REFUGEE RETURNS, MARCH PRINCIPALS MEETING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ZAGREB 000172

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR PRM, EUR/SCE AND EUR/PRM, BELGRADE FOR REFUGEE
ASSISTANT KURIC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREF PREL EUC REFUGEES HR CROATIA
SUBJECT: REFUGEE RETURNS, MARCH PRINCIPALS MEETING


1. (U) Summary. In a March 17 meeting with ambassadorial
level representatives of the international community (IC),the
Deputy Prime Minister for Regional Development, Reconstruction
and Return, Slobodan Uzelac, reported that the GOC had made
significant progress in resettling former occupancy/tenancy
right holders(OTRs- Serb refugees who had been tenants in
state owned properties before the war). The government has
fulfilled its commitment to provide 1,400 housing units as
part of the 2007 benchmark. It has completed 90 percent of its
commitment to provide 1,400 housing units as part of the 2008
benchmark. Additionally, the government has begun the
construction and procurement of the majority of housing to
complete the 2009 benchmark of 2,346 units. Other topics of
conversation included updates on convalidation, regional
cooperation, and the sustainability of returns. End Summary.

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Benchmarks: Continued Progress
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2. (U) In the meeting with ambassadorial-level representatives
from the European Commission, UNHCR, U.S. Embassy, and the
Zagreb based office of the OSCE, the government presented
updated figures on the progress it has made in the provision
of housing care for former OTR holders. According to
government figures 1,400 accessible apartments were provided,
fulfilling the government?s 2007 benchmark. ?Accessible?
means that the apartment is move-in ready, has been assigned
to an individual family, and applicants have been notified
that they may pick up a key whenever they wish. Completion of
the 2007 benchmark is a prerequisite for opening Chapter 23 EU
accession negotiations (Judiciary and Human Rights).


3. (U) The government has met approximately 90 percent of the
2008 goal of an additional 1,400 housing units. 1,304
accessible apartments have been provided. The remaining
apartments are expected to be completed no later then June

2009. Approximately 300 of the resolved cases include people
who have opted to receive construction material to build their
own apartments rather then accept government built apartments.
The principals agreed that the question of whether and how the
provision of construction materials should be counted in the
overall benchmark will be discussed and agreed upon during
technical level meetings.


4. (U) The government has set the 2009 benchmark at 2,346
housing units. In fulfillment of this benchmark the
government has already begun construction on 1,350 apartments
inside the areas of special state concern (ASSC),and is
currently looking at 800 apartments for possible purchase
outside the ASSC. The government estimates that a majority of
the 2009 benchmark will be completed by the end of the year
and any remaining cases will be resolved in the first quarter
of 2010. The government agreed to administratively process the
remaining 2,475 pending applications for housing care by the
end of 2009. This processing will give a clearer picture of
the amount of housing needed to be completed in 2010.

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Obstacles to Completion: If You Build It Will They Come?
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5. (U) One of the main issues of concern for the government
regarding the completion of the housing care program relates
to the high proportion of apartments that have been given to
returnees but which have not yet been occupied. The GOC
reported that between 30 and 40 percent of the given
apartments are empty. According to Marina Dropulic, the
Minister for Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and
Construction, the situation is particularly concerning outside
the ASSC. Minister Dropulic stated that of the 789 accessible
apartments given as part of the 2007 and 2008 benchmarks
outside the ASSC, none of the apartments are currently
occupied. 65 percent of the apartments outside the ASSC are
brand new apartments and most are located in developed urban
centers. According to the government these apartments are
deteriorating without occupants. The GOC claimed that previous
reasons for not moving into given apartments such as waiting
for children to finish the school year before moving no longer
made sense in some cases as a new school year had already
begun. The government wishes to have some sort of mechanism

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whereby after the passing of a certain amount of time they can
give apartments to applicants who are willing to physically
move in.


6. (U) The representatives of the IC agreed that apartments
should not be allowed to deteriorate and lie empty when there
are other housing care applicants willing to move in. However,
Wilfried Buchhorn, the UNHCR Representative in Croatia,
pointed out that UNHCR had inspected some of these claims as
part of the 2007 benchmark and while some people no longer
wished to move and some had reasons related to work or school
to delay their move, others had valid points of concern
including damaged apartments or apartments for the elderly
located on high floors with no elevators. The government
questioned the accuracy of the figures in some UNHCR reports
and Mr. Buchhorn replied that all reports were shared with the
government before issuance and that he welcomed the critique
and wished to work better with the government to present as
accurate a picture as possible.


7. (U) The government agreed to work through NGOs to locate
many of the people who have not yet moved in and to gauge
their continued interest in receiving housing in Croatia.
Though it is possible that in the future a deadline may have
to be imposed after which unoccupied apartments are given to
families willing to move into the space.

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Convalidation: Rapid Pace but Issues of Concern
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8. (U) Mile Rukavina, the director of the Croatian Institute
for Pension Insurance presented a detailed report on the
progress achieved regarding convalidation to date. Mr.
Rukavina reported that their office had given the highest
priority to processing convalidation claims and that a staff
of eighty has worked approximately 5,000 hours of overtime to
effectively process the claims. To date 13,109 applications
have been received and 4,731(36 percent) have been given
administrative decisions. 56 percent of these (2,090) received
negative decisions and 55.8 percent (2,641) received positive
decisions.


9. (U) In previous meetings, members of the IC expressed
concern over the high rate of refusals as this implied that
the convalidation process was not working effectively. Another
area of concern was the disproportionate amount of refusals in
certain parts of the country which indicated that the new
instructions on implementation regarding convalidation were
not being applied in a uniform and fair manner throughout the
country.


10. (U) Mr. Rukavina explained that their greatest obstacle is
lack of proper documentation to prove previous work time.
Companies no longer exist, legal successor companies have not
kept the paperwork, or documents were destroyed during the
war. Mr. Rukavina claims that every attempt is made to get
documentation either from the applicant or from the former
companies and that multiple attempts are made before a final
rejection. Another obstacle is the difficulty of
communication. Most of the applicants no longer live in
Croatia and receiving information can take a long time. Mr.
Rukavina said that the existence of documents in different
regions varies due to the destruction that took place during
the war. In some areas the documents are well preserved and in
others they are completely destroyed and this accounts for the
apparently disparate number of rejections for some regions
over others.


11. (U) Mr. Rukavina said high level meetings were held in
December and February to discuss harmonization of decisions
and the equal implementation of the convalidation law. He said
monthly and sometimes weekly meetings are held to give
instructions to regional offices and to reach consensus
opinions on difficult cases. His office has agreed to and
already started an internal audit of their previously issued
negative decisions and they will accept assistance from UNHCR
to locate applicants who reside outside of Croatia.

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Regional Cooperation and the Sarajevo Process

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12. (SBU) In response to questions about upcoming prospects
for regional cooperation to resolve outstanding refugee issues
and the state of the Sarajevo Process DPM Uzelac responded
that within the ruling coalition there is not a consensus
opinion regarding the issue of cooperation. The issues that
have been resolved to date are issues they all agree upon and
the issues which remain open are open because there is not
internal agreement on how to resolve them. One issue they do
agree upon is the right of return for everybody who wishes to
return. They also agree that there is a small number of
people who wish to return who haven?t and that this group in
general is made up of an older and socially vulnerable
population. Previous events made it politically impossible to
advocate for the resolution of the returnee issue but now the
subject has been depoliticized.


13. (SBU) In regards to the Sarajevo Process (SP) the Director
for Multilateral Affairs at the MFA, Mario Nobilo, announced
that while Croatia believed the SP originally was a good
instrument, Croatia now considered the Sarajevo Process
?over.? He explained that by ?over? he did not mean that each
and every refugee case had been resolved but that in political
terms they do not wish to be put in the company of ?the
unsuccessful? and expose Croatia to the ?internationalization?
of this issue. The GOC feels that they are in a better
position to resolve refugee issues if they work bilaterally
and their focus will be on strengthening this type of
cooperation.


14. (SBU) EC Delegation Head Degert said the conclusion of the
Sarajevo process should be a decision and declaration among
all parties in that framework. Bilateral cooperation is
welcome but resolving this issue multilaterally would send a
strong regional signal. UNHCR representative Buchhorn said
that the most important thing is to achieve results and the
form in which that is done is not important, however, how that
process is seen by other members is important and the other
member countries do not see the SP as over.

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Sustainability of Returns
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15. (U) Members of the IC also addressed two issues that could
negatively impact the sustainability of returns. The first
issue is the enforcement of the Constitutional Law on The
Rights of National Minorities (CLNM). In part the CLNM
provides for affirmative action in the employment of
minorities in the public sector. However, the implementation
of this aspect of the law appears to be inconsistent and in
some places non-existent. In response, the GOC acknowledged
that implementation has not been satisfactory and they have
created a ten point action plan to address the issue. The
government claims that the high unemployment rate in general
in the country is a contributing factor as well as minorities
who do not identify themselves as a minority when they apply
for jobs. Minister Dropulic remarked that in the course of
five years not one person applying to work in her ministry has
ever self identified as a minority.


16. (U) The second issue raised was in regard to a new law on
agricultural land that was passed in December 2008. Depending
on interpretation the law could in some circumstances enable
the government to sell or lease unused agricultural land for
farming without the owner?s consent. Many critics of the law
feel it would allow the government to take away land from Serb
refugees who have not returned to Croatia or from recent Serb
returnees who are not yet able to farm the land they have. DPM
Uzelac (himself a member of the Serb minority) felt the
concept of the law was good and necessary and that the
government had not done a good enough job explaining the new
law to the public. However he did allude to negotiations that
were taking place which would answer many of the concerns
raised by the public. (NOTE: The following day the Ministry of
Agriculture announced provisions to the law that would
guarantee landowner consent before the land could be leased or
sold for farming).

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Comment
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17. (U) The government?s recent figures show a considerable
amount of progress in providing housing for returnees. Croatia
has completed its benchmark for 2007 and will fully complete
the benchmark for 2008 in a short amount of time. Croatia has
begun construction and purchasing of apartments for the 2009
benchmark. Given the significant amount of construction that
took place during the winter season to fulfill the 2008
benchmark and as we enter the prime construction periods of
spring and summer, it is likely that the government will be
able to finish a majority of the 2009 benchmark by the end of
the year with a small number left to be done in the first
quarter of 2010. A genuine will exists within the government
to see these issues resolved especially as they continue to
seek entry into the EU. The recent re-opening of a diplomatic
dialogue between Serbia and Croatia has also renewed hope that
cooperation will lead to a viable solution for the remaining
refugees. END COMMENT


BRADTKE