Assistant Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Batistić Kos headed a Croatian delegation at the 62nd session of the UNHCR Standing Committee held 3-5 March in Geneva. Talks were held on the fringes with the ICRC representatives regarding assistance programmes for victims of sexual violence in conflicts. The delegation also held bilateral meetings with Guatemala, Honduras and Panama regarding Croatia’s candidacy for the Human Rights Council. Batistić Kos met with UNHCR Europe Bureau Director Vincent Cochetel and Costa Rican Ambassador Elayne Whyte Gomes for talks on Croatia’s preparation for the First Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
In her address before the Standing Committee, during the part dedicated to the UNHCR activities in Europe, Batistić Kos noted the refugee crisis in Syria and Ukraine, underscoring Croatia’s support to refugees from those countries. She reiterated Croatia’s commitment to the implementation of the Regional Housing Programme in Croatia and commended the launch of the programme in Serbia. She welcomed the recommendation on terminating the refugee status for refugees from Croatia that the UNHCR had issued in April 2014 and expressed satisfaction over the declining number of registered refugees in the region. She also recalled the choice that the Regional Programme offers refugees – return to their country of origin or local integration, hopeful that the other countries would soon begin to implement it as well.
With representatives of the ICRC Batistić Kos discussed assistance programmes for victims of sexual violence in conflicts and modes of cooperation between Croatia and the ICRC, which was welcomed by both sides.