Human rights in Croatia
Encyclopedia
Human rights
in Croatia
are defined by the Constitution of Croatia
, chapter three, sections 14 through 69.
There are numerous non-governmental organization
s dealing with the issue in the country, as well as the Croatian Government's Office for Human Rights.
in former Yugoslavia
during the early 1990s, which included Croatia, were characterized by widespread violations of human rights and humanitarian law. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) will have adjudicated only a relatively small number of cases involving the most serious crimes by the time it ceases operating. All other war crimes cases — whether initiated domestically or referred back from the ICTY — will have to be tried by Croatia.
The experience of Croatia
illustrates many of the concerns about the shortcomings of trials to date. Patterns observed by Human Rights Watch in war crimes trials in Croatia include:
The European Union
, other European organizations, such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) and the Council of Europe
, and those countries that have supported the important work of the ICTY all have an interest in seeing that the legacy of the ICTY is carried on successfully.
's declaration of independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
in June 1991 was followed by an armed conflict between the Croatian Army and Croatian Serb armed forces, aided significantly by the Yugoslav People's Army
(Jugoslovenska narodna armija – JNA). In May 1992 Croatia gained international recognition as a UN member state.
From early 1991 to 1995 large parts of the country's territory, in particular areas bordering Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Serbia
with a significant or majority Croatian Serb population, were under control of the de facto Croatian Serb political and military leadership of the self-proclaimed autonomous Republic of the Serbian Krajina (Republika srpska krajina – RSK). In January 1992 a UN-brokered cease-fire came into effect and in April UN Protection forces (UNPROFOR) were stationed in the areas under Croatian Serb control (which became known as UN Sectors North, South, West and East).
In May and August 1995 the Croatian Army and police forces recaptured UN Sectors West, North and South, during operations "Flash
" (Bljesak) and "Storm
" (Oluja). During and after these military offensives, some 200,000 Croatian Serbs
, including the entire RSK army, fled to the neighbouring Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina under Serb control (now the Republika Srpska
entity).
In November 1995 the Croatian Government and the de facto Croatian Serb authorities signed the Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia
, Baranja and Western Sirmium
(Erdut Agreement). This agreement foresaw the peaceful return of the remaining UN Sector East to complete Croatian Government control by January 1998, following a period of interim management of the region by the UN Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES).
During the first stage of armed conflict in 1991 war crimes and crimes against humanity were perpetrated on a massive scale by Serbian forces, as well as by the JNA. These violations included murders, torture including rape, "disappearances", arbitrary detention and forcible expulsions. Instances of mass human rights violations, which are among the most serious in the 1991-1995 conflict, took place in November 1991 following the fall of the town of Vukovar
in eastern Croatia. After a protracted and destructive siege of the city by the JNA, its eventual surrender was followed by grave human rights violations, including murders, "disappearances", torture including rape, and the forceful expulsion of a large part of the non-Serb population. The fate and whereabouts of many of those arrested and detained after the fall of Vukovar remain unknown. According to official data, over 500 people are still listed as missing in the Vukovar County region, many of whom are believed to have "disappeared" during or after the fighting.
Between 1991 and 1995, many of those members of the Croatian Serb armed forces believed to be responsible for human rights violations, while technically within the borders of the Republic of Croatia, were not within its effective control as the territory was held by the de facto Republic of Serbian Krajina
.
The Croatian authorities, who remained in control of the largest part of the country, also failed to respect human rights, which was manifested in their restrictions on freedom of expression, unfair trials of political prisoners and torture and ill-treatment in police custody. Isolated events of retaliatory violence against the Serb population that stayed within the Croat controlled territory were frequent between 1991 and 1993, with the Gospić massacre
of around 100 Serb civilians being the most severe single incident. From 1992 until the "Flash" and "Storm" operations in 1995, there was no major escalation or renewed full-scale armed conflict but instances of killings, torture and arbitrary detention continued to be reported mainly against the non-Serb population in the UN Sectors and elsewhere.
In the aftermath of operations "Flash" and "Storm" widespread human rights violations, in particular murder
s, torture
, and forcible expulsions were committed by members of the Croatian Army and police against Croatian Serb civilians who had remained in the area, and to a lesser degree against members of the withdrawing Croatian Serb armed forces. These human rights violations met with vigorous international condemnation.
that took place in the Croatian cities of Zadar
and Šibenik
on 2 May 1991. Croatian
civilians vandalized and destroyed properties belonging to ethnic Serbs
in both cities. There was no evidence of any Serb deaths.
Tensions between Croats
and Serbs
increased steadily through 1990 and 1991 following the electoral victory of Croatia's nationalist Croatian Democratic Union
party, led by Franjo Tuđman. Many Serbs were deeply unhappy about the prospect of living as a minority in an independent Croatia. In the jostling for the future conceptions of Yugoslavia and territorial pretensions between the republics
, there was an expectation among Serbs of military conflict and that that could lead to persecution of minority Serbs as had occurred during the Second World War. Such fears were promoted and emphasised in public speeches by local Serb leaders like Jovan Rašković
, Milan Martić
, Milan Babić
and by propaganda coming from Milošević's
regime.
In the summer of 1990, they took up arms in the heavily Serb-populated Krajina
region of Croatia, just inland from Dalmatia
, sealing roads and effectively blocking Dalmatia from the rest of Croatia. The insurrection spread to the eastern region of Slavonia
in early 1991, when paramilitary groups from Serbia itself took up positions in the region and started to expel non-Serbs from the area. On 2 May 1991, paramilitaries allegedly associated with the Serbian Radical Party
killed a number of Croatian policemen in the Borovo Selo massacre and mutilated their bodies. This was, at the time, the bloodiest single incident in the Croatian conflict, and it caused widespread shock and outrage in Croatia. The killings produced an immediate upsurge in ethnic tensions.
The day after the incident in Borovo, one Franko Lisica, the police chief of Polače
near Benkovac
in northern Dalmatia, was killed by Serb militiamen. This incident created new tensions in his home town of Bibinje
near Zadar, where angry local Croats set fire to several properties of local Serbs.
Soon after these events, a group of younger people from Bibinje went to Zadar to participate in a demonstration against the Serb insurrection. The demonstration grew into a riot, and around a hundred properties were damaged, belonging to ethnic Serbs, or to Yugoslav companies such as those of JAT. Because there were many broken windows in the city centre streets, the next day the Zadar newspaper "Narodni List" printed the headline Zadarska noć kristala literally meaning "Zadar night of crystal" (intended to be a pun on kristalna noć, the Croatian translation of Kristallnacht
). On 6 May, one Yugoslav army
soldier was killed and another seriously wounded by protestors outside the Yugoslav naval command in Zadar.
Demonstrations were also organized in the city of Šibenik
, where they involved another large group of Croats. Those protests also turned violent, with Serb-owned businesses and vehicles being attacked and destroyed.
The number of properties destroyed was reported to have been at least 168. A number of individual Serbs were also assaulted.
The violence was reported to have lasted for several hours, without the police taking control.
The Yugoslav communist government later accused local HDZ officials of having instigated the violence. It claimed that
The events in Zadar were not widely reported at the time in the Western media, though the Serbian media cited the pogrom as an example of anti-Serb sentiment in Croatia.. It was cited in a similar context by the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević
during his war crimes trial.
In July, JNA and Serb forces launched the attack on Croatian-populated Dalmatia in the Operation Coast-91. Zadar and Šibenik would become the cities in Dalmatia most heavily hit by Serb attacks, with hundreds of casualties.
, are still displaced in neighbouring countries and beyond. Tens of thousands of Croatian Serbs could not return and many returns were not sustainable (due to political, but also economic reasons).
The Croatian authorities had pledged to return illegally occupied property by the end of June 2004 and other occupied property by the end of 2004, as part of their obligation to award reparations, including restitution of property, to Croatian Serbs displaced by the conflict. However, the repossession rate continues to remain slow.
Many Croatian Serbs, especially those who formerly lived in urban areas, could not return because they had lost their tenancy rights to socially owned apartments. Lengthy and in some cases unfair proceedings, particularly in lower level courts, continue to remain a major problem for returnees pursuing their rights in court. Moreover, Croatian Serbs continue to face discrimination in employment, property claims and access to other economic and social rights. As of 2006 conditions are improving, especially due to Croatia's bid for membership in the EU, but a significant percentage of Krajina Serbs still remain displaced in neighbouring countries, and the return to pre-war levels seems less likely.
The European Court of Human Rights
in 2006 decided against Croatian Serb Kristina Blečić, stripped her of occupancy rights after leaving his house in 1991 in Zadar. On July 20, 2007 the OSCE released a report praising Croatia's cooperation and progress in legal reforms and refugee rehabilitation, specifically completion of most of the obligations regarding Serbian refugees, and fairnes in war crimes trials.
In 2009, the UN Human Rights Committee
found a wartime termination of occupancy rights of a Serbian family to violate ICCPR. In 2010, the European Committee on Social Rights found the treatment of Serbs in Croatia in respect of housing to be discriminatory and too slow, thus in violation of Croatia's obligations under the European Social Charter
.
for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1991-1995 armed conflict remains the main human rights problem in the Republic of Croatia
. The many perpetrators of such crimes committed against Croatian Serbs
largely continue to enjoy impunity while the victims and their families are denied access to justice and redress.
Courts are still applying ethnic criteria in investigating and prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity and the Croatian judicial system has overwhelmingly failed to address violations allegedly committed by members of the Croatian Army and police forces.
In its bid to join the European Union
, Croatia must ensure respect for fundamental human rights and the rule of law. The failure of the Croatian authorities to ensure that all perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity are brought to justice, regardless of their ethnicity or of that of the victims, and to award full reparations to the victims and their families, is a serious obstacle to the realization of these principles and rights. In the 2004 Amnesty International
report on Croatia's human rights practices, concerns are detailed on the unresolved human rights legacy of the 1991-1995 armed conflict focusing in particular on:
The arrest of the former Croatian Army General Ante Gotovina
is a major step in addressing impunity for war crime
s and crimes against humanity committed during the 1991-1995 war in Croatia, Amnesty International said.
was legalised in 1977. The age of consent
was equalised in 1998. Homosexuals are not banned from military service
. In 2003, the Croatian government passed laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment and education, the distribution of homophobic materials, and defamation of homosexuality and homosexuals. Rights are conferred upon same-sex couples after three years, but registered unions are still not permitted.
In November 2010 the European Commission's annual progress report on Croatia's candidacy stated that that Croatia's numerous homophobic incidents, like the ones mentioned above as well as others, are worrying since inquisitions need to make further efforts in combating hate crimes. The European Parliament, as stands in its 2010 resolution, “expresses its concern at the resentment against the LGBT minority in Croatia, evidenced most recently by homophobic attacks on participants in the Gay Pride parade in Zagreb; urges the Croatian authorities to condemn and prosecute political hatred and violence against any minority; invites the Croatian Government to implement and enforce the Anti-Discrimination Law”.
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
are defined by the Constitution of Croatia
Constitution of Croatia
The current Constitution of the Republic of Croatia was adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia on December 22, 1990. It replaced the Constitution of 1974 ratified in socialist Yugoslavia...
, chapter three, sections 14 through 69.
There are numerous non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
s dealing with the issue in the country, as well as the Croatian Government's Office for Human Rights.
Since independence
The armed conflictsYugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
in former Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
during the early 1990s, which included Croatia, were characterized by widespread violations of human rights and humanitarian law. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
(ICTY) will have adjudicated only a relatively small number of cases involving the most serious crimes by the time it ceases operating. All other war crimes cases — whether initiated domestically or referred back from the ICTY — will have to be tried by Croatia.
The experience of Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
illustrates many of the concerns about the shortcomings of trials to date. Patterns observed by Human Rights Watch in war crimes trials in Croatia include:
- A disproportionate number of cases being brought against the ethnic Serb minority, some on weaker charges than cases against ethnic Croats;
- The use of group indictments that fail to specify an individual defendant’s role in the commission of the alleged crime;
- Use of in absentiaIn absentiaIn absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
trials; and - Convictions of ethnic Serbs where the evidence did not support the charges.
The European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, other European organizations, such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, human rights, freedom of the press and fair elections...
(OSCE) and the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
, and those countries that have supported the important work of the ICTY all have an interest in seeing that the legacy of the ICTY is carried on successfully.
Human rights violations 1991-1995
CroatiaCroatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
's declaration of independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
in June 1991 was followed by an armed conflict between the Croatian Army and Croatian Serb armed forces, aided significantly by the Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
(Jugoslovenska narodna armija – JNA). In May 1992 Croatia gained international recognition as a UN member state.
From early 1991 to 1995 large parts of the country's territory, in particular areas bordering Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
with a significant or majority Croatian Serb population, were under control of the de facto Croatian Serb political and military leadership of the self-proclaimed autonomous Republic of the Serbian Krajina (Republika srpska krajina – RSK). In January 1992 a UN-brokered cease-fire came into effect and in April UN Protection forces (UNPROFOR) were stationed in the areas under Croatian Serb control (which became known as UN Sectors North, South, West and East).
In May and August 1995 the Croatian Army and police forces recaptured UN Sectors West, North and South, during operations "Flash
Operation Flash
The Serbs in western Slavonia took part in the organized rebellion against the government of the Republic of Croatia that had just proclaimed independence in June 1991, by proclaiming the Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Western Slavonia in August 1991...
" (Bljesak) and "Storm
Operation Storm
Operation Storm is the code name given to a large-scale military operation carried out by Croatian Armed Forces, in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to gain back control of parts of Croatia which had been claimed by separatist ethnic Serbs, since early...
" (Oluja). During and after these military offensives, some 200,000 Croatian Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, including the entire RSK army, fled to the neighbouring Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina under Serb control (now the Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
entity).
In November 1995 the Croatian Government and the de facto Croatian Serb authorities signed the Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia
Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
, Baranja and Western Sirmium
Sirmium
Sirmium was a city in ancient Roman Pannonia. Firstly mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by the Illyrians and Celts, it was conquered by the Romans in the 1st century BC and subsequently became the capital of the Roman province of Lower Pannonia. In 294 AD, Sirmium was...
(Erdut Agreement). This agreement foresaw the peaceful return of the remaining UN Sector East to complete Croatian Government control by January 1998, following a period of interim management of the region by the UN Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES).
During the first stage of armed conflict in 1991 war crimes and crimes against humanity were perpetrated on a massive scale by Serbian forces, as well as by the JNA. These violations included murders, torture including rape, "disappearances", arbitrary detention and forcible expulsions. Instances of mass human rights violations, which are among the most serious in the 1991-1995 conflict, took place in November 1991 following the fall of the town of Vukovar
Vukovar
Vukovar is a city in eastern Croatia, and the biggest river port in Croatia located at the confluence of the Vuka river and the Danube. Vukovar is the center of the Vukovar-Syrmia County...
in eastern Croatia. After a protracted and destructive siege of the city by the JNA, its eventual surrender was followed by grave human rights violations, including murders, "disappearances", torture including rape, and the forceful expulsion of a large part of the non-Serb population. The fate and whereabouts of many of those arrested and detained after the fall of Vukovar remain unknown. According to official data, over 500 people are still listed as missing in the Vukovar County region, many of whom are believed to have "disappeared" during or after the fighting.
Between 1991 and 1995, many of those members of the Croatian Serb armed forces believed to be responsible for human rights violations, while technically within the borders of the Republic of Croatia, were not within its effective control as the territory was held by the de facto Republic of Serbian Krajina
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed Serb entity within Croatia. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. It formally existed from 1991 to 1995, having been initiated a year earlier via smaller separatist regions. The name Krajina means "frontier"...
.
The Croatian authorities, who remained in control of the largest part of the country, also failed to respect human rights, which was manifested in their restrictions on freedom of expression, unfair trials of political prisoners and torture and ill-treatment in police custody. Isolated events of retaliatory violence against the Serb population that stayed within the Croat controlled territory were frequent between 1991 and 1993, with the Gospić massacre
Gospic massacre
The Gospić massacre took place between 16–18 October 1991 in the town of Gospić, a city in the district of Lika in Croatia. The massacre came three days after the massacre in the village of Široka Kula...
of around 100 Serb civilians being the most severe single incident. From 1992 until the "Flash" and "Storm" operations in 1995, there was no major escalation or renewed full-scale armed conflict but instances of killings, torture and arbitrary detention continued to be reported mainly against the non-Serb population in the UN Sectors and elsewhere.
In the aftermath of operations "Flash" and "Storm" widespread human rights violations, in particular murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
s, torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
, and forcible expulsions were committed by members of the Croatian Army and police against Croatian Serb civilians who had remained in the area, and to a lesser degree against members of the withdrawing Croatian Serb armed forces. These human rights violations met with vigorous international condemnation.
Chronology of major events
- Plitvice Lakes incidentPlitvice Lakes incidentThe Plitvice Lakes incident of late March/early April 1991 was an incident at the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence...
(March 1991) - Borovo Selo killingsBorovo Selo killingsThe Borovo Selo killings of 2 May 1991 was one of the first military engagements which led to the breakup of Yugoslavia...
(May 1991) - Dalmatian anti-Serb riots of May 1991
- Kijevo during the warKijevo, CroatiaKijevo is a small village in the Dalmatian hinterland, southeast of Knin in the Šibenik-Knin county in Croatia. The population of the municipality is 623 , with 99.9% declaring themselves Croats.-Location:...
(August 1991) - Lovas massacreLovas massacreLovas massacre were the killings of Croat detainees in the villages of Lovas and neighbouring Opatovac in eastern Slavonia, Croatia. The civilians were killed by Croatian Serb paramilitary forces during the Croatian War of Independence in the period from October 10, 1991 to the end of that...
(October 1991) - Gospić massacreGospic massacreThe Gospić massacre took place between 16–18 October 1991 in the town of Gospić, a city in the district of Lika in Croatia. The massacre came three days after the massacre in the village of Široka Kula...
(October 1991) - Škabrnja massacreŠkabrnja massacreŠkabrnja massacre was a war crime committed by Serb Army forces during the Croatian War of Independence. On November 18, 1991, Serb paramilitaries, supported by the JNA, captured the village of Škabrnja and killed 25 Prisoners of war and 61 civilians over the next several days.-Before the...
(November 1991) - Vukovar massacreVukovar massacreThe Vukovar massacre, also known as Vukovar hospital massacre or simply Ovčara, was a war crime that took place between November 20 and November 21, 1991 near the city of Vukovar, a mixed Croat/Serb community in northeastern Croatia...
(November 1991) - Voćin massacreVocin massacreVoćin massacre was a massacre committed against Croatian civilians in the village of Voćin by Serb paramilitary units in December 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence....
(December 1991) - Miljevci plateau incident (June 1992)
- Operation Medak PocketOperation Medak PocketOperation Medak Pocket: Mid-September 1993 United Nations Protection Force and the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry advanced into the Medak Pocket, named after the village of Medak, in Southern Croatia, with orders to implement a ceasefire between the Croatian Army Troops...
(September 1993) - Operation FlashOperation FlashThe Serbs in western Slavonia took part in the organized rebellion against the government of the Republic of Croatia that had just proclaimed independence in June 1991, by proclaiming the Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Western Slavonia in August 1991...
(May 1995) - Zagreb rocket attackZagreb rocket attackThe Zagreb rocket attacks were a series of two artillery attacks conducted by Serb armed forces that fired ground-to-ground missiles on the Croatian capital of Zagreb during the Croatian War of Independence...
(May 1995) - Operation StormOperation StormOperation Storm is the code name given to a large-scale military operation carried out by Croatian Armed Forces, in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to gain back control of parts of Croatia which had been claimed by separatist ethnic Serbs, since early...
(August 1995)
1991 Dalmatian anti-Serb riots
The Dalmatian anti-Serb riots were an act of violenceViolence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
that took place in the Croatian cities of Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
and Šibenik
Šibenik
Šibenik is a historic town in Croatia, with population of 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...
on 2 May 1991. Croatian
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
civilians vandalized and destroyed properties belonging to ethnic Serbs
Serbs of Croatia
Višeslav of Serbia, a contemporary of Charlemagne , ruled the Županias of Neretva, Tara, Piva, Lim, his ancestral lands. According to the Royal Frankish Annals , Duke of Pannonia Ljudevit Posavski fled, during the Frankish invasion, from his seat in Sisak to the Serbs in western Bosnia, who...
in both cities. There was no evidence of any Serb deaths.
Tensions between Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
and Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
increased steadily through 1990 and 1991 following the electoral victory of Croatia's nationalist Croatian Democratic Union
Croatian Democratic Union
The Croatian Democratic Union is the main center-right political party in Croatia. It is the biggest and strongest individual Croatian party since independence of Croatia. The Christian democratic HDZ governed Croatia from 1990 to 2000 and, in partial coalition, from 2003...
party, led by Franjo Tuđman. Many Serbs were deeply unhappy about the prospect of living as a minority in an independent Croatia. In the jostling for the future conceptions of Yugoslavia and territorial pretensions between the republics
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
, there was an expectation among Serbs of military conflict and that that could lead to persecution of minority Serbs as had occurred during the Second World War. Such fears were promoted and emphasised in public speeches by local Serb leaders like Jovan Rašković
Jovan Raškovic
Jovan Rašković was an ethnic Serbian psychiatrist and politician from Croatia....
, Milan Martić
Milan Martic
Milan Martić is a Serbian politician, former president of the Republic of Serbian Krajina...
, Milan Babić
Milan Babic
Milan Babić was from 1991 to 1995 the first President of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, a Croatian region at the time of the war largely populated by a Serbs of Croatia that wished to break away from Croatia.He was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former...
and by propaganda coming from Milošević's
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
regime.
In the summer of 1990, they took up arms in the heavily Serb-populated Krajina
Krajina
-Etymology:In old-Croatian, this earliest geographical term appeared at least from 10th century within the Glagolitic inscriptions in Chakavian dialect, e.g. in Baška tablet about 1105, and also in some subsequent Glagolitic texts as krayna in the original medieval meaning of inlands or mainlands...
region of Croatia, just inland from Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, sealing roads and effectively blocking Dalmatia from the rest of Croatia. The insurrection spread to the eastern region of Slavonia
Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
in early 1991, when paramilitary groups from Serbia itself took up positions in the region and started to expel non-Serbs from the area. On 2 May 1991, paramilitaries allegedly associated with the Serbian Radical Party
Serbian Radical Party
The Serbian Radical Party is a far-right Serbian nationalist political party in Serbia, founded in 1991. Currently the second-largest party in the Serbian National Assembly, it has branches in three of the nations that currently border Serbia – all former federal republics of Yugoslavia...
killed a number of Croatian policemen in the Borovo Selo massacre and mutilated their bodies. This was, at the time, the bloodiest single incident in the Croatian conflict, and it caused widespread shock and outrage in Croatia. The killings produced an immediate upsurge in ethnic tensions.
The day after the incident in Borovo, one Franko Lisica, the police chief of Polače
Polače
Polače is a village in Croatia. It is connected by the D120 highway....
near Benkovac
Benkovac
Benkovac is a town and municipality in the interior of Zadar County, Croatia.- Geography :Benkovac is located where the plain of Ravni Kotari and the karstic plateau of Bukovica meet, 20 km from the town of Biograd na Moru and 30 km from Zadar. The Zagreb-Split motorway and Zadar-Knin...
in northern Dalmatia, was killed by Serb militiamen. This incident created new tensions in his home town of Bibinje
Bibinje
Bibinje is a village in southern Croatia, situated southeast from Zadar, between the Adriatic tourist road and the sea, having a four kilometer coastline with beaches and pathways. It has 3,923 residents , 97% which are Croats....
near Zadar, where angry local Croats set fire to several properties of local Serbs.
Soon after these events, a group of younger people from Bibinje went to Zadar to participate in a demonstration against the Serb insurrection. The demonstration grew into a riot, and around a hundred properties were damaged, belonging to ethnic Serbs, or to Yugoslav companies such as those of JAT. Because there were many broken windows in the city centre streets, the next day the Zadar newspaper "Narodni List" printed the headline Zadarska noć kristala literally meaning "Zadar night of crystal" (intended to be a pun on kristalna noć, the Croatian translation of Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
). On 6 May, one Yugoslav army
Yugoslav Army
Aside from the Yugoslav People's Army, the terms Yugoslav Army, Army of Yugoslavia, or Military of Yugoslavia may refer to:* Yugoslav Partisans , the Yugoslav resistance army during World War II...
soldier was killed and another seriously wounded by protestors outside the Yugoslav naval command in Zadar.
Demonstrations were also organized in the city of Šibenik
Šibenik
Šibenik is a historic town in Croatia, with population of 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...
, where they involved another large group of Croats. Those protests also turned violent, with Serb-owned businesses and vehicles being attacked and destroyed.
The number of properties destroyed was reported to have been at least 168. A number of individual Serbs were also assaulted.
The violence was reported to have lasted for several hours, without the police taking control.
The Yugoslav communist government later accused local HDZ officials of having instigated the violence. It claimed that
- [The] action was organized by a number of the HDZ activists and the highest-ranking officials in Zadar, in the presence of Vladimir ŠeksVladimir ŠeksVladimir Šeks is an influential Croatian politician, a member of the Croatian Democratic Union . He has been a representative in the Croatian Parliament since the nation's independence, and has held the posts of the Speaker of the Parliament as well as Deputy Prime Minister of the Government.Šeks...
, deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament and Petar Šale - both of them among the highest-ranking HDZ officials at the time.
The events in Zadar were not widely reported at the time in the Western media, though the Serbian media cited the pogrom as an example of anti-Serb sentiment in Croatia.. It was cited in a similar context by the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
during his war crimes trial.
In July, JNA and Serb forces launched the attack on Croatian-populated Dalmatia in the Operation Coast-91. Zadar and Šibenik would become the cities in Dalmatia most heavily hit by Serb attacks, with hundreds of casualties.
Refugees, their return and rights
Throughout the period of armed conflicts hundreds of thousands of people became internally displaced or refugees abroad and approximately 300,000 Croatian Serbs left Croatia during the 1991-95 conflict. According to estimates of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 200,000 Croatian refugees, mostly Croatian SerbsSerbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, are still displaced in neighbouring countries and beyond. Tens of thousands of Croatian Serbs could not return and many returns were not sustainable (due to political, but also economic reasons).
The Croatian authorities had pledged to return illegally occupied property by the end of June 2004 and other occupied property by the end of 2004, as part of their obligation to award reparations, including restitution of property, to Croatian Serbs displaced by the conflict. However, the repossession rate continues to remain slow.
Many Croatian Serbs, especially those who formerly lived in urban areas, could not return because they had lost their tenancy rights to socially owned apartments. Lengthy and in some cases unfair proceedings, particularly in lower level courts, continue to remain a major problem for returnees pursuing their rights in court. Moreover, Croatian Serbs continue to face discrimination in employment, property claims and access to other economic and social rights. As of 2006 conditions are improving, especially due to Croatia's bid for membership in the EU, but a significant percentage of Krajina Serbs still remain displaced in neighbouring countries, and the return to pre-war levels seems less likely.
The European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
in 2006 decided against Croatian Serb Kristina Blečić, stripped her of occupancy rights after leaving his house in 1991 in Zadar. On July 20, 2007 the OSCE released a report praising Croatia's cooperation and progress in legal reforms and refugee rehabilitation, specifically completion of most of the obligations regarding Serbian refugees, and fairnes in war crimes trials.
In 2009, the UN Human Rights Committee
Human Rights Committee
The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a United Nations body of 18 experts that meets three times a year for four-week sessions to consider the five-yearly reports submitted by 162 UN member states on their compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,...
found a wartime termination of occupancy rights of a Serbian family to violate ICCPR. In 2010, the European Committee on Social Rights found the treatment of Serbs in Croatia in respect of housing to be discriminatory and too slow, thus in violation of Croatia's obligations under the European Social Charter
European Social Charter
The European Social Charter is a Council of Europe treaty which was adopted in 1961 and revised in 1996. The Revised Charter came into force in 1999 and is gradually replacing the initial 1961 treaty...
.
Human rights practices in Croatia in the 21st century
The continuing impunityImpunity
Impunity means "exemption from punishment or loss or escape from fines". In the international law of human rights, it refers to the failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and, as such, itself constitutes a denial of the victims' right to justice and redress...
for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1991-1995 armed conflict remains the main human rights problem in the Republic of Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. The many perpetrators of such crimes committed against Croatian Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
largely continue to enjoy impunity while the victims and their families are denied access to justice and redress.
Courts are still applying ethnic criteria in investigating and prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity and the Croatian judicial system has overwhelmingly failed to address violations allegedly committed by members of the Croatian Army and police forces.
In its bid to join the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, Croatia must ensure respect for fundamental human rights and the rule of law. The failure of the Croatian authorities to ensure that all perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity are brought to justice, regardless of their ethnicity or of that of the victims, and to award full reparations to the victims and their families, is a serious obstacle to the realization of these principles and rights. In the 2004 Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
report on Croatia's human rights practices, concerns are detailed on the unresolved human rights legacy of the 1991-1995 armed conflict focusing in particular on:
- The failure of the authorities to investigate thoroughly and promptly allegations of unlawful killings and extrajudicial executions committed during the 1991-1995 armed conflict by members of the Croatian Army and police forces, and to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice in proceedings that meet international standards of fairness;
- The failure of the authorities to disclose information on the fate and whereabouts of Croatian Serbs who went missing during the 1991-1995 armed conflict and of victims of "disappearances", whose alleged perpetrators were members of the Croatian Army and police forces, and to bring to justice those responsible for the "disappearances".
The arrest of the former Croatian Army General Ante Gotovina
Ante Gotovina
Ante Gotovina is a former Senior Corporal of the French Foreign Legion and former Lieutenant General of the Croatian Army who served in the Croatian War for Independence...
is a major step in addressing impunity for war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s and crimes against humanity committed during the 1991-1995 war in Croatia, Amnesty International said.
LGBT rights
HomosexualityHomosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
was legalised in 1977. The age of consent
Age of consent
While the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
was equalised in 1998. Homosexuals are not banned from military service
Armed forces
The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external aggressors. In some countries paramilitary...
. In 2003, the Croatian government passed laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment and education, the distribution of homophobic materials, and defamation of homosexuality and homosexuals. Rights are conferred upon same-sex couples after three years, but registered unions are still not permitted.
In November 2010 the European Commission's annual progress report on Croatia's candidacy stated that that Croatia's numerous homophobic incidents, like the ones mentioned above as well as others, are worrying since inquisitions need to make further efforts in combating hate crimes. The European Parliament, as stands in its 2010 resolution, “expresses its concern at the resentment against the LGBT minority in Croatia, evidenced most recently by homophobic attacks on participants in the Gay Pride parade in Zagreb; urges the Croatian authorities to condemn and prosecute political hatred and violence against any minority; invites the Croatian Government to implement and enforce the Anti-Discrimination Law”.
See also
- Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European UnionCharter of Fundamental Rights of the European UnionThe Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights for European Union citizens and residents, into EU law. It was drafted by the European Convention and solemnly proclaimed on 7 December 2000 by the European Parliament, the Council of...
- List of human rights articles by country
- Political prisoners in CroatiaPolitical prisoners in CroatiaPolitical imprisonment in Croatia was a factor in Croatian history during its time in the Yugoslavian state.Croatia's political prisoners' law recognizes those who were imprisoned during the period between December 8, 1918 and October 8, 1991...
External links
- Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
- Office for Human Rights of the Croatian Government
- Amnesty International USA - Croatia's human rights violations
- Human Rights Watch on Croatia
- 2009 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Croatia, released by the US DoS Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor on March 11, 2010
- Croatia Human Rights Practices, by the US Department of State in 1993
- Report by T. Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, following his visit to Croatia from 6 to 9 April 2010
- Croatia - Commission on Human Rights
- Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Croatia, by the US Department of State in 1996
- Censorship in Croatia - IFEXInternational Freedom of Expression ExchangeThe International Freedom of Expression eXchange , founded in 1992, is a global network of around 90 non-governmental organisations that promotes and defends the right to freedom of expression....