This
month, the Croatian government announced its backing for legislation,
set to be voted in May, entitling rape war crime victims to a one-time
compensation payment of up to 20,000 euros ($21,500), a 320 euro ($340)
monthly allowance, health care, psychological counseling and legal aid.“The focus of the law is on the victim, without the need to detail
or emphasise the person who committed the war crime of rape, however,
it’s necessary to emphasise the perpetrator’s military characteristics
in order to make a distinction from a civil perpetrator,” said Vesna Nadj, deputy veterans’ minister.
"Until now, victims have had to deal with their own trauma privately. Now, they will finally be seen by society," says Marija Sliskovic, who runs Women in the Homeland, an NGO that has been advocating for rape victims' rights since 2010, and helping them to heal.
Raped
by some 20 men in Vukovar, Ruzica Erdelji-Barbaric fled her hometown
during the war and returned in 1998. She lives off a 200 euro ($215)
pension, and hopes the new compensation will help her live "a decent old
age". Barbaric, 63, insists other perpetrators must face justice. "I was raped and I want the people who did it to be punished," she said. "Our wounds will never heal."
War veterans’ minister Predrag Matic told the Croatian media recently that the compensation envisaged by the proposed law will be granted “based on trust”.
“A victim of sexual violence comes before the committee and tells what happened to her or him and gives accompanying documentation, if there is any. The commission will then decide whether they will get the status of a victim or not,” he said.Minister Matic has emphasised that his government is the first to do anything about the war crime of rape and that they have shown a “political good will” to address compensation to victims of rape!
While
compensation to victims of rape war crime is, in itself, a positive and
needed move one cannot but scorn such statements by the veterans’
affairs minister. Such statements do strongly suggest that there is no
substantial will to deal with the gravity of such crimes and their
perpetrators. Furthermore, given that the grant of compensation will
depend on “trust” the process announced for decision-making on
compensation via a committee tied to the veterans’ ministry is fraught
with likelihoods of political influences and subjective interpretations
on committee members.
This
law would seem to fit into the concept of “victims of crime
compensation” known to societies throughout the democratic developed
world. The only difference is, that in the democratically developed
world there’s genuine pursuit of justice against the perpetrator and in
this case there seems to be no efforts by the Croatian authorities to
seek reparations from Serbia whose citizens, at its instigation,
committed these war crimes!
Franjo Tudjman visits Vukovar
8 June 1997 during the process of peaceful reintegration of the Serb-occupied Croatian Danube region into the Croatian constitutional and legal system
This
brings me to a pertinent issue: Serbia is desirous of becoming an EU
member and as such it would be required to respect the democratic
standards inherent to EU membership. One of these standards is
respecting and complying with agreements signed with other countries.
One of such agreements is the Agreement on Normalization of Relations between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Croatia, 23rd August 1996.The joint committee (Croatia – Federal Republic of Yugoslavia/Serbia
& Montenegro) met a few times (last time in 1999) after the signing
of the said agreement, without any progress being made as to reparations
for war damages. Serbian members rejected Croatia’s draft on
compensation for damages submitted in July 1998 under the false guise
that the 1990’s war was a civil war and, therefore, each state should
sustain/compensate for damages arisen on its own territory! Not an inch
of Serbia's territory was under attack, of course. Croatia could not
agree to such a legally and factually unfounded premise and considered
that its responsibility lay in compensation for war damages that
occurred on the territory under the control of the Croatian authorities
and not for those that occurred in its occupied territories under the
control of the Yugoslav army, i.e. Serbia and Montenegro, and the rebel
Serbs in the Krajina region.
War
damages to Croatia sustained between 1990 and 1999 are estimated to be
in the vicinity of 32,5 Billion Euro. At the end of 1999 Croatia filed a
lawsuit against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later changed to
Serbia as Montenegro left the union with Serbia) at the International
Court of Justice (ICJ) for genocide and seeking compensation for war
damages. When Social Democrats won government in Croatia, in 2000, Prime
Minister Ivica Racan suspended all activities to do with the abovesaid
1996 Agreement, pending ICJ verdict. Despite that, Serbia had continued
to raised the question of restoring the property to Serb minority that
had fled Croatia during the war years, criticising Croatia that not
enough is being done on that front even though Croatia had, to September
2014, spent 5.5 Billion Euro from its budget in the implementation of
the national program securing the return of refugees and their housing.In its February 2015 verdict the ICJ
had decided that while acts of genocide were committed in various areas
of Croatia there was no genocide committed by either side (Croatia or
Serbia) as a whole but there was no doubt as to the fact that Serb
aggression against Croatia, on Croatia’s sovereign territory, so to
speak, did occur.
Vukovar, Croatia 1991
Serb Chetnik and Serb-led Yugoslav army march into Vukovar singing: "Slobo, Slobo (as in Slobodan Milosevic) send us some salad, there will be meat, we'll slaughter the Croats" (BBC newsreel screenshot)
Croatian
parliament had on 21st October 2011 upheld the Declaration on promoting
European values in South-East Europe and it has been heard on several
occasions that Croatia will not, as an EU member state, use that
position in obstructing Serbia’s negotiations for EU membership. However
this Declaration does not mean that Croatia should renounce its rights
and national interests.It’s high time to put a stop to political juggling and “political good
will” (as minister Matic put it in the case of war crime of rape) and
bring the matter of compensation for war damages to Croatia to the
table, along with other open questions such as the missing, the Vukovar
medical archives, the processing of war criminals, the return of stolen
art treasure, the landmines’ plan etc.). An official meeting between
Croatia’s new President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and Serbia’s Tomislav
Nikolic would seem to be an ideal opportunity to start “the ball
rolling” in the right and practical direction. There’s been enough
politicisation on the issue of compensation for war damages and the tide
needs to turn towards actual and concrete demands to Serbia for
payment. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)
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يسوع المسيح هو الطريق والحق والحياة. وساقوا يسوع إلى رئيس الكهنة. فاجتمع إليه جميع رؤساء الكهنة والشيوخ والكتبة. وتبعه بطرس من بعيد إلى داخل دار رئيس الكهنة، وكان جالسا مع الحراس يستدفيء عند النار. وأخذ رؤساء الكهنة والمجلس الأعلى كله يبحثون عن شهادة على يسوع ليقتلوه، فلم يجدوا. فقد شهد كثيرون عليه زورا، ولكن شهاداتهم كانت متناقضة.
nedjelja, 26. travnja 2015.
Croatia: Reparations For War Damages – A Priority In Relating To Serbia
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