CROATIA'S LOWER HOUSE CONCLUDES DISCUSSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

ZAGREB, Oct 15 (Hina) - The Croatian Parliament's House of Representatives on Wednesday concluded a seven-hour discussion on a government report on the human rights situation in Croatia in 1996. The report received full support from a number of deputies of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party. Recalling the Serb aggression against Croatia, Deptuy Speaker Vladimir Seks said that at that time it had not been possible to achieve the degree of human rights protection Croatia was striving for. Several deputies, including Bosiljko Misetic of the HDZ, spoke of human rights protection as an instrument of international pressure. Summing up the discussion, Deputy Prime Minister Ljerka Mintas-Hodak rejected objections that the report did not contain information on government measures. She noted that the report indicated only a small number of steps undertaken last year because "it is impossible to cite everything that the government has done." Mintas-Hodak said that it would have been useful that non- governmental organisations monitoring the human rights situation had also submitted their reports. She added that only four of 33 organisations had responded to the government's call for cooperation, noting that the Croatian Helsinki Committee had rejected the invitation. Commenting on remarks about the international community using human rights as an instrument of pressure, Mintas-Hodak expressed an expectation that the international community would assess the human rights situation in Croatia "objectively and without double standards." (hina) vm jn 152016 MET oct 97