Croatia: The continuing problem of property restitution

After achieving impressive progress towards the European Union accession since 2000, Croatia has recently faced criticism for its lack of advancement in several key areas. Most notably, the country has failed to meet its obligations to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). This has held up its EU accession process. More recently, Croatia has been criticised, this time by the OSCE, for its failure to fulfil a pledge for complete refugee return and property restitution for ethnic Serbs refugees who left the country during the early-1990s. A decade after the civil war ended in Croatia only 30 per cent of Serb refugees have returned to their pre-war homes, mostly in rural areas. Major problems remain for those who wish to return to the towns and cities.

Article by Biljana Radonjic.