UNHCR acknowledges the ongoing efforts of the Government of Croatia to ensure access to durable solutions for returnees and refugees from Croatia. However, some of the recommendations contained in the Advisory remain relevant. In UNHCR’s view, there has been noticeable progress in implementation of the Regional Durable Solutions Process with the momentum reached under majority of the recommendation points. This is primarily based on the overall positive results achieved in the implementation of the Regional Housing Programme (hereinafter RHP) in all Partner Countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia), as 9,600 persons or 2,667 families have received housing assistance during since the beginning of the RHP’s implementation. The majority of them are refugees from, or returnees to Croatia. This progress was recognized by UNHCR as well as by OSCE particularly in relation to RHP. B) Update on the refugee situation Although the majority of persons from Croatia displaced by the conflict in the 1990s had either returned to their country of origin or acquired the nationality of their country of asylum when the Advisory was issued in 2014, there were still 49,055 persons from Croatia registered as refugees in the region. More than three and a half years later, as of 31 December 2017, a total of 24,178 refugees from Croatia remained registered in the region, of which 19,038 were in Serbia; 5,120 in Bosnia and Herzegovina; 14 in Montenegro; and 6 in Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999))1. Overall, this represents a decrease by 24,877 persons compared to the situation at the time the Advisory was issued. It should be noted that this decrease is largely due to cessation of refugee status of persons from Croatia on the basis of re-acquisition of the national protection of the country of origin or acquisition of the nationality of the host countries pursuant to Article 1C(1) or (3) of the 1951 Convention.2 Cessation on this ground, initiated in Serbia and in Montenegro well before UNHCR issued its Advisory in April 2014, continues. 22 years after the end of the conflict the interest for returns among the population remains limited. Between 1 January and 31 December 2017, UNHCR Croatia registered 44 minority returnees. In 2017, there were 22 organized convoys from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Serbia. Through these Government-sponsored convoys3, returnees managed to 1 All references to Kosovo in this Progress Report are to be understood in the context of S/RES/1244 (1999). This designation is without prejudice to positions on status. 2 According to Article 1C(1) of the 1951 Convention, a person’s refugee status shall cease if s/he has re-availed himself / herself of the protection of his / her country of nationality, while according to Article 1C(3) a person’s refugee status shall cease if s/he has acquired a new nationality and enjoys the protection of the country of his /her new nationality. 3 Serbia and Croatia, together with the respective national Red Cross Societies, continue to support voluntary repatriation from Serbia to Croatia, mainly through transport of personal belongings. 2