Cablegate: Human Rights Roundtable 2007 Unga - Input From

VZCZCXRO4149
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHVB #0833 2541520
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111520Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8109
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0052

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000833

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

G, DRL/SEA, NSC/DEMOC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PREL HR
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS ROUNDTABLE 2007 UNGA - INPUT FROM
CROATIA

REF: STATE 125456

1. USG programs in Croatia for the past several years have
supported activities to bolster Human Rights in the areas of
refugee return and reintegration, minority rights, and
continued assistance to civil society organizations. We have,
together with our European partners, the OSCE and UNHCR,
worked with the GoC to establish measurable benchmarks
regarding refugee housing and infrastructure issues. Other
priorities have been improving implementation of the
Constitutional Law on National Minorities and monitoring
sporadic incidents of ethnically motivated violence across
the country.

2. Another key area of activity has been to create a stronger
framework for NGO activity in Croatia. Through programs
being implemented by USAID, the USG has spent approximately
12 million over the past six years assisting in the
development of a strong and self-sustaining civil society.
Post has assisted Croatian partners to strengthen NGOs'
capacity to implement new legislation. Working in
coordination with the GOC, USAID has assisted in drafting
laws and other related regulations directly affecting NGOs'
ability to freely operate and function in an emerging
democracy. Over the past year, the Embassy's Democracy
Commission has also issued two grants totaling $36,000 for
human rights programs including: a documentary film
chronicling the reintegration process of ethnic Serb refugees
returning to Croatia, and a project fostering cooperation in
ethnically mixed schools in eastern Slavonia.

3. The GoC's domestic human rights priorities correspond to
these areas of Post's focus: strengthening the framework for
civil society and resolving post-war issues related to
national minorities, especially the Serb minority.
Internationally, the GoC over the past few years has played a
measured and constructive role in advocating for the
protection of the rights of the Croatian minorities in
neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia. Croatia has also
actively supported international efforts to bring a peaceful
resolution to the issue of Kosovo, including a stong emphasis
on the need to provide adequate guarantees and protections to
the Serbian and other minorities there.
BRADTKE

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