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Serbia Today, 97-04-01

Serbia Today Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Yugoslavia <http://www.yugoslavia.com>

Serbia Today


CONTENTS

  • [01] SECOND VERSION OF THE LAW IN PUBLIC INFORMATION THIS WEEK
  • [02] UN ACCUSED CROATS OF MALTREATING SERBS
  • [03] WRONG DECISION AT THE WRONG MOMENT
  • [04] HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE MOSLEM-CROATIAN FEDERATION ARE BEING LARGELY BREACHED
  • [05] RISKY TRIP TO CROATIA
  • [06] CROATIAN MANIPULATIONS CONTINUE
  • [07] PROTOCOL ON COOPERATION IN EDUCATION BETWEEN SERBIA AND THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA
  • [08] AID FROM OUR PEOPLE LIVING ABROAD - AN IMPORTANT SUPPORT
  • [09] THE LAW ON CONCESSIONS TO BE ADOPTED
  • [10] ARGUED DENIAL OF THE NOVAK REPORT

  • [01] SECOND VERSION OF THE LAW IN PUBLIC INFORMATION THIS WEEK

    Serbian Minister of Information - Ms. Radmila Milentijevic stated yesterday - in an interview for Radio Belgrade - that the second draft version of the Law on Information will be presented to the public this week, and that like the first one it will be offered for public debate. The final text of the draft Law is expected by the end of April, when it will be submitted to the Serbian parliament for approval - said Prof. Milentijevic. Speaking about the results of her recent visit to the US, Prof. Milentijevic said that she informed the officials she met with that everything is negotiable in this version of the Law, except the first part referring to the Constitution. "We can not change the Serbian Constitution. The Constitution is excellent and it warrants the freedom of speech and information" - she stressed. Prof. Dr. Milentijevic also observed that according to Ministry of Information data, presently there are 186 radio and 72 television unregistered stations in Serbia. Republican and federal competent bodies will soon open a public competition for broadcasting frequencies. We now know what we have at our disposal in Serbia, and in accordance with the law we will establish standards that will have to be met by all applicants at the competition - observed Minister Milentijevic.
    Serbia Today, 1997-04-01 ; Politika, 1997-04-01

    [02] UN ACCUSED CROATS OF MALTREATING SERBS

    Mr. Alexander Ivanko - representative of the UN Police Forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, accused Bosnian Croats yesterday of maltreating Bosnian Serbs and Moslems in the areas they control. Associated Press reports. In the town of Drvar, a group of Croats broke into the house of a Serb, beat him up and then set the house on fire. Another empty Serbian house has been burned - said Mr. Ivanko. "Local police informed international Police forces that the incident is being investigated, but little has been done" said the UN official and added: "This is becoming an everyday thing in Drvar, where the small number of Serbs are constantly facing abuses." Mr. Ivanko also expressed concern for the information provided by the Croatian Police in Drvar, namely that Serbs will be allowed to visit the town for only 24 hours and that they will undergo strict police control during their stay.
    Serbia Today, 1997-04-01 ; Politika Ekspres, 1997-04-01

    [03] WRONG DECISION AT THE WRONG MOMENT

    The German and Swedish decision to repatriate Croats that fled from Bosnia and Herzegovina during the recent war, alarmed various human rights organizations in Croatia. The "Returning Home" Civic Committee from Zagreb - headed by Dr. Savo Zlatic, addressed a letter to the German Government, stressing his concern for the decision to repatriate 200.000 Croatian refugees from Bosnia by the end of August. "The decision comes at a time when the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina still has not been settled, and when relations between Moslems, Croats and Serbs show no sign of improvement", says Dr. Zlatic in his letter adding that since Croats can not return to any of the Moslem controlled territories they will settle territories abandoned by Serbs during the war - as Croatian media anticipate as well. "This will make even more difficult the repatriation of Serbs - Croatian citizens - just as the return of Croats to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and create a new conflict hotbed between Serbs and Croats, with highly negative effects for the normalization of Croatian-Serbian relations." says Dr. Zlatic. The Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) expressed similar fears in a letter sent to the Swedish Government which has decided to repatriate 3.000 Croatian refugees from Bosnia. HHO President Ivan Zvonimir Cicak remarked that unless this decision is postponed until a more propitious time comes, the Swedish Government would become "an accomplice in ethnic cleansing", because he too believes that the refugees will be sent to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Instead, the Croatian authorities will most probably make them settle "central Croatia abandoned by the Serbian population after Operation Storm".
    Serbia Today, 1997-04-01 ; Politika, 1997-04-01

    [04] HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE MOSLEM-CROATIAN FEDERATION ARE BEING LARGELY BREACHED

    Ms Elisabeth Wren - Special UN Envoy for Human Rights in Former Yugoslavia, stated that human rights are largely breached in the Moslem-Croatian Federation. In an interview for the Sarajevan daily "Oslobodjenje" she specified that cases of murder, physical harassment, persecution, limitation of freedom of movement, and eviction are still being registered. Ms. Wren also observed that the media in the Federation are under a strong influence of the ruling circles, that they face great difficulties in obtaining information from the other entity and therefore can not provide objective information. Remarking that the return of refugees is being obstructed by local politicians that want to preserve their power, The UN official said: "It is not OK for Capljina and Stolac to accuse Sarajevo or New York of not doing enough to help the return of refugees. The superintendent of Stolac can not point his finger at Sarajevo and keep Franjo Tudjman portrait on his office wall!"
    Serbia Today, 1997-04-01 ; Vecernje Novosti, 1997-04-01

    [05] RISKY TRIP TO CROATIA

    "Arrests for questioning of official representatives of the Srem-Baranja Region, and other Serbs clearly deny statements and promises made by Croatian officials." This is how the Superintendent of Transition Police Forces in Vukovar - Mr. Petar Djukic, comments the frequent arrests of Serbian representatives during their visits to Croatia as members of official UNTAES committees. "People from the Srem-Baranja Region are still at great risk when traveling to Croatia. Many come to us for advice before going there, but lamentably we can not give them an adequate answer." - remarked Mr. Djukic. According to the same Police official, UNTAES circulated a letter assuring that measures have been taken to prevent such arrests in future.
    Serbia Today, 1997-04-01 ; Vecernje Novosti, 1997-04-01

    [06] CROATIAN MANIPULATIONS CONTINUE

    The Committee for the protection of rights and interests of displaced persons and refugees, submitted an official request to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe asking that official OSCE observers be appointed for the local and regional elections in the Srem-Baranja Region. Committee president Borislav Mikelic stressed in his letter that the presence of official OSCE representatives is a must, in order to prevent any form of manipulation by Croatian authorities: from the lists of voters to the control of the voting process. It is imperative that all Serbs living in the region be given a chance to vote, especially because not all have managed to obtain new personal documents. Mr. Mikelic also underlined that the UN Security Council, OSCE and other international organizations enabled Moslems, Serbs and Croats that fled from Bosnia in 1992, to take part in the parliamentary and presidential elections in Bosnia last autumn, and asked that the same right be given to Serbs from Croatia, i.e. from Krayina now living in FR Yugoslavia after being forced to leave Krayina by the Croatian aggression. Refugees from Bosnia have the right to vote regardless of which country they are living in now, and Croats can vote in the Srem-Baranja elections, but this right is being denied to the Serbs exiled from Krajina and now living in FR Yugoslavia - says Mr. Mikelic remarking that this is another example of international community double standards.
    Serbia Today, 1997-04-01 ; Politika, 1997-04-01

    [07] PROTOCOL ON COOPERATION IN EDUCATION BETWEEN SERBIA AND THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA

    Mr. Velibor Ostojic - Deputy Premier of the Republic of Srpska in charge of social affairs and Mr. Jovo Todorovic - Serbian Minister of Education, signed yesterday in Pale a protocol on cooperation in public education. Mr. Todorovic stressed that it is in the interest of the Serbian people to establish a unified education system, respecting the principles of tradition and culture of the Serbian people. We will immediately start intensive cooperation which will help the education system in the Republic of Srpska - Minister Todorovic said. Mr. Ostojic reminded that the education system in RS was created during the war and modeled on the Serbian public schools curriculum, and expressed hope that this will soon become the only curriculum.
    Serbia Today, 1997-04-01 ; Politika Ekspres, 1997-04-01

    [08] AID FROM OUR PEOPLE LIVING ABROAD - AN IMPORTANT SUPPORT

    The IV Congress of Humanitarian Aid Providers, opened in Belgrade yesterday, rallied representatives of some 250 clubs and associations of fellow Yugoslavs living in 15 European countries, US, Canada and Australia. The Federal Minister of Employment, Health and Social Policy - Mr. Miroslav Ivanisevic, remarked that during the four years of international sanctions 80.000 more people died than in the previous period. In spite of the dire social situation in FR Yugoslavia the international community was not prepared to acknowledge even the number of refugees as a parameter for determining the necessary humanitarian aid - said Minister Ivanisevic adding that the Federal Government will soon prepare a national program for improving the cooperation with aid providers from abroad. Deputy Federal Minister - Mr. Maksim Korac - indicated that in the past five years FR Yugoslavia faced the greatest possible social problems ever because 1 million people lost their job, 800.000 is still on compulsory vacation, 700.000 are seeking their first employment, and 162.000 receive some form of social aid. The Congress launched an appeal to international humanitarian organizations not to reduce their aid to FR Yugoslavia. Mr. Milovan Nenadovic - Secretary of the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees, said that an integration project is being prepared to solve the problem of some 400.000 work-able refugees.
    Serbia Today, 1997-04-01 ; Borba, 1997-04-01

    [09] THE LAW ON CONCESSIONS TO BE ADOPTED

    Serbian Minister of Construction - Mr. Branislav Ivkovic stated that the new Law on Concessions will be adopted at the next session of the republican Parliament - probably by urgent procedure. Minister Ivkovic - head of the Government task force for negotiations on concessions - also said that his team prepared a draft Law on Concessions, that has been approved by the Cabinet and given the green light by large industrial agglomerates and companies. The Serbian law, harmonized with the Federal Law on Foreign Investments, defines in detail all possible areas for concessions - infrastructure, mineral resources, forests, waters, and even lottery. The Law envisages the creation of an Agency for Concessions which will supervise concession agreements and monitor all concession affairs. Mr. Ivkovic stressed that this law is largely affirmative for foreign investments, favoring those that want to invest in our country under fair conditions.
    Serbia Today, 1997-04-01 ; Borba, 1997-04-01

    [10] ARGUED DENIAL OF THE NOVAK REPORT

    The agenda of the 53rd Session of the UN Human Rights Committee will include two Yugoslav Government - the commentary of the report prepared by the Committee expert in charge of missing persons affairs in former Yugoslavia - Mr. Manfred Novak and the Memorandum on missing persons representing the answer to the letter Mr. Cyrus Vance - Chairman of the International Committee for Missing Persons - sent to Federal Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic. Both documents represent argued denials of the Novak Report. They list all the activities carried out by FR Yugoslavia since the beginning of the war to help solve the problem of missing and arrested persons. Though these problems have been settled with Slovenia, they have not yet been settled with Croatia. FR Yugoslavia fulfilled all its obligations defined by the Protocol on Cooperation and the Agreement on Normalization of Relations with Croatia. The Government documents stress that Yugoslavia released all war prisoners from Croatia by August 14, 1992. However, people listed as missing persons are still being detained in Croatian prisons. Among them there are both people from Krayina and soldiers of the former Yugoslav Peoples Army. It is also an established fact that a certain number of prisoners held in Croatian prisons have not even been included on missing persons lists, and have been omitted from lists compiled by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The list of obligations that Croatia should have fulfilled a long time ago is quite long. The question of people listed missing in 1991 in the zones of Gospic, Zagreb, Bjelovar, Osijek, Vinkovci, Karlovac and other localities in Croatia should also be raised. The Memorandum also warns that the missing persons problem should be solved with the Moslem side in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well. FR Yugoslavia insists that the fate of a given number of YPA officers and soldiers be clarified, but Bosnian Moslems refuse obstinately all offers of cooperation in this sphere.
    Serbia Today, 1997-04-01 ; Borba, 1997-04-01

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