USA notes slow progress in property restitution to Serb Orthodox and Jewish communities

ZAGREB/WASHINGTON, July 31 (Hina) - The United States' Department of State said in its "International Religious Freedom Report for 2011" that Croatia's "constitution and other laws and policies protect religious freedom and, in practice, the government generally respected religious freedom". Washington praises the government for having "demonstrated a trend toward improvement in respect for and protection of the right to religious freedom." The report, however, warns about the authorities' failure to give back property nationalized or confiscated during World War II and in its wake.