23/09/2004

Doris Pack, MEP, on UNHCR publication of figures for refugees returning to Bosnia-Herzegovina: still severe obstacles in Republika Srpska - relatively few Croats returning

In the light of the new figures issued by the UNHCR for refugees returning to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Doris Pack, chairman of the European Parliament's South-Eastern Europe Delegation, today called for "more political realism".

The return to their homes of a million refugees was a big success, she conceded, a success to which the UNHCR had made a substantial contribution. But the UNHCR itself indicated that only a quarter of the figures relating to returning refugees related to the Republika Srpska. There remained severe obstacles to the return of Croat refugees.

It was therefore questionable, she said, whether and how court judgements could be implemented, how, for example, houses belonging to Croats could be cleared of Serbs occupying them.

All in all, it had to be assumed that Croats returning to the Republika Srpska faced substantially greater problems than Serbs returning to the Federation. The consequence, said Mrs Pack, was that few Croats were going back, and that the Republika Srpska was now a more or less ethnically pure Serbian area.

"This unacceptable situation in the Republika Srpska must not be forgotten or swept under the carpet, even if the overall figures for returnees to Bosnia-Herzegovina are of course positive," she said.

Rather, the international community must apply further pressure on the government of Republika Srpska to create the right conditions for refugees to come back. Only once all ethnic groups could come home to Bosnia-Herzegovina could a balanced, multi-ethnic society be established. "It is unacceptable for an ethnic group to be de facto prevented from returning," said Mrs Pack.

Further information from office of Doris Pack, MEP, Tel.: +32 2 2847310