Serious Human Rights Problems in Croatia

GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR

(Greek National Committee of the International Helsinki Federation)

& MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP - GREECE

(Greek Affiliate of Minority Rights Group International)

P.O. Box 51393, GR-14510 Kifisia, Greece; tel. 30-1-620.01.20; fax: 30-1-807.57.67;

e-mail: office@greekhelsinki.gr      http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

22/1/1998

 

TOPIC: Serious Human Rights Problems in Croatia

 

The cooperating organizations Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority Rights Group - Greece distribute the latest press release of the Croatian Helsinki Committee on serious human rights problems in Croatia.

 

Zagreb, January 22, 1998

 

STATEMENT NO. 63 OF THE CROATIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE

 

The Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights continuously monitors the human rights situation on the territory of the Republic of Croatia. It has especially devoted its attention to crisis areas where, until now, the most serious human rights violations have been recorded. Related to this issue, the Committee wishes to inform the public about its opinion concerning these events and the general human rights situation in the Croatian Danube region and the parts of the Croatian territory liberated as a result of the military and police operations "Flash" and "Storm".

 

The CHC welcomes the termination of the UNTAES mandate and the peaceful return of the Croatian Danube region into the constitutional and legal system of the Republic of Croatia. The Committee believes that in such a way the fundamental pre-conditions for the establishment of the state of law are being created, with respect for human rights on the entire territory of the Republic of Croatia. However, we wish to warn the public about the fact that the most difficult part is still to come.

 

With the conclusion of the UNTAES mandate, the process of the reintegration of people who lived in the region before the war. By taking over complete control of power in the Croatian Danube region, Croatia has to create the pre-conditions for the building of a 'normal life' for all of its citizens in the region. This presupposes the two way return of all displaced reasons and refugees, the initiation of along process of reconciliation and the rebuilding of confidence among people who were, until yesterday, on opposite sides.    

 

However, the alarming news related to the events in the Croatian Danube region, which the CHC and other international monitors have been receiving recently, give cause for further concern.

 

The return of Croatian refugees to villages currently inhabited by Serbs resettled there from other parts of Croatia by the Serb paramilitary authorities is still not allowed. At the same time, citizens of Serb ethnicity are not being allowed to return to their homes in other parts of the Republic of Croatia. Such a situation has encouraged numerous citizens to attempt to take the law into their own hands in the hopes of securing their "rights". Imbued with this spirit, in the last couple of days organized groups of Croats have visited villages in the Croatian Danube region  threatening and trying to forcefully evict current residents of Serb ethnicity.  

 

With respect to the return of Serb residents to the areas liberated in the military operations "Storm" and "Flash", the situation is mostly unchanged. They are not allowed to return to their homes, because Croatian authorities at all levels and using various means have been trying to prevent their return. Their houses have been colonized in the meantime by Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina, or taken by force in looting crusades by citizens of the Republic of Croatia while the authorities are tolerating and encouraging this kind of behavior. These types of activities have all been tacitly approved and tolerated by the government of the Republic of Croatia.  The retroactive formal legalization of these activities, through the issuance of legally binding court decisions, has the function, in any state of law, of none other than the legalization of state-sponsored pillaging and  terrorism.

 

In this manner, individuals, settlers colonized from Bosnia and Herzegovina, occupy several houses at a time, "reserving" them for children as young as 10 to 12 years old.

On the territory of the Municipality of Slunj, in Veljun, there are numerous cases of pressures and abuses directed towards not only the small number of the remaining Serb but even Croat residents by both known and unknown people. This is how, for example, T.T from Zagreb received, after the military operation "Storm", on the basis of unknown criteria, two family houses for use in the village of To¼ak, houses whose rightful owners are currently living in the Republic of Croatia.T.T., however, was not satisfied with only two houses and, according to information published in the newspapers, he robbed several other houses .Representatives from the Ministry of the Interior were duly informed about these events. Furthermore, T.T. has continued to terrorize citizens of Serb ethnicity and threatens to "liquidate" them by throwing explosive devices in front of their houses. He has even physically abused some of them such as, for example, the resident whom he hit with a hammer while threatening to kill him in his own house. Despite the fact that the police pressed charges against him, according to the information we received, because of the theft of private property from several abandoned weekend and family houses (some of which are inhabited by Croats), T.T. has done nothing to change his behavior. All this leads to the conclusion that there is either a grand plan, or at least there are those in powerful places, who by protecting various hooligans, are creating an atmosphere of general lawlessness and plunder. It is, therefore, not surprising that numerous citizens of the region are afraid to sleep in their own houses and that some of those residents of Serb ethnicity who remained to live in the region after the military operation "Storm" or have subsequently returned, are seriously pondering departing for good.    

 

The Committee wishes to make the public aware of the latest incidents in the Pakrac municipality, where the local authorities have been issuing documents to residents of Serb ethnicity by which they are forced to vacate the homes in which they have been temporarily housed because their own homes are either occupied or destroyed. Croats from B-H have thereupon been resettled in these in these recently vacated houses which attests to the fact that the resettlement of Croats from B-H into the Republic of Croatia continues unabated and under the auspices of the Croatian authorities.

 

The Committee would especially like to draw attention to the worrisome situation in the Banija region which borders with B-H and about which the public has already been informed through reports in the Feral Tribune and Ve¼ernji List.

 

The Committee's monitors have been monitoring the situation in the area for a few months, particularly in the villages of Veliki Obljajand Mali Obljaj, Kobiljak, Bojna and Borovita. CHC field teams have visited the area on several occasions independently or with representatives of other international organizations. The local civil authorities in Glina were informed about the situation and the findings while the local police authorities could not be reached because they were "constantly busy" and these matters were "not in their jurisdiction."

 

After the military operation "Storm" only a few dozen families continue to live in these villages (others do not dare return). These are mostly elderly people. The Committee has registered that as much as21 families have been subjected to continuous violence by "unknown perpetrators". In ten of these cases these families were physically abused, women were even raped, and they are being insulted daily and this is considered 'normal'. In six cases, in order to intimidate these people, they and their houses were shot at with firearms, two hand grenades went off, while one family was threatened with a hand grenade. Also, on three different occasions money was stolen and in one case a house was set on fire. What is also troubling is the fact that in one and half year 5 tractors, a team with gear, 31 cow, 2 bulls, 7 horses,30 sheep and a lot of other cattle and property were stolen right before the eyes of the police. However, the police did not take into custody one single perpetrator of these criminal acts.

 

Considering the fact that the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina is very close, police patrols are constantly present and they monitor and register all visits to the village especially since they have been warned of constant criminal activity against the local population. Last year, the police arbitrarily introduced a curfew "for the protection" of the population and prevented them from leaving their houses from 5 p.m. until morning during the winter and from 9 p.m. till morning  during the summer. The villages had electricity and phones until operation "Storm" and now they do not. In their explanation for the introduction of the curfew, the police said it was because of the "police possibly shooting looters and robbers". Therefore, the villagers were not even allowed to stay in the backyards of their houses  since they could accidentally get hurt. The villagers were strictly abiding by these rules even when they could hear their livestock being stolen and their tractors being taken. They believed that the police would intervene since police officers were constantly present in the village. However, not in one single case "were the police in the vicinity." On the contrary,  a number of victims told the CHC field investigators that, as a rule, they were robbed after a police patrol had visited them and checked their estates asking questions about how their houses and barns were locked.

 

The CHC has reason to believe that certain police officers were passing information to the robbers. The Committee is ready to present the entire documentation on this case to  the Ministry of Interior Affairs provided that it remains confidential.

The most recent incident which seriously casts suspicion on the connection between certain police officers and robbers is an event that took place earlier this year. D.?. was beaten and suffered injuries to his head and chest and his wife was pulled by her hair and tied with a rope. The perpetrators of the crime threatened to kill them and shoved dish towels in their mouths. After that, they were searching their house and the entire estate for two hours and stole all of their property. They stole their team and accompanied by a lot of nice, placed all the stolen goods (food, cattle, furniture and even a humanitarian aid package) in it. The police that were in the village at the time, in a house only 50 meters away from the crime scene,  did not conduct an investigation until the following day which, as usual, did not yield any results. The perpetrators were not identified in this case as they were not identified in previous six cases of plunder and abuse of this same family. Since this is a significant continuation of looting and abuse of the same family, we will list all the instances when this was done by "unknown perpetrators": July 12, 1996 (one cow was stolen), December 7,1996 (one cow), May 12, 1997 (three cows), May 29, 1997 (unknown perpetrators shot at their house), August 10, 1997 (the last cow, 17sheep and the owners were beaten up), August 29, 1997 (a horse, two calves and horse harness). It is interesting to note that police were patrolling the area constantly during the time when these lootings took place. Some police officers were even sleeping in the neighboring house(only a few meters away) while D.?.'s house was being looted. However, they allegedly did not hear anything. One of the most recent examples of violence is the one involving three unidentified men dressed in civilian clothes who broke in the house of M.G. and physically abused her on December 29, 1997 around 4p.m. On that same day, between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. someone threw a bomb in the backyard of Ñ.M.'s house in that same village.

 

These events indicate that not only are the police in this area ineffective but the collected evidence would indicate that certain police officers directly took part in looting or protected the perpetrators. In one case it was established without a doubt that the police took part in the theft of a tractor in the village of Bojna. It was registered on many different occasions that the police suggested to the victims that they should "for their own safety" keep silent about the incident  and there were even some suggestions that the victims should leave their houses. Also, it should be mentioned that police patrols enter villager's houses whenever they wish, regardless of the time of the day.  The police have even established check points at some of these homes. During winter, police officers even take firewood away from the local population, firewood which the villagers have received from humanitarian organizations because there are unable to supply themselves with what is needed.

 

Following a petition of the residents of these villages, the CHC and other international monitors visited them and stayed for a couple of days, the members of the Ministry of the Interior became even more harsh and cruel which additionally attests to  their unprofessional behavior.

 

Drawing attention to these incidents, the CHC invites the authorities of the Republic of Croatia to, in accordance with the principles and norms of international law, guarantee the security of all of its citizens, regardless of their ethnicity, on the entire territory of the Republic of Croatia. We especially emphasize the need for strengthening the rule of law and the security of each individual, which would allow Croatia to fulfil then commitments it has taken on by ratifying international agreements. Such behavior on the part of the Croatian authorities would most effectively contribute to a better perception of Croatia around the world.

 

For the CHC:

Ivo Banac, a member of the Presidency