ZAGREB, Aug 11 (Hina) - Special UN rapporteur for human rights Elizabeth Rehn on Sunday called organizers of elections in Bosnia- Herzegovina to consider the possibility of re-registering some voters because of some irregularities she
had noticed in the registry.
ZAGREB, Aug 11 (Hina) - Special UN rapporteur for human rights
Elizabeth Rehn on Sunday called organizers of elections in Bosnia-
Herzegovina to consider the possibility of re-registering some
voters because of some irregularities she had noticed in the
registry. #L#
People were forced to register in specific locations, either
to realize their rights to humanitarian help or because of wrong
information, Rehn told Sunday's news conference in Zagreb after she
had concluded her nine-day visit to Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro.
She warned that voters were being convinced that if they
registered in a certain place they would only be able to vote for a
local party, but if they registered somewhere else they would have
a wider spectre of choice.
The technique of the elections themselves was more important
than political programmes, Rehn said.
She called the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE), which is organizing the elections, to consider the
possibility of re-registry of some voters.
She also warned about the violation of human rights in
Croatian areas which had been liberated during the military
operation "Storm".
She said that theft, mine planting and attacks on humanitarian
organizations which protected human rights, were extremely frequent
and that the Croatian police were inefficient.
She stressed that the construction of infrastructure in these
areas was not being carried out fairly because Croatians had the
right of way before Serbs.
Elderly Serbs had noone to look after them because Croatian
authorities did not allow their children to return. Serb children
born during the occupation had not been registered, so they did not
have the right to health care, Rehn said, adding that she had
reason to believe that there were mass graves in Gracac which had
to be excavated.
Rehn spent the Sunday afternoon in Banja Luka, in the Serb
entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina, investigating the death of a Moslem
who had been arrested by the Serb police and beaten to death.
The man had been taken to prison for allegedly disturbing his
Serb neighbours, Rehn said.
He was beaten in the prison and taken to hospital where he was
diagnosed three fractured ribs.
He had been returned to prison where he had died and after his
death it had been established that 16 of his ribs had been
fractured in several places, Rehn said.
(hina) lm
111913 MET aug 96