"Croats are often targeted by public hate speech, as evidenced by a death threat issued against journalists from 'Hrvatska rijec' in early 2004 and insults directed against former government minister Ivana Dulic-Markovic on several occasions in 2006 in the National Parliament or in newspapers on account of her Croatian origin, which has all gone unpunished," the non-governmental organisation, founded in 2000, said.
The report said that there was lack of encouragement of tolerance and legal sanctions for intolerant behaviour, and that there was no legal framework or institutional practice that would ensure the equal participation of Croats in affairs of general interest.
CHRIS said that Serbia had not yet "distanced itself from the policy of assimilation of the Croatian minority that was openly conducted by previous authorities. This is evidenced in a continuation of support for the so-called Bunjevci community," who negate their Croatian origins.
Although the law governing the protection of minority rights and freedoms guarantees the ethnic minorities the right to information in their native language, the government has not yet fulfilled its obligation to ensure news, education and culture-related radio and television programmes in minority languages. The Croatian language is still not in official use in the northern province of Vojvodina, the document said.
The report said that "significant progress" had been made in promoting necessary conditions for the preservation of Croatian culture and identity in Serbia, citing Croatian-language classes in schools, a Croatian-language weekly and the launch of a Croatian-language programme on Vojvodina Radio and Television in the second half of 2006.
CHRIS concluded by saying that there was no institutional form of financing of minority cultural institutions, "which negatively affects the exercise of minority rights."