Zagreb, 10 December 2009 - On the occasion of Human Rights Day, UNHCR Croatia held a regional meeting of free legal aid providers in Zagreb. The meeting was organized as a part of the cross-border component of the Millennium Development Goal Fund (MDG-F) project. UNHCR and its regional partners convened to encourage discussion on certain legal issues pertaining to durable solutions for returnees and refugees in SE Europe.

The round table gathered UNHCR experts and representatives of civil society from the region, representatives from the Office of the Ombudsman and Human Rights Center, representatives from the EU Delegation to Croatia, OSCE Office in Zagreb. Legal and other issues regarding housing and property , reconstruction, status issues, (con)validation of working years and the (future) implementation of the Law on Agricultural Land were discussed at the meeting.

The UNHCR Deputy-Representative in Croatia, Ms. Jasna Barberic, stated: "While in principle conditions to return are now in place the implementation of the laws needs still to be improved in order to ensure that all who want to return have access to rights, including access to free legal aid for returnees. The UNHCR continues to fund the provision of legal aid for returnees in need and hopes this can be gradually reduced and covered under the new Law on free legal aid. Returnees are Croatian citizens and have all the same rights and obligations."
On 10 December 1948 in Paris, the UN General Assembly adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are entitled. It consists of 30 articles which have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions and laws. Thus, each year, the world celebrates the 10th of December as the Human Rights Day.

These cross border activities, carried out by UNHCR Croatia, are an essential part of the UN MDG Fund project, which was set-up by the Spanish Government in 2006 and is designed to help governments achieve Millennium Development Goals in nearly 130 joint programs in the fields of gender equality, youth employment, economic management, culture and development, conflict prevention, environmental protection, children's nutrition, and the private sector.

The MDG-F fund in Croatia is directly linked to 3 national Millennium Development Goals: Ending Poverty and Hunger, Universal Education and Gender Equality. As a part of Croatia's EU accession this programme supports a range of projects aimed at bridging the social exclusion and poverty gap between less and more developed regions of Croatia. Projects within the scope of the MDG-F fund in Croatia are coordinated by UNHCR, Unicef, International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UNDP.