Charter Relating the Rights of Serbs and Others

To dispel any doubts about the Croatian governement's commitment to human rights and exceptional rights for the Serbian minority, the Croatian Parliament in its first session as an independent state, adopted The Charter Relating to the Rights of Serbs and Other Nationalities in The Republic of Croatia on June 25, 1991:

I. A just solution relating to the issue of Serbs and other nationalities in the Republic of Croatia is one of the important factors to democracy, stability, peace and economic advancement, and to cooperation with other countries.

II. The protection and full realization of rights for all nationalities in the Republic of Croatia, as well as the protection of individual rights is a composite part of international protection of human and civil rights and the protection of nationalities and as such they belong to the area of international cooperation.

III. The rights of nationalities and international cooperation will not allow any activity which is opposed to the regulations of international law, especially sovereignty, territorial integrity and the political independence of the Republic of Croatia as a united and indivisible democratic and social state.

IV. All nationalities in Croatia are legally protected from such activities that would threaten their existence. They have the right to respect and to self nreservation of their cultural autonomy.

V. Serbs in Croatia and all nationalities have the right to proportionally engage in bodies of local self-government and appropriate government bodies, as well as security for economic and social development for the purpose of preserving their identity and for the protection of any attempts of assimilation, which will be regulated by law, territorial organization, local self-government as well as institutionalizing parliamentary bodies which will be responsible for relations between nationalities.

VI. Organizations which will adhere to the aims of its constitution and which are involved in protecting and developing individual nationalities, and as such are representative of the said nationality, have the right to represent the nationality as a whole and each individual belonging to that nationality, within the Republic as well as on an international level. Individual nationalities and members have the right, in order to protect their rights, to turn to international institutions which are involved in the protection of human and national rights.

The commitments of the Croatian government to human rights far surpassed those of the United States Declaration of Independence which referred to Native Americans as "merciless Indian savages," or the U.S. Constitution which specifically defined an African-American as "three-fifths of a person."

The Croatian Parliament further strengthened the law on December 4, 1991, by specifically granting local police, courts and governments to Serbs in those areas in which they were a majority. These documents granted Serbs and other national minorities full protection ol human rights, guaranteed proportional representation in government, the right to self-government, and protection from any attempts of forced assimilation. It further encouraged individuals and organizations to appeal to international bodies to secure these protections.

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