of applicants to Housing Commissions have
actually repossessed their property, and very few Croatian Serbs
have gained access to Government assistance for reconstruction," a
fortnightly update of the OSCE and UNHCR said.
Representatives of five international organisations, OSCE, UNHCR,
UN Liaison Office, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the
European Commission Monitoring Mission, met on Wednesday with the
president of the Serb Democratic Independent Party (SDSS),
Vojislav Stanimirovic, and other representatives of Serbs from the
Croatian Danube River region.
"After the meeting representatives of the international
organisations expressed concern on the following issues: the
security situation in the region, the limited return into the
region, the difficulties currently in the City Council of Vukovar
which have let the Serb representatives on that Council to consider
freezing their participation, and the continued departures of
Croatian citizens of Serb ethnicity from the region," Thompson
said.
Speaking about the number of incidents in the Danubian area,
Thompson stressed that the weekly average of 47 incidents in the
first nine months of this year, during the UN civilian police
mandate, has dropped to 33 in the past six weeks, since the OSCE
assumed supervision over the local police.
"In our assessment, unfortunately, this fall does not reflect a new
atmosphere of personal security in the Danube region. We assess
that the fall in incidents is the result of the steady and
continuing exodus of citizens, in particular of displaced
persons," Thompson said.
OSCE is especially concerned with the situation in some places, in
which due to an increase in violence, Assistant Interior Minister
Josko Moric has been requested to carry out an investigation.
Thompson also noted problems of some families in the Danubian
region whose electricity could be cut off by the Croatian Electric
Power utility company (HEP) for unpaid bills.
He expressed hope that a solution would be found with the
cooperation of the Croatian Government so that the difficult
economic situation in the region would not be aggravated.
Asked to comment on the decision on the extension of the OSCE
mandate in Croatia, Thompson said the OSCE Permanent Council had
reached a decision to extend the mandate in its present form.
(hina) lml