Doc. 8834

25 September 2000

Return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes in Croatia

Recommandation 1406 (1999)

Reply from the Committee of Ministers

adopted at the 722nd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (21 September 2000)

The Committee of Ministers notes that a number of the concerns raised in Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1406 (1999) have since been raised also in the context of work undertaken by the Assembly’s Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by member States of the Council of Europe. Indeed, a number of items raised in the report on the honouring of Croatia’s commitments to the Council of Europe to be submitted to the Assembly at its part Session of 25-29 September 2000 would seem to have been dealt with by the Croatian authorities.

The Committee of Ministers welcomes the positive actions undertaken by the Government of Croatia regarding the return of refugees and displaced persons, such as the amendment of the Law on the Status of Expelled Persons and Refugees to eliminate the discriminatory granting of special privileges to particular groups of individuals. Amendments to the Law on Areas of Special State Concern, recently adopted by the Croatian Parliament, should also assist in bringing about an improvement in the protection of property rights in Croatia.

Other positive measures include the creation of the new, inter-ministerial “Co-ordination for Areas of Special State Concern”, which now co-ordinates government programmes related to return and to the establishment of trust, and which might prove to be more effective in its operation than the Committees for the Establishment of Trust which had previously been set up to promote the reconciliation process.

In the context of reforms to the Return Programme as a whole, the operations of the Agency for the Mediation of Real Estate Transactions (the “Land Bank”) may also be made more transparent through the adoption of amendments, currently under preparation, to the decree establishing this structure. All these measures show the willingness of the new Croatian authorities to facilitate the return of refugees and displaced persons.

As far as financial assistance from the Council of Europe Development Bank to the process of return is concerned, the Committee of Ministers recalls that the Bank has already approved four loan requests in favour of Croatia, for a total amount of € 71 million, aimed at the reconstruction of health and education structures, with a view to creating favourable conditions for the return of refugees and displaced persons. Croatia has also recently applied for a loan of € 30 million from the Bank, for the construction and rehabilitation of housing units for refugees, displaced persons and returnees.

However, the Committee of Ministers also notes that progress has not been made on all issues. For example, amendments adopted in June 2000 by the Parliament to the Reconstruction Law, in order to eliminate its discriminatory provisions, will only be effective if the practice based on this law is itself of a non-discriminatory nature. Assembly Recommendation 1406 (1999) refers also to the need to ensure that the Housing Commissions act in a non-discriminatory way; this may indeed in many instances not yet be the case.

The Committee of Ministers therefore informs the Assembly that it will keep such questions under review, with a view to ensuring the continued undertaking of necessary reforms in fields related to the return of refugee and displaced persons, whilst noting also the availability of the Secretariat to assist in these reforms through the provision of expert assistance to the Croatian authorities, in co-operation with the international community, in particular the OSCE and UNHCR. Such questions might also be taken up with the Croatian authorities in the context of the follow-up to be given by the Committee of Ministers to the Assembly’s report on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Croatia.