CROATIAN UPPER HOUSE ENDORSES GOVT'S HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

ZAGREB, Sept 24 (Hina) - The Croatian Parliament House of Counties on Wednesday endorsed the government's report on the human rights situation in Croatia for 1996. Deputy Premier Ljerka Mintas-Hodak spoke to MPs about the report. She said that the Croatian government had decided to submit the report on the human rights situation because of its respect of the importance and topicality of the issue, and stressed that similar reports were relatively rare in the world. The government deemed it necessary to inform the Croatian Parliament and the Croatian public about everything done in the field of human rights protection, considering the fact that numerous organisations for the protection of human rights were orientated to individual cases, Hodak said. The government wanted to present what had been done so far on an institutional level and in the establishment of the legislative infrastructure, because the infrastructure was the basis for systematic care of human rights. Many countries did not have such standards in legislature, which was one of the guarantees for the protection and promotion of human rights, Hodak said. Members of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) praised the report as being an important document, while MPs of the opposition expressed criticism towards the report. Members of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) described the report as "impersonal". They criticised that it could not be seen from the report whether there were any problems in the protection of human rights and that the legal infrastructure was mentioned too much. Members of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) held the legislative regulations as good, but practice as bad. Nominated MP of the Serb minority, Jovan Bamburac, praised the regulatory rules, adding that Serb national minority wished to be a partner in the implementation of the regulations. (hina) lm jn 241334 MET sep 97