This briefing outlines Amnesty International’s concerns about the failure of the Croatian authorities to meet its obligations to respect and protect the rights to life, to freedom from torture and other ill-treatment and to a remedy for violations of these rights without discrimination; as well as the right to freedom of expression, as required under Articles 6, 7, 2 and 26 and 19 of the ICCPR (respectively), in particular in relation to the human rights violations which took place during the 1991-1995 war.
In particular, this briefing highlights concerns related to:
1. The failure of the Croatian authorities to provide an effective remedy for war crimes committed by the members of the Croatian Army and police forces against Croatian Serbs and members of other minority communities by failing to ensure independent, impartial and thorough investigations and prosecutions of these war crimes which includes:
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Discrimination in charging depending on the ethnicity of the accused and the victim;
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Discriminatory use of the in absentia trials;
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Discrimination in sentencing depending on the ethnicity of the accused.
2. Croatia’s failure to guarantee the right to freedom of expression by not undertaking adequate measures to protect journalists from attacks and intimidation and by not investigating, prosecuting and punishing those responsible for these attacks.
Documents:
- Briefing on Croatia
Full Amnesty International’s briefing to the Human Rights Committee on the Republic of Croatia.
More info:
Briefing – HTML version
