U.N. ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN BOSNIA, CROATIA, YUGOSLA

YUGOSLA $ VIA WASHINGTON, Dec 13 (Hina) - The UN General Assembly on Thursday passed a resolution on human rights in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Yugoslavia, expressing the concern of the world organization about human rights abuses in these countries. All the three states were called upon to ensure the functioning of democratic institutions and freedom of expression, media, assembly and movement. The assembly condemned the failure of signatories to the Dayton peace agreement to cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague and extradite persons indicted for war crimes. It also condemned continued forcible expulsions of people from their homes in Bosnia-Herzegovina, citing cases that had occurred in Banja Luka and Mostar, as well as the practice of destroying the houses of people who had been driven out earlier. It called for the immediate arrest and punishment of individuals involved in such actions. The resolution acknowledged the progress made in the Bosnian Moslem-Croat Federation on ethnic reconciliation and called on all parties to carry out further measures to deepen the reconciliation process. The assembly urged that immediate steps be taken in establishing the identity and fate of missing persons from Srebrenica, Prijedor and Sanski Most in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Vukovar in Croatia. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, was called upon to end repression in its southern Kosovo province and to respect minority rights in Sandjak and Vojvodina, as well as the rights of the ethnic Bulgarian minority. Croatia was urged to make greater efforts to comply with democratic norms, particularly with regard to the Zagreb City Council and the protection of free and independent media. It was also called upon to ensure the peaceful reintegration of its eastern Danube river region with respect for human rights, to ensure the speedy return of refugees and displaced persons, and to investigate expulsion cases. On Thursday, Croatia opposed the inclusion of the Zagreb government crisis in the resolution on human rights. Before the vote, Ljubinko Matesic, special adviser at the Croatian mission to the United Nations, said that Croatia would vote for the resolution despite strong reservations about a part of it. My delegation wishes to state that it opposes operative paragraph 12 of the draft resolution and particularly the mentioning of the Zagreb City Council, Matesic told the assembly. This paragraph refers to the situation that is being resolved within the Croatian constitutional and legal framework, he said, adding that various proposals were being considered to overcome the impasse and elect a mayor of Zagreb. This is a strictly internal political issue which should not be considered in the General Assembly because it does not constitute a human rights violation, Matesic said. (hina) vm mm 131107 MET dec 96