36 Europe and Central Asia Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns in the Region, January – June 2007 organization strongly recommended that the benchmarks which needed to be developed before the start of the human rights dialogues should include the following areas of concern where relevant: The European Council asked the Council and the Commission to submit a first progress report on the Central Asian strategy’s implementation in a year by the middle of 2008.[Please see note below] *immediate and unconditional release of prisoners of conscience; Prior to the June meeting AI had written a letter to the German Foreign Minister in his capacity as President of the Council of Ministers of the EU to remind him of the organization’s major recommendations for the Central Asia strategy and to strongly recommend that the benchmarks which needed to be developed before the start of each of the human rights dialogues should include AI's most pressing concerns where relevant, e.g. fair trial standards, release of prisoners of conscience, combating torture, addressing impunity and abolition of the death penalty. *protection of human rights defenders, civil society activists and independent journalists; *guaranteeing freedom of expression; *effectively combating torture and illtreatment, including addressing impunity of law enforcement personnel; *guaranteeing fair trial standards; *providing unfettered access to the International Committee of the Red Cross to all detention facilities and allowing public monitoring of all detention facilities; *abolition of the death penalty or immediate introduction of a moratorium on executions pending abolition; Adoption of the strategy At the end of June following its General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) meeting the EU adopted a Central Asia strategy. The EU Council Conclusions stated that the strategy would serve as an overall framework for EU relations with Central Asia. Human rights, the rule of law, good governance and democracy were to form the basis of these relations.The strategy was said to define the EU’s priorities for its cooperation with the region as a whole, but implementation would be tailored to specific requirements and performance of each Central Asian state. The strategy established Human Rights Dialogues with all five republics.The EU also stated its intention to develop relations with the regional countries in education, economic development, trade and investment, energy and transport, environmental policies, migration and intercultural dialogue. Amnesty International CROATIA General and political developments Croatia continued to pursue the objective of full integration into the European Union (EU). At the end of the period under review, 10 negotiating chapters of the acquis communautaire (the body of EU common rights and obligations that candidate countries must accept) had been opened. The main purpose of the negotiations is to demonstrate Croatia’s capacity to adopt EU law and to translate each of the 35 chapters of the acquis communautaire into national legislation. The future of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Croatia continued to be discussed, after the Mission’s activities in the areas of media and electoral legislation, police reform, civil society development and political and educational rights of minorities had ceased in December 2006. AI wrote in May to key OSCE member countries urging them to ensure that ongoing discussions on the future of the OSCE Mission to Croatia be conducted taking into account the significant gaps that remain in the areas of rule of law and war crimes investigations and prosecutions (see below). AI called for AI Index: EUR 01/010/2007