Croatia

In November 1995 the Erdut Agreement was signed to end the conflict over Sector East. The parties committed themselves to a peaceful resolution, which would be implemented by the international community through a Transitional Authority called the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja, and Western Srijem (UNTAES). UNTAES controlled the region for two years, from January 1996 to January 1998. At that time, it was estimated that approximately 50,000 Serbs from Croatia were in the Republika Srpska (Bosnia-Herzegovina) and 150,000 Serbs from Croatia were in Serbia. 

 

During this period, fledgling Croatian NGOs emerged to monitor human rights violations and to provide pro bono legal assistance to refugees or displaced persons. Over the years, these NGOs, with ADF’s assistance, became successful in assisting disadvantaged populations, through legal assistance services, to regain their legal status and personal documents, tenancy rights, or property. The legal services staff and field workers, located throughout the country, were well placed sources to gather information and monitor human rights. The NGOs grew to be a reliable source for information gathering and dissemination concerning the affected populations. Their accomplishments are remarkable since these organizations developed in a country with little tradition of independent NGOs, and faced a continued struggle against the backdrop of a government hostile to their work.

 

ADF’s work in Croatia closely tracked and quickly responded to changes in the operating environment described above. In 1994, when ADF’s original project began, there were four UNPAs in the West, North, South and East and the occupying forces and Croatian government were negotiating a plan calling for great autonomy of the protected areas. In 1995, Croatian military operations liberated three of the four protected areas as ADF began to fund and develop the capacity of Croatian human rights and legal assistance organizations. ADF moved quickly to help the Croatian NGOs establish emergency legal assistance offices in the war-affected areas. 

 

In 1996, shortly after the signing of the Erdut agreement, ADF implemented the Civil Rights Project aimed at obtaining citizenship papers for the inhabitants of that area. ADF project offices were established in Pakrac and Osijek to better serve the clients in the UNTAES region. A sub-component of this project, the Justice Under Law Project (JULP), assisted attorneys resident in the UNTAES region to become members of the Croatian Bar Association – a requirement for representing clients in court.

 

From 1997-1999, the UNTAES region gradually came under Croatian control and the Return Plan was executed. During that period, ADF implemented its Business Registration Project to provide impetus to economic development and Serb owned business owned enterprises in the UNTAES region. Once the UN regions were entirely reintegrated into Croatia as of January 15, 1998, ADF augmented its Reintegration of Populations Project efforts by opening additional offices throughout Croatia to bolster NGO refugee return and reintegration efforts. In 2000, with the swearing-in of a more liberal coalition led government in Croatia and centrist president, ADF has encouraged its grantees to conduct more advocacy campaigns related to their interests in a more conducive democratic governance environment.

 

ADF’s key Croatian NGO partners included the Legal Services Coalition (www.lsc.hr) and its members: The Association for Peace-Baranja (www.udruzenje-baranja.hr),Center for Peace-Osijek (www.centar-za-mir.hr), Center for Peace-Vukovar, Dalmatian Solidarity Council (www.dalmatinski-odbor-solidarnosti.hr), the Medical Center for Human Rights, the Organization for Civic Initiatives (www.ogi.hr) and the Serbian Democratic Forum (www.sdf.hr).   The Legal Services Coalition was recommended for consultative status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council in January 2007.