Zagreb, 2 July 2010 - In its session today, the Croatian Parliament adopted Amendments to the Asylum Act, effectively harmonizing the Act with the EU acquis in the asylum area and the 1951 Refugee Convention.

UNHCR Croatia highly welcomes the amendments and is pleased that almost all of its suggestions are reflected in the Act. UNHCR comments, which are based on long standing experience with Refugee Law and practice, addressed mainly issues of harmonized terminology, improved implementation and special humanitarian considerations related to the protection of the most vulnerable refugees.

UNHCR thanks the Ministry of Interior's for the good cooperation and for involving UNHCR already in the drafting process of these amendments to the 2007 Asylum Act.

UNHCR considers this as another important step of the Croatian Government to harmonize the asylum legislation with the international and European standards and practices. The revised Act further improves refugee protection in Croatia through enhanced guarantees for a personal interview and access to a fully independent appeals instance. (Asylum commission and as of 2012 Administrative Court)

Since the asylum act will be the one with which Croatia enters the EU Croatia is well advised to further develop the current asylum reception, processing and integration capacities in order to be prepared for its participation in the EU Asylum System.

On the occasion, the UNHCR Representative in the Republic of Croatia, Mr Wilfried Buchhorn stated: "This is a good day for international protection: Croatia now has a law that is aligned with relevant UN and EU standards and presents an important contribution to the protection of persons fleeing violence and human rights violations worldwide. "

Since 2004, 18 persons were granted refugee status and 12 persons were granted subsidiary protection in the Republic of Croatia.