Eastern Slavonia, the only remaining Serb-held region of Croatia, is scheduled to revert to Croatian control by July 15, 1997. Some 120,000 to 150,000 Serbs living in that region will then come under the authority of their bitter opponent during the war. The transition of authority in Eastern Slavonia is designed to be carried out peacefully under the auspices of a United Nations peace-keeping operation. However, there remain concerns that the transition may be accompanied or followed by serious violations of human rights, as occurred after Croatia recaptured the Krajina, or by a mass exodus of Serbs in the region, repeating on a much broader scale the problems that arose during the transition of authority in Sarajevo=s suburbs last year. The Croatian government has issued numerous widely publicized statements and pledges, enthusiastically welcomed by the international community, guaranteeing the rights of ethnic Serbs in Eastern Slavonia. Yet, it has failed to take the steps necessary to permit the exercise of some of the most fundamental of these rights. Nearly half of these Serbs have already been displaced once, after the Croatian military offensives in 1995 that recaptured the other Serb-held areas of Croatia. If another mass exodus is to be avoided and widespread human rights abuses prevented, the Croatian government must undertake concrete measures that will give meaning to otherwise empty declarations of the right of displaced Serbs to return to their original homes or to remain in Eastern Slavonia. In addition, the international community must pressure Croatia to fulfill its human rights obligations to facilitate the right of return as well to undertake measures necessary to enable ethnic Serbs to stay in Eastern Slavonia.