Bosnia/Croatia: Ethnic Croatians born and raised in Banja Luka, and possessing a Bosnian Birth Certificate and an old Bosnian Citizenship Certificate (dated before the dissolution of Yugoslavia): Whether they are entitled to Croatian citizenship; whether they are allowed to reside in Croatia; whether they are permitted to hold Bosnian and Croatian dual citizenship; whether they are currently recognized as Bosnian citizens; whether they can reside in their former home town of Banja Luka in Bosnia; whether they can reside anywhere outside of Banja Luka in Bosnia; the treatment in Croatia by the state and by society of ethnic Croatians from Bosnia; the treatment of displaced ethnic Croats from Bosnia currently residing in Croat-controlled areas of Bosnia (January 1997 - March 1998)

For information on the situation of ethnic Croats in Banja Luka, and on the ability of displaced ethnic Croats to return there, please consult the 27 February 1999 Hrvatski Obzor attachment. 

For information on the return of refugees to Bosnia in 1997, please consult The World Refugee Survey 1998 attachment.

The same source adds, with respect to Croatia:

Between October and the end of December 1997, the number of Bosnian refugees registered in Croatia fell from more than 80,000 to fewer than 50,000. The year-end total, 49,821, represented a 69 percent decrease from the 160,000 registered in Croatia at the end of 1996. Most deregistered refugees were ethnic Croats who were offered, and accepted, Croatian citizenship, which is available to all ethnic Croats (170).

The same document provided the following information:

During the year, the newly established Ministry for Return and Immigration reportedly encouraged ethnic Croat refugees from Bosnia and Yugoslavia (Serbia/Montenegro) to settle in the Krajina, including ethnic Croats still living in ethnically mixed central Bosnia. Croatian embassies abroad also appeared to entice ethnic Croatian refugees to Croatia by offering them Serb properties in the Krajina. ODPR (Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees) registered 20,599 persons, all ethnic Croats, as "refugee settlers," who were slated to receive Croatian citizenship. More than 3,000 refugee settlers originated in Yugoslavia (ibid. 172).

Croatia also appeared to discourage ethnic Croat refugees originating in the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska, from repatriating, directing them to relocate to areas that would consolidate a homogeneous crescent of ethnic Croats in eastern Croatia, the Krajina, and western Bosnia and Hercegovina. This also suggests Croatian leaders' willingness to leave the Banja Luka and Posavina regions of Bosnia overwhelmingly ethnic Serb, solidifying the effects of ethnic cleansing.

On November 29, the Association of Displaced Persons and Refugees from Bosanska Posavina held a protest rally in Zagreb demanding their right to return. A leader of the group said that 40,000 persons had lost their refugee status in Croatia and could not return to Bosnia.

The U.S. Department of State reported that more than 11,000 ethnic Croat refugees in and around Slavonski Brod had their status changed from refugee to temporary resident, thus making them ineligible for special social allowances and benefits. UNHCR maintained that losing refugee status and acquiring Croatian citizenship had "no bearing upon the right/possibility for these individuals to return to Bosnia (172)."

For copies of the citizenship laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina, please consult the REFWORLD database.

A 4 September 1998 Oslobodjenje article states:

From the time the independent Republic of Croatia was declared until the end of July 1998, 46,407 citizens received Croatian citizenship. This was said at a press conference in the General Consulate of the Republic of Croatia in Bihac.

The citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina received Croatian citizenship at their own request, in those cases when they had submitted documents showing that they or their parents had declared themselves Croats in any period, or that they had been students in Croatia, or that they had spent a certain time as permanent residents in the Republic of Croatia.

A 3 February 1999 Vjesnik article states:

Unless the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina sign a bilateral agreement on dual citizenship, approximately 150,000 Bosnia-Herzegovina Croats might lose their Bosnia-Herzegovina citizenship and the Croatian share of the population of this country could be reduced by an additional 3 or 4 percent! These are Croats from Bosnia-Hezergovina who, apart from the citizenship of Bosnia-Herzegovina, also have Croatian citizenship....As for the issue of dual citizenship between the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia-Hezegovina, it is interesting to note that this issue was addressed in the so-called Split Agreement in 1996, where it says that dual citizenship is tolerated between the two countries, but for the Bosnia-Herzegovina Croats it would be immensely important to sign a bilateral agreement, in the way stated in the law on citizenship.

No additional information on the situation and treatment of ethnic Croats in Bosnia, nor on their treatment in Croatia, could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Oslobodjenje [Sarajevo, in Serbo-Croatian]. 4 September 1998. "Bosnia-Herzegovina: Over 46,000 Bihac Area Bosnians Have Croatian Citizenship." (FBIS-EEU-98-248 4 Sept. 1998/WNC)

Vjesnik [Zagreb, in Serbo-Croatian]. 3 February 1999. "Croatia: Commentary Claims B-H Croats' Citizenship Threatened." (FBIS-EEU-99-034 3 Feb. 1999/WNC)

World Refugee Survey 1998. 1998. Washington, DC: U.S. Committee for Refugees.

Attachments

Hrvatski Obzor [Zagreb, in Serbo-Croatian]. 27 February 1999. "Daily Views Position of Banja Luka Croats." (FBIS-EEU-1999-0307 27 Feb. 1999/WNC)

World Refugee Survey 1998. 1998. Washington, DC: U.S. Committee for Refugees, pp. 163-68, 170, 172.

Additional Sources Consulted

Electronic sources: IRB databases, Internet, NEXIS/LEXIS, REFWORLD, WNC.

Transitions [Prague]. January 1998 - January 1999.