Full Coverage: Croatia

31.08.2005 The aim of the “Lost-Found” booklet is to introduce the citizens to their rights and help them find the right address among the public institutions, so that they could realize their rights and interests. The booklet was officially presented yesterday, August 30, by its authors, Dragan Zelic and Alina Jurjevic.

30.08.2005 The AIDS Reference Centre (for more information, contact the Centre at 01/4678 243) announced the start of the group counseling work with HIV/AIDS patients, with the goal to increase their capacity to efficiently cope with various emotional and social difficulties related to their condition.

26.08.2005 Transparency International Croatia greeted and commended the decision of the Administrative Court which accepted the arguments of the private lawsuit started by Jelena Berkovic, a journalist, against Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, on charges of violation of the right to access to information.

25.08.2005 On Wednesday, August 24, a state of emergency was declared in Gorican and Kotoriba for fear of flooding. The Mura River level has risen to 460 centimetres, and the Medjimurska County engaged over 300 workers and volunteers to stand by and intervene should the need arise.

23.08.2005 The ZUM association for youth employment and vocational training was selected as one of the two “contact points” for the EU financed “Youth Programme” in Croatia, together with the Volunteer Centre Zagreb.

22.08.2005 From July 30 to August 8, over 600 youth representatives from all over the world gathered at the World Youth Congress 2005.

19.08.2005 The European Commission Avis (Opinion) on Croatian request for EU Membership, presented to the nation as “very positive opinion”, is anything but, at least in the segment related to the environment and ecology in Croatia, says Osjecki Zeleni environmental Association.

19.08.2005 The risk for infection with HIV virus increases in cases where condoms are not used or if drug-users share needles. The success in the reduction of risk behaviour depends on the existence of well-defined behavioural skills. These skills may be technical, interpersonal and self-management skills.

12.08.2005 “The average Croatian family has problems to cover the costs of a child birth, a wedding ceremony or a funeral, having in mind that their monthly income is barely sufficient to cover the costs of basic subsistence”, Kresimir Sever, the President of the Independent Trade Unions of Croatia, said last Wednesday.

09.08.2005 The sea at the Rijeka City Beach at Pecine remains heavily polluted. The tests have proven that the pollution is both communal (from the Rijeka sewage system) and industrial, informed the Rijeka City Council and the Communal Services Enterprise “Vodovod i Kanalizacija” (Water Supply and Sewage Management).

09.08.2005 The existing legal framework in Croatia allows the local self-government units to dispose of their own budgets independently, so that financing of the work of certain political parties from the municipal budgets is not illegal, notes TI Croatia's Zorislav Antun Petrovic in this opinion article.

08.08.2005 The Day of Gratitude is a national holiday in Croatia, marking the memory of the 1995 military offensive “Storm”, which is represented by politicians and the media as liberation of Croatian land from the occupation nof the Yugoslav Army. Serbia commemorates, on the very same day, the victims of the campaign and the expulsion of over 150 thousand Serb civilians. The media don’t think, don’t count, don’t analyze – they merely present the attempts to woo the voters. The winking at the voters, with nationalist sly grin, as any flirt, heats up the passions of the lowest kind: fear, hatred, intolerance.

05.08.2005 Amnesty International (AI) says today, on its web-site, that ten years after the completion of military-police offensive code named “The Storm”, which was followed by crimes against the Serb civilians, the Croatian judiciary failed to provide justice for all victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

04.08.2005 Ten years ago Thursday, Croatian forces began to retake areas under Serb control. During and after the military offensives, Serb civilians were tortured, murdered, or forcibly expelled by the Croatian army while about 200,000 Croatian Serbs fled to neighboring countries. Croatian authorities are being asked to bring the perpertrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity to justice.

04.08.2005 Starting next year, the shops in Croatia will start paying half a Kuna for every empty bottle used for sale of beverages and soft drinks, announced Marina Matulovic-Dropuli, Minister of Environmental Protection.

04.08.2005 About 30 activists from a number of associations gathered under the “Matija Gubec” Civic Initiative, protested on Tuesday, August 2, in Radiceva Street in Zagreb, against the implementation of the changed Law on Public Gathering.

03.08.2005 Vrsaljka Matijevic, the Croatian Children Ombudswoman, asked the Social Welfare Centre and the Police to investigate the child abuse cases involving children, between seven and ten years of age, being forced to work in inhuman high-temperature conditions.

03.08.2005 The Transparency International Croatia started the implementation of the Political Corruption Reduction Project. The project activities include the preparation of a Draft-Law on Financing of Political Parties and Election Campaigns.