Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman on Wednesday in Melbourne met with the Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department, Katherine Jones, underscoring the importance of achieving justice for the victims of war crimes committed during the Homeland War. In that context, he said that Croatia had issued through Interpol a number of international warrants for the arrest of persons staying in Australia, most of whom are wanted on war crimes charges. The two officials discussed ways to step up cooperation in the extradition of persons responsible for war crimes.
Grlić Radman informed his collocutors about the concrete steps the Croatian government was taking to provide support to Ukraine with regard to gathering evidence on war crimes, as well as the transfer of knowledge and experience in caring for defenders and civilians affected by war. In addition, he stressed Croatia’s active role within international initiatives supporting Ukraine, where we have joined the central group of countries in charge of ensuring accountability for the crime of aggression against Ukraine in line with international law.
The minister especially emphasized Croatia’s efforts in the fight against antisemitism and presented Croatia’s IHRA presidency, adding that we have adopted three working definitions of antisemitism, definitions of Holocaust denial and distortion, and definitions of antigypsyism/anti-Roma discrimination, which have also been recently adopted by the Croatian Football Federation.
The meeting with representatives of the Victoria Croatian Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Business Women of Australia - Victoria and the academic community was an opportunity to discuss ways to strengthen economic and academic ties between the two countries. Grlić Radman expressed satisfaction with the cooperation to date, highlighting potential for additional economic projects.
The minister also visited the Clifton Hill Croatian Catholic Centre and the Croatian Community Centre of Geelong, where he met with students of the Victorian School of Languages and members of HKUD “Lado” Geelong, underscoring support for their preservation and promotion of Croatian cultural heritage.
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