Analysis of Convention Refugees and Protected Persons in Croatia

This report examines the situation of convention refugees and protected persons in Croatia, focusing on the human rights violations faced by minorities, particularly ethnic Serbs. It delves into the historical context of the conflict and subsequent discrimination, highlighting issues such as employment discrimination, limited access to justice, and linguistic barriers. The report analyzes the legal framework surrounding refugee claims, referencing the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and relevant legislation. It also incorporates findings from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, detailing instances of police brutality, denial of asylum, and systemic discrimination. The conclusion emphasizes the challenges faced by minority groups in Croatia and their ability to claim asylum. This report also analyzes the claim as per section 96 of the Immigration and the refugee protection Act, 2001.

Running head- CONVENTION REFUGEES AND PROTECTED PERSONS
Convention refugees and Protected Person
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The country of Croatia is considered as a statutory democratic country. The
legislative powers of the parliament lie in the unicameral body of the government. The
President of the country is known to be the head of the state which further nominates the
prime minister. The Prime Minister is stated as the head of the government. The most critical
problem in the country includes the discrimination of the society that is due to the continuous
violence against the minorities or the ethnic minorities. Accurately, the ethnic Serbs are still
recovering from the conflict that occurred in late 1990. Aggression and fierceness are rapt at
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons that increased during the year.
Significant numbers of high-profile corruption cases were underway last year and that
officials sometimes engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. It states that the management
usually appreciated jurisdictional individuality and neutrality, with the adding of the cases of
extortion of the state judges, defence lawyers and the prosecutors that were secluded. The
research aims at bringing out the problems regarding the human rights violation that the Serbs
are facing. Further, this study aims at bringing out the problems of the Serbian minorities in
Croatia, including the kinds of prosecution and discrimination the people are facing in
Croatia in terms of their religion, nationality and language.
Background
Serbs initially migrated into the terrain of Croatia as border guards and established in
the Military frontiers, through the era of Habsburg rule. The central conflict emerged during
World War II. The fascist government of Croatia was responsible for slaughtering thousands
of Serbs, Jews and Roma at awareness camps in a campaign of slaughter or genocide. After
that, the associations between the Serbs and Croatia worsened. The creation of sovereign

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Croatia was joined with an elimination of the minorities specifically Serbs from the police
forces and other bureaucracy.
Further due to such action the removal of the Serbs minority-led in the rise of tension
following the constitution. The main fear that Serbian community fears are about the future
of their existence in the independent state of Croatia as it was mainly abused by the
autonomist leadership of the Belgrade and accelerated the progression of civil war between
them. The Serb minority, supported by the Yugoslav Army, demanded an independent
territory, that was occupied nearly by 30 per cent of Croatia's territory1. The conflict followed
with heavy fighting followed that resulted in the lots of bloodshed and massive displacement
of the people. In the year 1995, thousands of Serbs migrated, mostly to the countries mainly
Serbia or Bosnia, when the Croatian Army recaptured the territory that used to be occupied
by the Serb forces.
Issues
The primary issue focuses upon the violation of the human rights that the minorities
are facing in Croatia. As a result of the war in the year 1991-1995, nearly 300,000 to 350,000
Serbs were displaced. Among them, only a few returned and nearly 65 per cent of the
minority stayed back. The main issue that was noted for not staying included the lack of
sustainable conditions that the Serbs community faces even in the present date. Serbs are
subjected to violations and discrimination against the employment in the public sectors,
including state administrative authority and the branch of the judiciary2. They also experience
struggle in receiving the access to achieve justice, mainly related to the acquired and the
property rights, biasness in hearing for war crimes, and various other problems that include
1 https://minorityrights.org/minorities/serbs-2/, 'Serbs - Minority Rights Group' (Minority Rights
Group, 2020) <https://minorityrights.org/minorities/serbs-2/> accessed 4 March 2020
2 The Independent, 'The Bosnia Crisis: Serbs, Croats And Muslims: Who Hates Who And Why:' (The
Independent, 2020) <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/the-bosnia-crisis-serbs-croats-and-muslims-
who-hates-who-and-why-tony-barber-in-zagreb-traces-the-1539305.html> accessed 4 March 2020.

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education, linguistic barriers, and threats that are ethically based. In the year 2005, the
Republic of Croatia sanctioned a mutual agreement with Serbia and Montenegro on the terms
of protecting the minorities such as the Serbs and Montenegrin in the Republic of Croatia.
However, despite such agreements, there still lacks a proper implementation of those terms of
the agreement as despite the fact to protect their ethnicity their fundamental human rights are
violated, and Croatia is unable to protect in order to protect their ethnicity.
Convention Refugee Claim
The Convention that states the relation to the status of Refugees is known as the
Refugee Claim. It is a Multinational treaty introduced by the United States on July 28 and
specifies the rights of individuals who have been granted asylum. It also includes the
individuals those do not qualify as a refugee. Such people that do not include the term
refugees specifically includes the criminals of the war. The rights formed by the
Conventionstand still in today’s date. Arguments are such that due to the complex nature of
the 21st-century refugee relationships such treaties should be amended with better versions
that will be able to recognize all the factors including the amount of the nation-state,
population displacement, environmental migrants, and modern warfare.
Position of the Minorities in Croatia
Croatia is illegally engaged in pushing back the asylum seekers and the migrants
those who specifically wish to enter from the regions such as Siberia and Bosnia. It is
reported by violent behaviour that includes beating by the Croatian police from assessing the
asylum procedures3. The adults that require special care, especially who are disabled are
placed in foster care instead of providing them with the support that will help them enter
3 Refugee Survey Quarterly, 'REFUGEE PROTECTION AND IMMIGRATION CONTROL:
ADDRESSING THE ASYLUM DILEMMA' (1998) 17 Refugee Survey Quarterly.

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society and live independently among the community. Thus, the minorities, especially the
Serbs and the Roma, regularly experience such discrimination based on language religion and
other factors on which discrimination means the violation of human rights.
Corroborative Documents
Amnesty International Report, 2018
The situation of Serbs in Croatia has not at all improved but deteriorated in several ways.
Refinement against the sexual minorities continued. Migrants arriving were reverted without
admission to an operative asylum process. Croatia conventional is a lot less than a tenth of
the asylum seekers and refugees it had devoted to resettle and relocate underneath EU
patterns. Admission to abortion remained constrained. Over 6,000 people who went
misplaced during the 1991-1995 war, the whereabouts of nearly 1500 people remains
uncertain. As per the missing person report of the International Commission, it is significant
that Croatia futile to make significant efforts towards “achieving the rights to truth, justice and
restitution for victims, containing by weakening to account for over 900 unnamed mortal
remains in its mortuaries4”.
Civil society companies criticized new proposals by the government for a national
method and movement plan to combat against the percipience that had been existing in
March. The guidelines consequently followed through the government in December did not
imitate and dealt with human rights violations properly that was antagonized via Serbs, Roma
and sexual minorities. In February, in Škorjanec v. Croatia observes the European Court of
Human Rights that the ruling classes did not assure the protection of the individual the
applicant’s proper to be unfastened from torture and different degrading and inhuman
4 Amnesty.org, 'Croatia 2017/2018' (Amnesty.org, 2020)
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/europe-and-central-asia/croatia/report-croatia/> accessed 4 March 2020.

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practices to look into and accuse the racist motivations of the assaulters who were the victims
of the violent behaviour of the Croatian police force.
Croatia continuous behaviour in order to return the Serbia refugees continued and the
and migrants without permitting them admission to an active asylum process. These
outbreaks of violence caused by the police included lots of coercion, confiscation and
intimidation, including the misappropriation of the use of the police force. The Court of
Justice of the European Union on July 15, lead that Croatia had operated in contradiction of
the rules of the Dublin Regulation that specifically mention the asylum claims of the refugees
by allowing them the rights to the asylum without denying them the shelter that is their rights.
Nearly 30 asylum applications were dismissed in January and April, that included the
claim from the families with children. The dismissal was followed upon the grounds of
security concern of the state as a part of the asylum process5. The Security and the
Intelligence agency checked those. The notes of these programs had been noticeable as
“categorized” and could not be visible and hence could not be rebutted or challenged on
enchantment by using the ones in search of asylum or their prison legislative body—cases
with labelled notes brought about an involuntary rejection through the Ministry of Interior.
Subsequently, the failed asylum-seekers had been at peril of eviction from U.S. And at
amplified threat of refoulement – a degree compelling a man or woman to go back to a rustic
in which they might risk severe human rights violations. Finally, Croatia accepts to commit to
admitting nearly 1,600 asylum-seekers and refugees under the EU relocation and settlement
schemes by the completion of November, fewer than 100 people had been relocated, and
none had been resettled.
5Amnesty.org,'Croatia2017/2018' (Amnesty.org, 2020) <https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/europe-
and-central-asia/croatia/report-croatia/> accessed 4 March 2020.

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The criminal justice system continued to fail in order to provide proper treatment to
many victims in regards to the domestic exploitation by handling such abuses as a minor
offence. In the case of Ž.B. v. Croatia, the authorities dishonored the rights in order to
protect the privacy and the domestic life of the individual. The authorities were unable to
create the proper factual scenario that leads to the attempt gesture to treat such offence on a
serious note.
Human Rights Watch, World Report, 2019
According to the report, nearly 3,200 asylum seekers and migrants claimed to Croatia
in order to seek asylum, and the rate is approximately 852. The Authorities granted 21
supplementary defences during the same period and only 140 people asylum. As per the
reports of the UNHCR, there were accusations since January around 2,500 asylum seekers
and migrants that were refused by the Croatian authorities to grant the asylum to the people
and for such reason those individuals were subjected to violence by the police authorities6.
The members of the European Parliament from various EU states conjointly entreated the
European Commission to investigate the allegations, and to identify whether they were
subject to the violation of human rights. “A government published in July determined that
almost all Serbs in the U.S a stay in poverty and less than a 3rd end number one college. A
marketing campaign beginning in May for a public ballot to reduce the range of seats for
ethnic Serbs within the Croatian parliament and restriction them from vote casting on the
budget and authorities formation raised the alarm among Serb network leaders and NGOs.
Authorities have been reviewing the suggestion at the time of writing. Between January and
September 2018, there were 14 conflict crimes cases earlier than courts in Croatia. In the
6 Human Rights Watch, 'Croatia' (Human Rights Watch, 2020) <https://www.hrw.org/europe/central-
asia/croatia> accessed 4 March 2020.

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equal duration, courts convicted only four people for struggle-related crimes, and the
prosecution of other instances moved slowly”.7
Claim
As per section 96 of the Immigration and the refugee protection Act, 2001, it is
evident that the minorities can claim as per the explanation a person can claim asylum in
Canada. It is as per the refugee claims that a person can seek asylum when certain conditions
are fulfilled. As per the provision followed in Section 96, Convention refugee is stated as a
person who by reason has a fear of persecution for various reasons that includes the race,
caste, sex, place of birth, membership and the nationality. It applies particularly to the people
where each of their countries due to the fear of are not claiming for the protection and in
other cases not having the country of nationality or belongs from a country where he
migrated by reason and are unwilling to return to that country8. When the following
conditions are fulfilled, a person can be guarded under this Section of the act. There fore it is
evident that due to the fear of persecution and the continuous violence that they undergone
they forced to return to the country. The fact also states that due to the continuous violence
and the torture such persecution developed. Therefore they under these sections, the minority
can claim for the convention refugee.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is stated that the continuous violence and torture upon the Serbian
minority they were compelled to migrate from Croatia. Moreover, upon the facts that the
7 Ibid
8 Refugees and Citizenship Canada Immigration, 'Processing PRRA Applications: Interpreting A96
And A97 - Canada.Ca' (Canada.ca, 2020)
<https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-
bulletins-manuals/refugee-protection/removal-risk-assessment/applications-interpreting-a96-a97.html> accessed
4 March 2020.

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Croatian administration refusing to provide them asylum is a sheer violation of their
fundamental human rights. As per the factual scenario the Serbian community must get the
refugee claims and the right to enter as it is their human rights to get the basic amenities.
Hence all the aspects must be seen and reach to the conclusion of such decision. Further it
brings out that the administrative authority appreciated jurisdictional individuality and
neutrality, with the adding of the cases of extortion of the state judges, defence lawyers and
the prosecutors that were secluded. The research aims at bringing out the problems regarding
the human rights violation that the Serbs are facing. So as to protect the ethnicity to lead the
lives they should be granted the refugee convention under the Section 96 of the Immigration
and the Refugee Protection Act.

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Bibliography
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europe-and-central-asia/croatia/report-croatia/> accessed 4 March 2020
https://minorityrights.org/minorities/serbs-2/, 'Serbs-Minority Rights Group' (Minority Rights
Group, 2020) <https://minorityrights.org/minorities/serbs-2/> accessed 4 March 2020
HumanRightsWatch,'Croatia'(HumanRightsWatch,2020)<https://www.hrw.org/europe/
central-asia/croatia> accessed 4 March 2020
Immigration R, 'Processing PRRA Applications: Interpreting A96 And A97 - Canada.Ca'
(Canada.ca,2020)<https://www.canada.ca/en/immigrationrefugeescitizenship/
corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/refugee-protection/
removal-risk assessment/applications-interpreting-a96-a97.html> accessed 4 March
2020
Refugee Survey Quarterly, 'refugee protection and immigration control: addressing the
asylum dilemma' (1998) 17 Refugee Survey Quarterly
The Independent, 'The Bosnia Crisis: Serbs, Croats And Muslims: Who Hates Who And
Why:' (The Independent, 2020) <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/the-
bosnia-crisis-serbs-croats-and-muslims-who-hates-who-and-why-tony-barber-in-
zagreb-traces-the-1539305.html> accessed 4 March 2020