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Article 3 1. Every person belonging to a national minority shall have the right freely to choose to be treated or not to be treated as such and no disadvantage shall result from this choice or from the exercise of the rights which are connected to that choice. 2. Persons belonging to national minorities may exercise the rights and enjoy the freedoms flowing from the principles enshrined in the present framework Convention individually as well as in community with others. Paragraph 1 and 2 Narrative: From the scope of activities of the Ministry of Administration: The concept of national minority is not exactly defined by Croatian law. The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia lists certain national minorities, but it is not a closed number since Chapter 1 - Historical Foundations, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution defines as autochthonous minorities Serbs, Czechs, Slovaks, Italians, Hungarians, Jews, Germans, Austrians, Ruthenians, Ukrainians and others who are citizens of the Republic of Croatia. Therefore, the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia defines members of national minorities as members of the autochthonous national minorities, and their recital is not numerus clausus, and the concept of authochthonousness is not defined. Paragraph 1 of this Article partially falls within the scope of work of the Ministry of Administration. More specifically, the right of a citizen of the Republic of Croatia to identify or not to identify himself as a member of national minority, is exercised in many different manners. One of the instances where members of national minorities may exercise their right to choose to be treated or not to be treated as persons belonging to national minorities, is the electoral procedure. Special electoral provisions are presented in more detail in the paragraph following Article 15 of the framework Convention, as well as in other paragraphs of this Report concerned with different national minority rights. Within the electoral system, certain rights of the persons belonging to national minorities to freely choose to be treated or not to be treated as such, are also defined by the Law on Voters' Registers (Official Gazette, no.19/92). The said law regulates the procedure and due manner in which the voters' registers are maintained, and defines voters' registers as the national and public records of the persons who have the rights to vote. Each municipality has its own voters' register, listing persons of 18 and more years of age who have a place of residence in the territory of the municipality. As an official record, the voters' register contains the following sections, as prescribed by Article 9 of the above-mentioned law: - ordinal number
Nationality is, therefore, defined by the law as one of the data required for registering Croatian citizens with a right to vote. This datum enables the persons belonging to certain national minorities to exercise their electoral right, in a manner prescribed by specific electoral legislation, to elect representatives to the Croatian State Sabor on the basis of national identity. When the elections are called, within a certain period of time prescribed by law, citizens may state their objections with respect to the voters' register, before the voters' registers are finally closed prior to the elections. Within that period of time, before the voters' registers for the elections are closed, citizens may also state their objections with respect to their national identity declared in the register, depending on whether they wish to exercise their right to vote as members of a national minority. After the voters' registers are closed, voters' register statements, which are used during the elections where the persons belonging to national minorities may exercise their special electoral rights, are printed together with the data on nationality for each of the national minorities in question.
Legal: From the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, Historical Foundations, Paragraph 3: "Considering the presented historical facts and universally accepted principles in the modern world, as well as the inalienable and indivisible, non-transferable and non-exhaustible right of the Croatian nation to self-determination and state sovereignty, including its fully maintained right to secession and association, as basic provisions for peace and stability of the international order, the Republic of Croatia is established as the national state of the Croatian nation and the state of members of autochthonous national minorities: Serbs, Czechs, Slovaks, Italians, Hungarians, Jews, Germans, Austrians, Ukrainians and Ruthenians and the others who are its citizens, and who are guaranteed equality with citizens of Croatian nationality and the realization of national rights in accordance with the democratic norms and standards of the United Nations Organization and the countries of the free world." From the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, Article 14, Paragraph 1: "Everyone in the Republic of Croatia shall enjoy all rights and freedoms, regardless of race, colour, gender, language, religion, political or other belief, national or social origin, property, birth, education, social status or other characteristics." From the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, Article 15: "Members of all nations and minorities shall have equal rights in the Republic of Croatia. Members of all nations and minorities shall be guaranteed freedom to express their nationality, freedom to use their language and script, and cultural autonomy." From the Law on Voters' Registers: Article 9, Paragraph 1: "The voters' register shall have the following sections: ordinal number, family name and name, nationality, personal (citizen) identification number, gender, date of birth, place of residence (street and street number, village, hamlet, town) and observations. Article 23, Paragraph 1: "Every citizen has the right to inspect the voters' register and demand its amendment or correction." State infrastructure: The affairs of the state statistics are performed by the State Bureau of Statistics and the county office, or the office of the City of Zagreb, competent for the statistical work. Statistical research is conducted in accordance with the State Statistics Law and the Programme of Statistical Research of the Republic of Croatia, laid down by the Croatian Parliament. The State Bureau of Statistics and the offices for statistics are responsible for the accuracy of statistical data. Based on the census of population, special departments of the offices for statistics handle demographic data, during the collection and processing of population data. These offices include the State Bureau of Statistics and the country offices for statistics. The Programme of Statistical Research defines the content, territorial range, method of processing of data, etc. As far as the collection of data on national minorities is concerned, the research allows for the citizens to declare or not to declare themselves members of national minority. If a citizen chooses not to state his nationality, then his data are listed under the "Nationality non-declared" section. From the scope of activities of the Ministry of Administration: The voters' registers are maintained by the county offices for general administration. County offices for general administration are established in each municipality and may have their regional units within the territory of the county - the branches of the county office. With respect to the voters' registers, the county offices maintain the prescribed records, collect voters' registrations and make the appropriate amendments, according to citizen's notifications or notifications made by the competent bodies (for instance, in the event of death). Factual: The framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities applies to all persons belonging to national minorities. Below are the data on the number of persons belonging to national minorities and the areas in which they are concentrated in significant numbers: Italians In 1991, there were 21,303 registered members of the Italian national minority in the Republic of Croatia. They mainly live in Istria and the Primorsko-Goranska county. The majority were registered in the municipalities of Buje (5,528), Pula (5,375), Rovinj (2,169), Rijeka (3,330) and Pakrac (869). Czechs In 1991, there were 13.086 registered members of the Czech national minority in the Republic of Croatia, mainly in the areas of Daruvar (5,572), Grubisno Polje (1,953), Zagreb (1,175), Pakrac (718), Bjelovar (309), Kutina (607), Rijeka (144), etc. Slovaks In 1991, there were 5,606 registered members of the Slovak national minority in the Republic of Croatia. Slovaks live mainly in Ilok (1,157), Nasice (1,158), Osijek (379) and Zagreb (252). Hungarians In 1991, there were 22,355 registered members of the Hungarian national minority in the Republic of Croatia. The majority live in the area of Beli Manastir (8,956), Osijek (3,056), Vukovar (l,375), Vinkovci (1,644), Zagreb (1,208), Bjelovar (615), Daruvar (571), Rijeka (401), Pula (302), Dakovo (261) and Split (213). Ruthenians and Ukrainians In 1991, there were 3,253 registered members of the Ruthenian, and 2,494 registered members of the Ukrainian national minority in the Republic of Croatia. The majority of Ruthenians live in the area of Vukovar (2,284), Vinkovci (209), Zagreb (141) and Slavonski Brod (34), while Ukrainians live mainly in the area of Vukovar (793) Slavonski Brod (477), Novska (335), Zagreb (309) and Vinkovci (33). Serbs In 1991, there were 581,663 registered members of the Serbian national minority in the Republic of Croatia. The majority of Serbs live in the areas of Zagreb (49,965), Knin (37,888), Osijek (33,146), Vukovar (31,445), Karlovac (21,732), Rijeka (21,669), Sisak (19,209), Benkovac (18,986), Petrinja (15,969), Beli Manastir (13,851), Glina (13,975), Pakrac (12,813), Vrginmost (11,729), Daruvar (10,074), Vojnic (7,366) Vrbovsko (2,594) and Lipik (1,499). Germans and Austrians In 1991, there were 2.635 registered members of the German, and 214 registered members of the Austrian national minority in the Republic of Croatia. The majority of Germans live in the area of Beli Manastir (433), Zagreb (372), Osijek (276), Vukovar (146), Slavonski Brod (63), Rijeka (66) and Pakrac (47), while Austrians mainly live in the City of Zagreb (62) and Rijeka (7l). Jews In 1991, there were 600 registered members of the Jewish national minority in the Republic of Croatia. The majority of Jews live in the City of Zagreb (399), Split (48), Osijek (20) and Rijeka (20).
Slovenes In 1991, there were 22,376 registered members of the Slovenian national minority in the Republic of Croatia. The majority live in Rijeka (3,046), the City of Zagreb (7,186), Split (1,010), Pula (l,256), Cakovec (855), Opatija (863) and Buje (754). Albanians In 1991, there were 12,032 registered members of the Albanian national minority in the Republic of Croatia. Albanians mainly live in the City of Zagreb (2,884), Rijeka (937), Bjelovar (488), Zadar (457) and Osijek (404). Moslems In 1991, there were 43,469 registered members of the Moslem national minority in the Republic of Croatia. The majority of Moslems live in the City of Zagreb (13,100), Dubrovnik (2,866), Split (l,228), Zupanja (2,106), Labin (2,013), Pula (2,838), Rijeka (5,659) and Sisak (2,452). Romanies In 1991, there were 6,695 registered members of the Romany national minority in the Republic of Croatia. They live mainly in the areas of Cakovec (1,920), the City of Zagreb (1,105), Pula (575), Rijeka (445), Varazdin (245), Osijek (221) and Slavonski Brod (208).
Montenegrins In 1991, there were 9,724 registered members of the Montenegrin national minority in the Republic of Croatia. The majority of Montenegrins live in the City of Zagreb (2,536), Split (1,050), Dubrovnik (689), Pula (804), Rijeka (884) and Osijek (575). Macedonians In 1991, there were 9,724 registered members of the Macedonian national minority in the Republic of Croatia. Macedonians mostly live in the City of Zagreb (1,919), Split (487), Pula (385), Rijeka (468), Osijek (314) and Zadar (235). Others All citizens of the Republic of Croatia who stated non-Croatian nationality during the last, 1991 census of population, and are not members of the above-mentioned national minorities, are not organized into national minorities. They are few in numbers and generally disposed over the whole territory of the Republic of Croatia, for instance, Bulgarians (458), Poles (679) and Turks (320). There is also an ethnic group of Istrian-Roumanians who have preserved a separate family idiom in several villages in Istria (Susnjevica, Zejane).
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