Croatia made considerable progress in mandate commitments, says OSCE Mission report

ZAGREB, 20 July 2007 - Over the past 12 months Croatia has come considerably closer to fulfilling the Mission mandate commitments and responsibilities, according to a report by the OSCE Mission to Croatia presented to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna yesterday.

"This report measures progress made and identifies issues which need to be addressed by the Croatian authorities," said Ambassador Jorge Fuentes, the Head of the OSCE Mission. "Our assessment is that the climate of democracy, the openness of society and the growing operational transparency of Government bodies has become better established and will continue as Croatia pursues its twin goals of EU and NATO membership."

The paper says that Croatia has registered steady progress in mandate related policies and programmes. Within the Return and Integration area the political phase of the Sarajevo Process has been essentially concluded, leaving two points to be resolved internally or bilaterally.

"Possible compensation for former Occupancy and Tenancy Rights (OTR) holders in Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina who do not wish to return to Croatia could be resolved bilaterally, provided the states focus on pragmatic and durable solutions," said Ambassador Fuentes. He added that the Government has also committed to resolve the issue of convalidation of working years spent in former occupied areas of Croatia.

In the area of Rule of Law the Parliament agreed in July to debate a Draft Law on Free Legal Aid and gave a commitment to provide adequate funding for the Ombudsmen and the Constitutional Court. Some progress has been made in implementing public services minority employment guarantees, but concrete plans for implementation and assessing progress are still required. It also says that Croatia continued to improve its record towards balanced and fair war crimes prosecution.

"Over the last year, there has been an increasing general awareness and endorsement of democratic and rule of law values, as well as a more ready acceptance of the need to work harmoniously with other states in the region. However, further progress is needed to insure even-handed and impartial accountability, including enhanced inter-state judicial co-operation," said Ambassador Fuentes. He added that Government officials have stressed the need to end impunity and promote the impartial adjudication of war crimes.

The paper says decisions affecting recent elections for minority councils need improvement but acknowledges that now minority representatives have access to necessary legislative and legal remedies with which to dispute such decisions.

The report notes that the functioning of a free media and the co-operation between civil society and local government bodies must be judged on cumulative ongoing bases. Positive results have not been registered equally in all parts of the country, but it is evident that Croatia has passed the tipping point and there need not be an overly great concern that gains made to date will be dissipated or lost in the foreseeable future.