Croatia Replies to Questionnaire on 3Rd PR
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Strasbourg, 21 May 2007 MIN-LANG/PR (2006) 4 Addendum 2 EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES Third Periodical Report presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter CROATIA Replies to Comments/questions submitted to the Government of Croatia regarding its Third Periodical Report Preliminary Section 1. Before the Republic of Croatia became independent, the Constitution of the former state guaranteed the status of a constitutive nation to Croats, Serbs, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Macedonians and Bosniaks (which were at that time called "Muslims"). The status of a national minority in the former state was enjoyed by: Italians, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians, the Roma, Ukrainians, Albanians, Vlachs and Jews. After independence, the Republic of Croatia granted the status of a national minority to the existing national minorities and to all the constitutive nations from the territory of the former state. With the adoption of the Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities, which recognised the status of a national minority to each ethnic group guided by the wish for the preservation of its special characteristics, the number of national minorities in Croatia increased, so there are 22 national minorities in Croatia today. On the basis of the Constitution of the former state and the Public Administration Act, which was then in force, in 1981 the Decree on the manner of, and the conditions for the use of languages and scripts of national minorities in proceedings before public administration bodies and organisations vested with public authority was passed ( Official Gazette , no. 5/81), which enabled the use of the Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Ruthenian and Ukrainian languages, under certain conditions, both in local government units and before state administration bodies. The use of minority languages before judicial bodies was, in general, governed by procedural rules. When it comes to the languages mentioned, the Republic of Croatia recognised the existence of acquired rights of these national minorities and made a declaration on the application of the European Charter for Regional Languages in respect of them. A declaration on the application of the Charter was also made in respect of the Serbian language, due to the large number of members of the Serbian national minority in the territory of the Republic of Croatia, who were traditionally settled in certain areas. Other national minorities, which acquired this status when the Republic of Croatia became independent (constitutive nations in the former state) are, as a rule, dispersed over the entire territory of the Republic of Croatia, where they settled mostly as a result of migrations within the territory of the former state. There are only some minor exceptions in border areas relating to the Slovene and Bosniak national minority. The Republic of Croatia is a democratic and parliamentary state. The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia guarantees the right of citizens to local self-government. The Republic of Croatia was established on the basis of the principle of the separation of powers. The supreme body of the legislative power is the Croatian Parliament, the President of the Republic and the Government of the Republic of Croatia are the supreme bodies of the executive power, and the supreme body of the judicial power is the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia. The Constitution has provided for the establishment of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, as an independent body, whereas for the protection of citizens' rights in administrative proceedings, the Constitution provides for the Ombudsman, as an independent institution. Pursuant to the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, municipalities and towns are established as units of local self-government, and counties as units of regional self-government. The City of Zagreb, the capital of the Republic of Croatia, has a special position under the Constitution. Pursuant to the Act on the Territories of Counties, Towns and Municipalities in the Republic of Croatia ( Official Gazette , no. 86/06, 125/06-corr.), the territory of the Republic of Croatia is divided into 20 counties and the City of Zagreb, which pursuant to a special law has the status of both a town and a county. In addition to them, 127 towns and 429 municipalities have been established. 2 Gross domestic Gross domestic Gross domestic Structure by Gross domestic Gross domestic Gross domestic Index Counties product, product product counties, % product per capita, HRK product per capita, EUR product per capita, USD (Croatia=100) mil. HRK mil. EUR mil. USD (Croatia=100) Republic of Croatia 214 983 28 683 35 620 100.0 48 426 6 461 8 024 100.0 Zagreb 11 532 1 539 1 911 5.4 36 200 4 830 5 998 74.8 Krapina-Zagorje 4 639 619 769 2.2 33 195 4 429 5 500 68.5 Sisak-Moslavina 6 544 873 1 084 3.0 36 064 4 812 5 975 74.5 Karlovac 4 940 659 818 2.3 35 784 4 774 5 929 73.9 Varašdin 7 568 1 010 1 254 3.5 41 478 5 534 6 872 85.7 Koprivnica-Kriševci 5 373 717 890 2.5 43 891 5 856 7 272 90.6 Bjelovar-Bilogora 4 652 621 771 2.2 35 832 4 781 5 937 74.0 Primorje-Gorski Kotar 16 808 2 243 2 785 7.8 55 080 7 349 9 126 113.7 Lika-Senj 3 235 432 536 1.5 61 431 8 196 10 178 126.9 Virovitica-Podravina 3 214 429 533 1.5 35 264 4 705 5 843 72.8 Pošega-Slavonia 2 923 390 484 1.4 34 436 4 594 5 706 71.1 Brod-Posavina 4 942 659 819 2.3 28 161 3 757 4 666 58.2 Zadar 6 361 849 1 054 3.0 38 088 5 082 6 311 78.7 Osjek-Baranja 12 198 1 627 2 021 5.7 37 238 4 968 6 170 76.9 Łibenik-Knin 3 956 528 655 1.8 34 786 4 641 5 764 71.8 Vukovar-Srijem 5 532 738 917 2.6 27 482 3 667 4 553 56.8 Split-Dalmatia 18 213 2 430 3 018 8.5 38 426 5 127 6 367 79.3 Istria 13 901 1 855 2 303 6.5 66 280 8 843 10 982 136.9 Dubrovnik-Neretva 5 680 758 941 2.6 45 747 6 104 7 580 94.5 MeČimurje 4 457 595 738 2.1 37 645 5 023 6 237 77.7 City of Zagreb 68 315 9 114 11 319 31.8 87 396 11 660 14 480 180.5 Brod-Posavina County has a population of 172,993, which is by 2,005 inhabitants or 1.15% less than in 1991. The share of the population of Brod-Posavina County in the total population of the Republic of Croatia (4,381,352) is 3.95%. The average population density is 84.68 persons per 1 km 2. 3 When it comes to the administrative and territorial organisation, the county consists of 2 towns, 26 municipalities and 185 settlements. A total of 79,004 inhabitants or 45.67% lives in towns, of which Slavonski Brod, as the centre of the county, has 63,268 inhabitants, and Nova Gradiłka 15,736 inhabitants. The number of people living in rural communities is 93,989 or 54.33% of the total population of the county. Vukovar-Srijem County . In the 1991 Census this county had a population of 231,241. During the 1991 aggression against the Republic of Croatia, a large part of the County was occupied. The Croatian and other non-Serb population were expelled from the settlements in that area. There are still many displaced persons who have not returned, so the population of this county has fallen and in the 2001 Census it was 197,838. Vukovar-Srijem County has 84 settlements, which in organisational terms, include 5 towns (Vukovar, Ilok, Vinkovci, Šupanja and Otok) and 26 municipalities. A special characteristic of this area is the presence of many large villages with several thousand inhabitants. The most recent census in the Republic of Croatia was taken in 2001. The data relevant for the demographic and ethnic structure of the population are given below. The law provides that a census is taken every ten years, so we do not have more recent data available. 4 Population by national affiliation in 2001 Republic of Croatia œ Total 4 437 460 100.0 2 135 900 2 301 560 Croats 3 977 171 89.6 1,912,953 2,064,218 National minorities Total 331 383 7.5 158.990 172.393 Albanians 15 082 0.3 8,653 6,429 Austrians 247 0.0 100 147 Bosniaks 20 755 0.5 10,896 9,859 Bulgarians 331 0.0 157 174 Montenegrins 4 926 0.1 2,738 2,188 Czechs 10 510 0.2 4,930 5,580 Hungarians 16 595 0.4 7,482 9,113 Macedonians 4 270 0.1 2,018 2,252 Germans 2 902 0.1 1,254 1,648 Poles 567 0.0 116 451 the Roma 9 463 0.2 4,777 4,686 Romanians 475 0.0 203 272 Russians 906 0.0 174 732 Ruthenians 2 337 0.1 1,125 1,212 Slovaks 4 712 0.1 2,180 2,532 Slovenes 13 173 0.3 4.215 8,958 Serbs 201 631 4.5 97,481 104,150 Italians 19 636 0.4 9,210 10,426 Turks 300 0.0 183 117 Ukrainians 1 977 0.0 832 1,145 Vlachs 12 0.0 7 5 Jews 576 0.0 259 317 Other 21 801 0.5 11,267 10,534 Did not declare themselves in terms of national affiliation Total 89 130 2.0 43,537 45,593 Regional affiliation 9 302 0.2 4,757 4,545 Unknown 17 975 0.4 9,153 8,822 Note: In the 2001 Census 19,677 citizens declared themselves as Muslims 5 Population by mother tongue, 2001 Census Total % Republic of Croatia œ Total 4 437 460 100.0 Croatian 4 265 081 96.1 Croato-Serbian or Serbo-Croatian 7 015 0.2 Serbian 44 629 1.0 Macedonian 3 534 0.1 Slovene 11 872 0.3 Albanian 14 621 0.3 Czech 7 178 0.2 Hungarian 12 650 0.3 Roma 7 860 0.2 Ruthenian 1 828 0.0 Slovak 3 993 0.1 Italian 20 521 0.5 Ukrainian 1 027 0.0 Other languages 18 942 0.4 Unknown 16 709 0.4 Note: Data obtained from the Central Bureau of Statistics Data on the number of members of national minorities in Croatia In the 2001 Census, conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics, there were 331,383 members of national minorities in the Republic of Croatia, which accounted for 7.47% of the total population.