Twenty years after the outbreak of the Yugoslav wars, the arrest of the Serbian general, Ratko Mladic may bring reconciliation one step closer. The arrest is good news for a group of young people trying to find out what really happened during the Yugoslav wars.
In a cross-border initiative, young people aim to collect a million signatures for a petition they hope will persuade governments to establish a commission to investigate the facts about the wars and their victims and work towards reconciliation in the region.
As many as 160,000 people were killed and millions were left homeless in ten years of ethnic wars in the former Yugoslavia, beginning in Slovenia in 1991. So far, none of the successor states have released official lists of those killed during the conflict and no attempt has been made to find the 15,000 people still registered as missing.
“Knowing the truth and having all the facts about what really happened will bring closure and emotional peace to a lot of people,” says Dejan Dokuzovski, 26, who is collecting signatures in the Macedonian capital Skopje.
At Zagreb’s bustling Ban Jelacic Square, in the centre of Croatia’s capital city, the newly opened stall has already attracted some interest. Volunteers weave through the crowds of people waiting for trams or enjoying the sunshine, handing out leaflets in the shape of hands and telling people why they should sign the petition. Armed with these leaflets, people approach the stall. A group of teenage girls are simply curious. A middle-aged woman is dissatisfied by the way the Croatian government has dealt with the aftermath of the conflict. “They are all thieves,” she says.
“Some just nod or sign, while others ask us more about what this petition aims to do, and tell us their own personal stories about the war,” says volunteer Kristina.
Ivan Novosel, 22, who coordinates the volunteers in Croatia, explains the current justice process makes victims feel marginalised and unsatisfied.
“Although the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has punished war crimes perpetrators, the focus is on the defendant. Victims still feel like victims.”
The Hague tribunal has so far indicted 161 persons, concluding proceedings against 125 of them. Mladic, who will be the next person to appear before The Hague, is charged with commanding the 44-month-long siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, which killed more than 10,000 people, and ordering the massacre of at least 7,500 Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995.
The million signature petition aims to bring justice to victims by putting them first. The regional commission created by the petition, RECOM, is meant to encourage governments to establish the facts about victims of war crimes, including rape, committed in the former Yugoslavia and draw up official lists of the dead.
“It is the job of states, not private organisations, to maintain the rights of people in their nations,” Novosel says.
Begun in six years ago by Serbian human rights activist Natasa Kandic, the RECOM initiative now involves over 1,500 non-governmental organisations, associations and individuals, making it one of the largest joint human rights actions in the region.
Novosel admits this is a bad time to be collecting signatures for a multinational commission, since the conviction of Croatian general Ante Gotovina for war crimes at The Hague in April has stirred up nationalist resentment. He also worries there is little desire among the seven successor states to sign an inter-state treaty, particularly when Serbia does not recognise one of them, Kosovo.
“We get a mixed reaction from people. Some accuse us of being anti-Croatian and wanting the old Yugoslavia back, even though none of us are old enough to remember it. Many people say ‘OK, that’s very good, we want that,’” Novosel says.
Some of those who sign fear the initiative might not deliver the justice and closure it promises.
Luka Bozovic, 22, who is collecting signatures in Serbia, has vivid childhood memories of his uncle’s departure for the war and of the NATO interventions in Serbia in 1999.
“We had to hide in our basement because of bombing, or spend days out of town, away from possible targets. Luckily, my family didn't lose any members in the past war,” says Bosovic.
Bozovic says he has grown up with stories about people who went missing during the war, and of the sadness of those left behind. The wars themselves were talked about during his childhood. However silence surrounded information concerning the truth about their origins and the facts about those killed.
“I know the stories about missing persons and their parents and loved ones,” Bosovic says.
“These emotional stories motivate me to keep fighting for a better future in the region and trying to prevent conflicts in future,” Bozovic adds.
