III       General remarks - 1999 – 2004

c) Relevant legislation and documents

13.       “International agreements concluded and ratified in accordance with the Constitution and made public, and which are in force, shall be part of the internal legal order of the Republic of Croatia and shall be above law in terms of legal effects. Their provisions may be changed or repealed only under conditions and in the way specified in them or in accordance with the general rules of the international law.” - Article 140 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia.

The most important ratified international multilateral agreements are enlisted in the Article 1 of the Constitutional Law on Protection of National Minorities. (See under Item IV.I ). For bilateral and regional agreements, see under Item IV.XVI.

14.       The most important relevant documents of the national legislation are: the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, the Constitutional Law on Protection of National Minorities, the Law on Use of the Language and Script of National Minorities in the Republic of Croatia, the Law on Upbringing and Education in the Language and Script of National Minorities, the Law on Amendments to the Law on the Election of Members of the Representative Bodies of Local and Regional Self-Government Units and the Law on the Election of Members of the Parliament.

15.       The documents which, among the rest, regulate and guarantee certain minority rights to Croatian Serbs in Eastern Slavonia, in particular, are the Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium – the Erdut Agreement (November 1995) and the Letter of Intent by the Croatian Government to the UN Security Council on completing the peaceful reintegration (January 1997). The Erdut Agreement is a bilateral agreement signed between the Republic of Croatia and the representatives of local Serbs in Eastern Slavonia. The ambassador of the USA Embassy to Croatia, at the time, Mr. Peter W. Galbraith and the UN mediator Mr. Thorvald Stoltenberg witnessed the signing of the Agreement. The Government of Croatia in the Letter of Intent to the UN Security Council (S/1997/27) agreed to ensure the proportional representation of Serbs in municipal life and guaranty all other rights of persons belonging to Serbian minority in Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES). The Erdut Agreement, on the request of the Croatian Government, circulated as the UN General Assembly and Security Council document (S/1995/951). The document has three parts: provisions for the establishment of a Transitional Administration by the UN Security Council to govern the region during the transitional period; provisions for the protection of human and civil rights; and provisions for the monitoring of human rights in the area by the international community after the transition period. Although the Agreement was of a great importance in establishment of permanent peace and re-integration of the region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium into the legal and political system of the Republic of Croatia, the Croatian authorities and public bodies often ignore or manipulate the provisions of the Agreements. This had a negative influence on the full implementation of its provisions and related documents, particularly regarding human rights, property rights, minority return, discrimination against people who lived in the region during the war as well as the position and proportional representation of the local Serb community. Individual referring to the implementation of the provisions of the Erdut Agreement in court and administrative procedures was, in most cases ignored with the explanation that the Erdut Agreement is not legally binding.  In order to show a positive image, the Croatian Government used to from time to time, accept the provisions of the Agreement as valid (e.g. in the preamble of the Agreement on Stabilisation and Accession signed between the Republic of Croatia and the EU member states). The Government has asserted in its answer to the European Commission questionnaire (at the end of 2003) and elsewhere that the adoption of the Constitutional Law on Protection of National Minorities (CLNM) invalidated the Erdut Agreement. However, the United Nations and the Zagreb-based international community are of the view that, with the exception of the provisions specifically limited to the transitional period, the Agreement and the Letter of Intent continue to be legally binding obligations in force to the present day, even though some provisions thereof have been codified into the CLNM and other domestic law.[1]

16.       As a signatory of the Dayton Peace Accord for Bosnia in 1995, Croatia committed itself to promoting return throughout the region (almost all the relevant international (UNHCR, OSCE[2]) organisations and NGOs put emphasis on the regional approach in solving refugee problems because in practice “there are clear practical linkages between return to and within different countries in the region“.[3]According to the number and nature of the problems, the issues refer especially to creation of the preconditions for minority returns to the Republic of Croatia and exercising rights of the persons belonging to national minorities, Serbian minority in particular.

17.       In October 2003, the Government adopted the National Programme on Roma. The Government adopted the program considering the specific position of Roma community, long-term living on the margins of the society and need for their comprehensive integration into Croatian society. The Government “ believed that Roma could not surmount current difficulties and was decisively trying to change existing situation aiming to establish full exercise of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and within the legal system of the Republic of Croatia and to eliminate all kinds of discrimination.''[4]