Jović: The war in Yugoslavia was a war against minorities

On June 15, 2018, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) presented its tenth Dossier: “The JNA in the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina“. As the most extensive so far, this Dossier has been covering the period from the end of the 1980s up to May 1992. It explores how the JNA and the political leadership of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and of Serbia prepared for the wars, the JNA’s involvement in the conflicts, and its contribution to achieving the wartime goals of Serbia, the Republic of Serbian Krajina and Republika Srpska.

Nemanja Stjepanović from the HLC said that the goal of the Dossier was to point to the crimes committed during the armed conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to the responsibility of the perpetrators and initiators, as well as to place these events in a wider historical context for a better understanding of them. The Dossier illuminates the process of the restructuration of the JNA from the Yugoslav into the Serbian army, its transformation as the focus of its activities changed, the alterations of national structures within the JNA, and, finally, the partiality it showed in dedicating itself to the goal of “defending the Serb people”. A survey the HLC conducted, presented within this Dossier, showed that “defence” was reduced exclusively to the conquest of the territory.

Dossier: The JNA in the Wars in Croatia and BiH

The role of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) in the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and its transformation from the Yugoslav into the Serbian army, is the subject of this, the tenth Dossier of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC). It is the most extensive of the HLC Dossiers so far, covering the period from the end of the 1980s up to May 1992. It explores how the JNA and political leadership of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and Serbia prepared for the wars, the JNA’s involvement in the conflicts, and its contribution to achieving the wartime goals of Serbia, the Republic of Serbian Krajina and Republika Srpska.

The introduction section of the Dossier presents facts about the development of the crisis in the former Yugoslavia and the steps undertaken by the leadership of the Republic of Serbia, headed by Slobodan Milosevic, to take control of the JNA, with a view to using it for achieving their own wartime goals. After that, the Dossier presents the role of the JNA in the war in Croatia, and in the BiH.

In each of the examples given of the JNA’s military involvement in Croatia and BiH, the pattern of attacks is described and the JNA units that took part in them are listed. Also, evidence on the identity of the perpetrators of crimes committed during the attacks, whether they were JNA members or members of Serb formations who participated in the actions alongside the JNA, is presented.

The Dossier also presents evidence on the JNA’s role in arming Serb formations in Croatia and BiH in the lead-up to the conflicts, and on the assistance and support it provided to Serb militaries in Croatia and BIH after having formally withdrawn from these republics.

Some of the examples given, which are substantiated by military documents, make clear that after a decision was issued on JNA’s formal withdrawal from BiH in May 1992, its units  remaining behind in BiH were simply renamed, to become units of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS). The VRS retained the command structure of the JNA and its manpower, and took possession of its weaponry. This gave the newly established army of the Bosnian Serbs a head start over all other armed formations in BiH.

The Dossier: The JNA in the Wars in Croatia and BiH is available here.

(srpski) Javni čas: Zvornik

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(srpski) Poziv: prikazivanje filma i razgovor o ratnom i posleratnom Prijedoru

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(srpski) KONKURS: Nacionalna škola tranzicione pravde

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Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights students visited HLC

On April 20, 2018, thirty students of the Master’s programme at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights visited the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), as part of their study visit to Serbia.

Višnja Šijačić and Meris Mušanović talked with the students. The two are HLC lawyers, and they presented the organization’s work on documenting human rights violations during the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and its engagement in achieving criminal justice and reparations for victims.

The students were particularly interested in the HLC’s methods of investigating and documenting human rights violations, and representing victims in war crimes proceedings, but also in learning how much the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia affected war crimes trials before the national courts of the countries in the region.

European Commission: Serbia to demonstrate firmer commitment to resolving the legacy of war crimes

On 17 April 2018, the European Commission (EC) published the Serbia 2018 Report, which shows Serbia’s progress in meeting the political, economic and administrative criteria for joining the European Union (EU). The report reiterates that the dynamics of the negotiations depend on the quality of the reforms implemented, especially as regards establishing the rule of law and the normalization of relations with Kosovo. The EC’s assessment is that Serbia has reached a certain level of readiness to apply the acquis and European standards in the field of the rule of law, but further reforms are needed in several areas, including domestic war crimes trials. Compared to all previous EC reports on Serbia, in this report much more attention is devoted to problems in establishing criminal justice for crimes committed during the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia in the period 1991-1999.

The EC Report reflects recommendations provided by the Humanitarian Law Center during the preparation of this document.

The Hague Tribunal a “gold mine” of facts pertaining to us all

From March 19 to March 28, 2018, the exhibition “ICTY: the Kosovo Case 1998-1999” was presented at the Belgrade Center for Cultural Decontamination. Through video materials and selected documents, the exhibition showed how the crimes committed during the armed conflict in Kosovo were investigated, reconstructed and prosecuted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The authors of the exhibition were SENSE-Center for Transitional Justice from Pula and the Humanitarian Law Center in Kosovo, in cooperation with the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) and the Center for Dealing with the Past – Documenta. The exhibition relied on an interactive internet narrative, “ICTY: The Kosovo Case 1998-1999 – Investigation, Reconstruction and Prosecution of Kosovo Crimes“; and it is part of the permanent exhibition at the Kosovo Documentation Center in Priština.

The Global Reparations Summit

On 25-26 March 2018, the Global Initiative for Justice, Truth and Reconciliation (GIJTR), of which the Humanitarian Law Center is a member, organized the Global Reparations Summit in Belgrade, Serbia.

(srpski) NAJAVA: Razgovor sa porodicom Bogujevci

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