HRW: EU Should Press Croatia for Speeded Integration of Serb Returnees
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Yesterday, September 5, Human Rights Watch released its report on Croatia, Decade of Disappointment: Continuing Obstacles to the Reintegration of Serb Returnees.
The Report concludes that Serb refugees returning to Croatia face significant obstacles in realization of their human rights. It invites the EU to include the issues of progress in the fields of security, housing and employment of Serbs in the membership negotiations agenda. The Report analyzes the key problems relating to human rights of Serb returnees and provides recommendations to the Government on possible solutions. The list of problems includes ethnic violence and threats, loss of housing rights and restricted access to jobs in the public sector. According to HRW, the Government programmes for assistance to returnees were of little use, with the exception, to an extent, of the programme for reconstruction of houses damaged in the war. The problem of housing and tenant rights of Croatian Serbs, annulled during the war, prevents significant return in urban areas. Many Serbs who had permanent right to public housing lost their rights when they left them. The state programmes proved to be inefficient, which prevents the return to Croatia. The failure of Croatian state to solve the problem and reinstate the tenant rights sends a message that Serbs are treated as second-hand citizens, believes HRW. Another recently prominent problem has been the rising violence and threats directed at the members of Serb minority in Croatia, many of the incidents clearly ethnically motivated. In spite of the fact that the Police named special advisors who analyze the excesses and increased patrols in the areas, the perpetrators remain unknown in majority of cases. Finally, although several laws were adopted last year to support increased employment of Serbs and other minorities in the public sector, only a handful of Serbs are employed in the public institutions in the areas to which they returned. Some success was achieved in reconstruction of Serb houses destroyed or damaged during the war. Still, several years passed before the programme started, the appeals procedure is slow and long, and the applications for assistance pile up and lag well behind. Having in mind the fact that the number of Serbs returning to Croatia is falling over the past several years and that return is not likely for a great number of them, the crucial task for the Government, says HRW, is to achieve some visible progress regarding those that have already returned. HRW reminds in its report that Croatia remains official candidate for EU membership while respect for human and minority rights are listed in the membership criteria. The full text of the Report is available in Croatian at HRW website. |
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