PARLIAMENTARY DEPUTIES DISCUSS GOVERNMENT REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS

ZAGREB, Oct 15 (Hina) - Representatives of the clubs of deputies in the Croatian parliament on Wednesday discussed a government report on the human rights situation in Croatia in 1996. Opposition parties said that the report failed to tackle "the right problems" because it mainly focused on constitutional and legal provisions relating to human rights. Ivica Racan of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) spoke of the negligence of social rights, particularly of the right to equitable compensation for work. He said that 150,000 workers were not receiving wages regularly. Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) deputy Damir Kajin proposed establishment of a parliamentary investigative commission that would look into the events that had happened in the early days of the war in Gospic and Pakracka Poljana. Vlado Gotovac of the Social Liberal Party (HSLS) said that the report did not include instructions for the implementation of the laws cited in the report, stressing that instructions were often more important that laws themselves. He noted that the report also did not contain facts on human rights violations by government structures. Anto Djapic of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) said that the report did not contain information on violations of the right of displaced people to home. Representative of the ethnic minorities Njegovan Starek said that the report failed to give a realistic picture of the situation with the national minorities. He expressed dissatisfaction with the way in which funds were allocated by the Government Office for National Minorities. Several deputies drew attention to violations of the fundamental human right of Croats who had not been able in the past six years to return to their homes from which they had been expelled during Serb aggression. Jadranka Kosor of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) said that more than 100,000 Croats, of whom 30,000 were people above the age of 60, were waiting to return to their homes. Kosor criticised opposition deputies for not raising the question of the rights of displaced Croats, prisoners of war and families whose loved ones had gone missing or had been killed during the war. HDZ deputy Ante Beljo was of the similar opinion, asking who was caring for Croats expelled from Yugoslavia, namely from Vojvodina and Boka Kotorska. Ivan Gabelica of the Genuine Party of Rights (HCSP) called for the protection of the rights of displaced persons and unborn children. SDP deputy Snjezana Biga-Friganovic said she was not satisfied with the report because it did not contain information on unlawful apartment evictions, events in the wake of Operation Storm in the summer of 1995, and the intimidation of Serbs. She added that the report also should have indicated how much the pensions of WW2 antifascist fighters, disabled veterans and old-age pensioners had been reduced. Petar Zitnik of the Peasant Party (HSS) also drew attention to the problems of pensioners. HSLS deputies Bozo Kovacevic and Vladimir Primorac criticised the report for not citing cases of apartment eviction and civil disputes over the acquisition of citizenship. (hina) vm jn 151757 MET oct 97