The majority, or around 87,000, have returned from Serbia-Montenegro, he added.

During and after the country's war of independence from the former Yugoslavia more than 280,000 ethnic Serbs

The Delegation of the European Commission to the Republic of Croatia, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Representation in Croatia, and the OSCE Mission call for a prompt solution

Next year, about 12 million kuna (approx. 1.62 million euros) are to be granted from the state budget for the implementation of the national programme, as well as for the implementation of the Roma Decade Action Plan.

The Lika, Kordun, and Banovian region of Croatia were severely damaged during the war, causing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes in a large scale migration to surrounding countries. Since the end of the war, there has been a steady flow of families returning to back home.

"Although there has been an increase

The disintegration of former Yugoslavia and the establishment of independent Croatia resulted in increasing tensions between the Croat majority and ethnic Serb minority. This led to armed conflict during which 950,000 (1) persons were displaced within and outside Croatia in 1991-97. While the return of displaced Croats is almost complete, the return and (re)integration of Serbs remains unresolved, despite the government's commitment to promoting sustainable return and reintegration, ensuring equal treatment and access to rights for all Serb returnees, and

SC/8538

Security Council
5294th Meeting (AM & PM)

Presidential Statement Follows Day-Long Debate; Council Told Women Still Not Adequately Represented at Negotiating or Cabinet Table

Today the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms will consider Blecic v. Croatia, a case that could impact the fate of tens of thousands of Croatian Serb refugees who lost their occupancy rights to socially owned flats after fleeing the 1991-95 armed conflict in Croatia.

Kristina Blecic, an ethnic Serb/Montenegrin, had held since 1953 the occupancy right to her socially owned flat in Zadar, Croatia. In July 1991, shortly before the full escalation of the armed

By Davor Konjikusic for Southeast European Times in Belgrade

A special telephone information service has gone into operation in Belgrade, meant to assist Serbs from Croatia who are currently living in Serbia as refugees. It was inaugurated jointly by Serbia-Montenegro Human Rights Minister Rasim Ljajic and Tonci Stanic, Croatia's ambassador to Belgrade.

Refugee returns is one of the key unresolved

BELGRADE, Aug 5 (AFP) - Ten years after the key military operation which ended the 1991-95 Serbo-Croat war, some 500 Serb refugees from Croatia have only a crumbling and dilapidated barracks for shelter.

And no hopes of returning home.

The barracks, originally used as temporary accomodation for construction workers near Belgrade, have also been home to Serb refugees from Bosnia and Kosovo, the other flashpoint zones which blew up following the bloody break-up of the old Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

"We live in abominable conditions.