At the beginning of the discussion about the return of refugees to the Republic of Croatia, the interlocutor of "Vremena" Vladimir Cucić, the Commissioner for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia, says that it is, unfortunately, a misplaced topic. "A lot of time has passed since the beginning of the refugee crisis in SFRY, and people have not been given access to their human rights. The mere fact that the Republic of Croatia is a member of the European Union, that it has closed Chapter 23, which refers to human rights, no longer obliges it to fulfill the obligations it had in the pre-accession negotiations," says Cucić. In contrast, the situation with Bosnia and Herzegovina is different. "Despite the series of problems BiH has due to the large number of internally displaced persons, property rights have been resolved in 99 percent of cases, and private property and tenancy rights have been returned to people. In Bosnia, the process of rebuilding destroyed property is still a big problem due to the lack of financial resources. With the formation of the Commission for Property Claims of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons by Annex 7 of the Dayton Agreement, more than 70.000 housing units in Bosnia were returned to their legitimate owners," says the commissioner.
"WEATHER": According to the knowledge of the Commissariat, what is the situation in Croatia?
VLADIMIR CUCIC: Regarding Croatia and access to the rights of persons who escaped from those areas, as well as those Serbs who remained living there, despite some progress, there are still many open and unresolved issues. Even today, unfortunately, Serbia is the country with the most refugees and internally displaced people in Europe and one of the five countries in the world with a long-term refugee crisis. Of the 610.000 refugees who have sought refuge in the Republic of Serbia since 1991, 43.763 persons are still in refugee status, of which 32.371 persons are from Croatia. I emphasize that the issue of sustainable return is primarily a legal issue. If a refugee decides to integrate in Serbia, he solves his needs here, but he can exercise his rights only in the country that denied him those rights, specifically in Croatia.
For the return to be sustainable, the returnee needs to be accepted by the local community. The state can declare itself as an environment in which there are no obstacles, but if our returnees in Lapac, Bania, Kordun do not have a job and a school for their children, if they do not have access to public services, an ambulance or a bus to go to the nearest place, then there are no conditions for a sustainable return.
In support of all the above, the study by Dr. Mesić and Dr. Bagić "Minority Return to the Republic of Croatia", prepared at the initiative of UNHCR, in which the authors concluded that of over 130.000 registered returnees of Serbian nationality, only 38 percent remain in Croatia , about 45 percent returned to Serbia, and about 17 percent died. The study also states that one third of returnees are over 65 years old. And in the State Department Report for 2013, it is stated that social discrimination and violence against minorities, especially Serbs and Roma, are still present in Croatia, which discourages return.
Why did the largest number return to Serbia??
We return again to the question of access to human rights. If the returnee cannot achieve the basic existential conditions, if he does not feel safe and if he is not provided with a dignified life, he returns to Serbia again or goes somewhere else.
In addition, 13 people have been arrested since the beginning of this year. So, 20 years after the wars, people are still being arrested. Since 2003, 141 arrests have been recorded. Arrest obstructs return and creates insecurity. In the majority of cases, the persons were not prosecuted, but kept in custody long enough that they no longer thought of going to Croatia.
How it is affected by the UNHCR recommendation and to end the refugee status for refugees from Croatia?
Despite the significant number of refugees in Serbia, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees made a recommendation at the beginning of April this year that refugees from the Republic of Croatia should end their refugee status. This obviously unfounded political recommendation was adopted despite the express opposition of the Republic of Serbia, because it ignores the real situation of refugees and avoids numerous unresolved problems. The Republic of Serbia does not accept this recommendation and will continue to provide full protection and assistance to all refugees on its territory.
The facts that follow already at first glance deny the claims from the text of the Recommendation that fundamental and permanent changes have taken place in the Republic of Croatia, as a country of origin: several tens of thousands of refugees have not regained their tenancy rights, the Republic of Croatia has not rebuilt more than 10.000 demolished Serb houses in in areas where there were no acts of war and about 8000 houses in areas affected by the war, confiscated agricultural land was not returned to Serbian owners, the Republic of Croatia did not implement the Constitutional Law on the Rights of National Minorities, by which Serbs are guaranteed proportional representation and employment in state administration bodies, the police, the judiciary and other public institutions. Competent institutions in the Republic of Croatia do not prosecute individuals and groups that spread hate speech, campaign against the Serbian language and script, incite violence against Serbs or physically attack them. The Republic of Croatia did not pay due and unpaid pensions, dinar and foreign currency savings. All the above arguments support the view that the expected changes, unfortunately, did not occur.
It should also be mentioned that all procedures related to the restoration of property and housing care of former holders of tenancy rights in Croatia are at a standstill today, although the beneficiaries have valid decisions on restoration and housing care. Several thousand requests for second-degree renewal have been waiting for a response for years. Cases of confiscation of identity cards from refugees at the border with the Republic of Croatia have also been recorded. From such procedures, it is clear that the refugees are focused exclusively on integration in the Republic of Serbia, because the process of return has almost stopped.
All of the above unequivocally indicates that the expected fundamental positive changes did not occur in the Republic of Croatia when it comes to the return of Serbian refugees.
We emphasize that the UNHCR issued the Recommendation on the termination of refugee status at the moment when four countries in the region agreed to solve the problem of the most vulnerable refugees through the Regional Housing Program (RSP). The RSP is only at the beginning of its implementation, so it is certain that this premature decision will have bad consequences for its implementation, especially if it is taken into account that a large part of the promised donor funds for the implementation of the Program is missing.
The Republic of Serbia and the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, regardless of this recommendation, will continue to take care of refugees and their rights. And on this occasion, we appeal to all donors who have provided assistance to Serbia to provide housing for persons who have found refuge on its territory, to make additional efforts and continue to provide their contribution, so that even these "erased" people, after more than 20 years of exile, gained a roof over their heads.
What is perspective?
To restore civil rights. The Republic of Serbia considers that the continuation of activities on the implementation of annexes E and G of the Succession Agreement has a high priority, as well as other activities that lead to solving refugee problems. In this sense, we expect further support from the international community, as well as for UNHCR's reactions to be focused on finding solutions to these problems. The Republic of Serbia is ready for cooperation and will continue to fulfill all its obligations.
What is the situation with the return to Kosovo?
Kosovo has less than three percent of returnees. For some reason, Kosovo has a lot of affection from the international community to be maintained as a state with special needs. Last year, two returnees were killed, one wounded. Be careful, we are talking from 2012 and 2013. In Europe it is called murder. The motives of the murder are very clear, everyone knows what happened, but there are no solutions to those cases. The usurped property was not returned to internally displaced persons, the land and business premises were not returned, they were excluded from privatization, reconstruction is slow and selective, and private property is sold for nothing.
The project "Looking at European law: Refugees and asylum seekers" is financed by the European Union (through the EU Delegation in Serbia) through the "Strengthening media freedom in Serbia" program. The publication of this publication was made possible with the financial assistance of the European Union. The content of the publication is solely the responsibility of the weekly "Vreme" and in no way reflects the views and opinion of the European Union.
