Human Rights Practices in Croatia in The 21st Century
| This section may need to be updated. Please update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. |
| This section has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality. Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page. |
| This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. |
The continuing impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1991-1995 armed conflict remains the main human rights problem in the Republic of Croatia. The many perpetrators of such crimes committed against Croatian Serbs largely continue to enjoy impunity while the victims and their families are denied access to justice and redress.
Courts are still applying ethnic criteria in investigating and prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity and the Croatian judicial system has overwhelmingly failed to address violations allegedly committed by members of the Croatian Army and police forces.
In its bid to join the European Union, Croatia must ensure respect for fundamental human rights and the rule of law. The failure of the Croatian authorities to ensure that all perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity are brought to justice, regardless of their ethnicity or of that of the victims, and to award full reparations to the victims and their families, is a serious obstacle to the realization of these principles and rights. In the 2004 Amnesty International report on Croatia's human rights practices, concerns are detailed on the unresolved human rights legacy of the 1991-1995 armed conflict focusing in particular on:
- The failure of the authorities to investigate thoroughly and promptly allegations of unlawful killings and extrajudicial executions committed during the 1991-1995 armed conflict by members of the Croatian Army and police forces, and to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice in proceedings that meet international standards of fairness;
- The failure of the authorities to disclose information on the fate and whereabouts of Croatian Serbs who went missing during the 1991-1995 armed conflict and of victims of "disappearances", whose alleged perpetrators were members of the Croatian Army and police forces, and to bring to justice those responsible for the "disappearances".
The arrest of the former Croatian Army General Ante Gotovina is a major step in addressing impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1991-1995 war in Croatia, Amnesty International said.
Read more about this topic: Human Rights In Croatia
Famous quotes containing the words human, rights and/or practices:
“We as women know that there are no disembodied processes; that all history originates in human flesh; that all oppression is inflicted by the body of one against the body of another; that all social change is built on the bone and muscle, and out of the flesh and blood, of human creators.”
—Andrea Dworkin (b. 1946)
“I wish to reiterate all the reasons which [my predecessor] has presented in favor of the policy of maintaining a strong navy as the best conservator of our peace with other nations and the best means of securing respect for the assertion of our rights of the defense of our interests, and the exercise of our influence in international matters.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“Of all reformers Mr. Sentiment is the most powerful. It is incredible the number of evil practices he has put down: it is to be feared he will soon lack subjects, and that when he has made the working classes comfortable, and got bitter beer into proper-sized pint bottles, there will be nothing left for him to do.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)