Human rights body says Croatia made moderate progress in 2004

HINA news agency
15 Apr 05

Zagreb, 15 April: In the course of 2004, Croatia made moderate
progress in the area of human rights, but some problems remained,
reads a report on the human rights situation in Croatia released by
the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF).

The IHF regularly issues annual reports on the human rights situation
in a number of countries. The report on Croatia was released this week
together with reports on 15 other countries, including Austria,
Albania, Belgium, Canada, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Armenia. The report
focuses on a number of topics ranging from freedom of expression, free
media, rule of law and independence of the judiciary to freedom of
religion and rights of homosexuals and asylum seekers.

“Similar to the past few years, Croatia made moderate progress in the
field of human rights during 2004. In many aspects, progress was
frustratingly slow, but an overall positive trend could be discerned,”
reads the report.

The deeply unsatisfactory situation of returnees (mostly of Serbian
ethnicity) and frequent abuses against the Roma population remained
major concerns, but there was increasing public readiness to react to
such violations of human rights, it is stated in the report.

The parliamentary elections held in late 2003 represented a return to
normal in so far as radical political groups were largely marginalized
in public life. However, right-wing radical groups remained active and
it appeared that the fact that some segments of the electorate were
disappointed with the new government – composed of the Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ) – worked in their favour.

The HDZ government that took up office at the end of 2003 made more
explicit attempts than its predecessor to instrumentalize the media
and individual journalists for political purposes. In particular, it
tried to re-establish political control over the Croatian public
broadcaster, HRT, the IHF said, citing cases of ministers phoning news
editors and trying to exert influence on their editorial policy. These
cases resulted in public protests led by NGOs and the media, the
report said.

Last year saw several cases of civil society and the media
successfully exerting pressure on the authorities by revealing full
facts about scandals involving highly positioned officials. As a
result, several officials had to resign, the IHF said, citing as an
example the case of free-lance journalist Helena Puljiz, whom the
Counterintelligence Agency unsuccessfully tried to blackmail into
cooperating with it.

Although the country’s media legislation was reformed in 2003, it
still had shortcomings, the IHF said, citing as an example legal
provisions on media coverage of election candidates imposing an
obligation on electronic media to give an equal amount of coverage to
all election candidates. The privatization of the television market is
cited as a positive example of changes to the media legislation.

A Penal Code provision on defamation was amended so as to make it
easier for journalists to defend themselves against defamation charges
in court. Despite this positive development, it remains a concern that
defamation continues to be criminalized, the IHF said.

The IHF regrets that serious and professional journalism was often
sacrificed for sensationalist and scandalous reports and considers the
low quality of journalistic work one of the main problems of the
Croatian media.

The Croatian judiciary is still burdened by a large number of unsolved
cases, it said, citing as a positive example courses which the Justice
Ministry organized for judges and the opening of four court
departments to conduct war crimes trials.

As in previous years, the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church had a
strong influence on nationalist and conservative political parties
regarding various political and social issues, the IHF said, adding
that the legal situation of “nontraditional” religious communities
remained problematic.

The social situation in the country was difficult due to a large
number of unemployed persons, low maternity allowances, and the
outstanding issue of the state debt to pensioners.

The process of returning property to Croatian citizens who fled to
Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia and Hercegovina during the war
remained problematic, the IHF said, adding that Croatia still lacked
legislation regulating relations between property owners and tenancy
holders.

The new HDZ government made efforts to establish a respectable
reputation with regard to minority rights and its members repeatedly
made statements in favour of tolerance and respect for ethnic
diversity, which contributed to a positive societal
atmosphere. However, the situation of the Serb and Roma minorities
remained deplorable. Although the government had good intentions, it
did not take enough concrete measures to prevent discrimination
against Serbs and Roma, it is stated in the report.

Organizations promoting the rights of homosexuals received threats on
an almost daily basis, the IHF said, adding that the Catholic Church
repeatedly used fierce and intolerant language against homosexuals,
including in media statements.

Only seven criminal charges concerning racial and other forms of
discrimination were raised in the period 2001-2004, the IHF
said. During the year, efforts to extol the Ustasha movement included
public parades, the erection of monuments, the promotion of lyrics,
and revisionist interpretations of historical events.

In mid-2004, a new law on asylum seekers was adopted. During the year,
141 requests for asylum were submitted and all requests were rejected,
reads the report.