RECOM Initiative !Voice 12-2012

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Initiative for RECOM

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12/2013January


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IMPRESSUM!Te Voice is the ocial monthlypublication o the Initiative or RECOM.All issues are available on the website: www.ZaREKOM.orgNews about the Initiative or RECOM is available on Facebook: http://www.acebook.com/ZaREKOM.PerKOMRA.ForRECOM and on witter: @ZaREKOMPerKOMRATe RECOM team:email: [email protected] Phone: +381 (0)11 3349 766 Fax: +381 (0)11 3232 460 Cell: +381 (0)63 393 048

Belgrade, Publisher: Humanitarian Law Center ISSN 2334-6744 COBISS.SR-ID 512389815

!Glas Inicijative za REKOM.

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- Broj 1 (2011) na srp., od br. 1 (2012) na

srp., hrv. bos. i crnogorskom jeziku.

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za REKOM

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CONTENTS

EDITORIAL!Court Proceedings Are Not a Sufcient Response to the Violent Past.................2

IN THE NEWS NEWS ABOUT RECOM!Presidents o Croatia, Macedonia and Montenegro Appoint Personal Envoysto RECOM..................4

IN THE NEWS

!The Bosnian Book o the Dead.................5

!The Promoters o Reconciliation in the Region..................7

TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN THE REGION!Justice or Victims the Only Path to Peaceul Co-Existence ..................13

!Jasenovac in ront o Challenges o Memory.................15

FROM OTHER MEDIA!Radio Free Europe: Nataa Kandi and Vesna Tereli..................17

!Interview: Pro. Stephan Parmentier..................21

!The Voice o Victims:Obren Viktor..................24

European Commission. This document has been produced with the nancialassistance o the European Union. The contents o this document are the soleresponsibility o Coalition or RECOM and Humanitarian Law Center as projectholder and can under no circumstances be regarded as refecting the position othe European Union.


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In a recent discussion with colleagues who are dealing with conronting the past in dierent partso the world, historian Elazar Barkan said that the aim o the dialogue on history isto reach alevel where such dialogue becomes open and dierent opinions tend to be based on argumentsand various rational considerations, and not on membership o dierent groups (ethnic, national,religious).

Only a ew days prior to that discussion, the ICY (International Criminal ribunal or FormerYugoslavia) had reached its verdict in Operation Storm Case. Several days aterwards, theverdict was also reached in the Haradinaj and Others Case. Reactions to the verdicts were

clearly divided along ethnic lines, with very ew exceptions. One group was overjoyed; anotherwas deeply distressed, and a third simply approving o the verdicts. We have just entered theyear 2013, in which one more ex-Yugoslav country, Croatia, will become a member o theEuropean Union, and here we are still: divided along ethnic lines. Although the two trials cannotbe compared, the pattern o reactions is the same and their origin clear. Perhaps even moredisheartening, and a urther illustration o the same pattern o reaction by all sides, is the almosttotal lack o compassion or the victims. Worse, not only was compassion or the victims missing,but there was hardly any mention o them. And in those rare cases where they were mentioned,political abuse was evident.

More than ever beore, the importance o war crimes trials was clear to me, but also their

insuciency on their own. Only now are certain countries in the region contemplating andpreparing a strategy o transitional justice. Tey ailed to do so earlier. Te internationalcommunity did not have a transitional justice strategy or the region either, while Croatia isaccessing the EU without ever having had one. Except or war crimes trials beore the ICY andlocal courts, very little has been done. Te trials have not instigated the public debates expected,because the ocus o the public is not on established acts, but only on the outcome in the ormso the guilt or innocence o the persons on trial, and on the length o the prison sentences, whichis mostly discussed on the grounds o a particular communitys perception o someones guilt.

We clearly need a change in the public discourse, irrespective o who has been pronounced guilty

!CourtProceedings AreNot a SufcientResponse to theViolent Past

Mario MaiPhoto: personal archive

EDITORIAL


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We need a change in the

relation towards the violent

past, which would place the

emphasis on the victims.

or innocent, and o who is and who is not yet in the process o acceding to the EU. Tis shouldbe a change which will, as regards the violent past, place an emphasis on the victims. Only thenshall we, as societies, be able to respond adequately to violence in the recent past. And only thenshall we be able to build decent societies on the basis o compassion and to develop a culture thatoers no justication or crimes, irrespective o circumstances.

Te young people o the region, the people o my generation, grewup or were born in times o confict. As a consequence, our avoritemusic stars were not rebellious rockers, but warmonger singers.Our idols were not authors and thinkers with resh ideas, but menin bloodstained uniorms. We do not cheer our sportsmen in thestadiums, but threaten those rom across the borders. Do notmisunderstand me - young people also carried out the signature-

collecting campaign or RECOM. Young people have also been sticking up the posters or civil-democratic parties in the region. But the infuences on our childhood and adolescence are stillvisible. Tus, every signature collected, every poster stuck up, indicate what we still have to ghtor on account o the wrong decisions made by those in power. Tey had and have no right to

make such decisions, and no right to oppose our initiatives now. o provide us with assistanceand support in building a uture which shall be considerably dierent rom our past is their debttowards us.

RECOM will be directed towards the victims. By publishing the human losses registry and byorganizing public hearings, and later on by giving recommendations to the states, RECOM willbe emphasizing the victim. It could help build that dierent culture. Te least that those in powercan do this year is to repay us that debt rom the past.

Mario Mai

Te author is the Director o the Youth Initiative or Human Rights in Croatia


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!Presidentso Croatia,Macedonia andMontenegroAppointPersonal Envoys

to RECOM

IN THE NEWS NEWS ABOUT RECOM

25-28 January 2013

Croatian President Ivo Josipovi, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanovand MontenegrinPresident Filip Vujanovi have appointed their personal envoys to RECOM. Te envoys willtake part in the work o the Regional Expert Group tasked with considering the Drat Statute putorward by the Coalition or RECOM and examining the constitutional and legal grounds orestablishing RECOM. Te meeting o the Presidents Envoys, to be attended by representatives othe Coalition or RECOM, will take place under the auspices o a president in the Region. Mediawill be excluded rom the meeting.

President Josipovi appointed Zlata urevi, a proessor at the Faculty o Law at the Universityo Zagreb; President Ivanov appointed Luben Arnaudoski, Deputy Secretary-General in chargeo legal and organizational aairs at the Oce o the President o Macedonia; and PresidentVujanovi appointed proessor Sonja omovi-undi, Dean o the Faculty o Political Science inPodgorica and the Presidents Adviser on Minority and Human Rights.

In December 2012, the Coalition or RECOM called on the State Presidents in the region to adopta decision on the establishment o RECOM. Te initiative is sponsored by the Regional Coalitionand supported by 543,000 signatures collected in all the post-Yugoslav countries.

In its letter to the State Presidents, the Coalition or RECOM points out the signicant results

achieved by human rights NGOs in documenting the victims o the Wars o the 1990s. It addsthat the results would help RECOM to carry out more speedily and eciently its primary tasko personalizing the people who lost their lives or went missing during the 1991-2001 wars andmaking sure that they are publicly recognized.


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IN THE NEWS

Sarajevo, 21 January 2013

Te Bosnian Book o the Dead, jointly published by the Research and Documentation Centre(IDC) and the Humanitarian Law Center o Serbia, was presented in Sarajevo on 21 January2013 to an audience o more than 200 people amidst heavy media presence. Te audience wasaddressed by the author o the book, Mirsad okaa, Proessors Osman Ibrahimagi, ZdravkoGrebo and Ivan arevi, retired General Jovan Divjak and the Founder o the HumanitarianLaw Center, Nataa Kandi.

Te ollowing are excerpts rom the addresses by the promoters o the book:

Mirsad okaa: Te victims name list is important, because there will be no more games aboutnumbers. We are introducing standards whereby people who want to talk about victims will haveto urnish names. In this way, we will also preserve the memory o our ellow citizens and try toree our daily narrative rom myth, ideology and political and national interests and tell it as itwas, giving the numbers their names, that is, giving the rst name and amily name o the victim,said okaa, adding that the list o killed and missing persons was not nal. Tis is the numberwe have established so ar. Te ourth book contains nearly 5,000 names in respect o which wehave not been able to establish the circumstances o death with absolute certainty, so the bookremains open not only to the addition o the names o newly-identied victims, but also orurther research.

Te Bosnian Book o the Deadis based on inormation rom various sources, including 7,725witness statements, inormation culled rom 5,500 daily and periodical paper articles, 750video and audio records and 1,500 pages rom various documents, including data rom theState Commission or Missing Persons o Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH) and the archives o 725organizations, including those o justice institutions, he said.

Nataa Kandi: Tanks to the legacy o the Hague ribunal, we cannot orget the past and theevil deeds committed in the wars during the 1990s. Tis book, together with all the other namelists o people who lost their lives in the wars, will prevent public silence about the victims

!TheBosnianBook o theDead


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and their being treated as mere statistics. In the name o the dead, this book calls or publicrecognition o all the victims, because without it there can be no reconciliation and constructiono a new culture o remembrance.

Te Bosnian Book o the Deadis the most reliable authority so ar regarding the people who lost

their lives in the war in BH. Te database on which this book is based includes inormation romall existing public and numerous private sources, as well as inormation additionally collected bythe IDC.

Tis is the rst time that we have a document in which peoplesnames are listed not according to nationality, address, occupationor social origin, but because they are dead, regardless o whetherthey lost their lives in combat or as civilians, or whether they wentmissing in war circumstances, with their ates still unclear.

Tis book is also very important because it has encouraged urtherwork towards identiying the victims o the war. Te RECOM

Initiative is based on the same idea, namely to launch the process o reconciliation by namingand identiying the victims. Whereas names are checkable, numbers without names are a sourceo abuse or political ends. Our Balkan cultural background, the First and Second World Warsand the Wars o the 1990s evince our political, social, proessional and human predilection ornumbers and or remembering numbers. But now we have the names, and this puts paid to theabuse and manipulation o the victims. Tis is the beginning o reconciliation. It now remains orthe states in the region to embark on a public recognition o the victims, and that has to bear theseal o the State.

Te act that out o a total o 95,000 killed, 62,000 were Bosniaks, with more than 30,000 o themBosniak civilians, indicates in no uncertain terms that the war in BH was eectively a war against

civilians.

ProessorDrZdravko Grebodescribed the book as a heroic undertaking. He proposed anumber o riendly suggestions: any uture edition o the book should be renamed Te Bosnia-Herzegovina Book o the Dead; the entry "name o ather" should be replaced by "name o atheror mother"; the term "uncertain", used to denote a victims nationality as in "Bosniak, Serb, Croatand uncertain", should be discarded, and an alternative ound; and a new term, place o death,should be considered as a replacement or the term "place o injury". Proessor Grebo also saidthat "the war started the moment we heard, back in 1992, that 30 people had been killed, withoutany man, woman or child being named. In conclusion, he called or the acknowledgement o theact that all these people have death as their lowest common denominator.

Te General o the Army o BH, Jovan Divjak, characterized the book as a major monument topeople, both civilians and soldiers.

Proessor Omer Ibrahimagi said that Te Bosnian Book o the Deadputs a stop to a culturewhich regards the dead person as a mere statistic. "Tis book helps us to systematize memory andnot orget the past. It is certain to make a substantial contribution to reconciliation among thepeople in BH and to the humanization o its society. Research o this kind, not only in BiH butalso in the region and in countries elsewhere in the world in which wars have been ought, willpromote the humanization o mankind and o every national society-state the humanization

The Bosnian Book of the Dead,

on account o its metaphysical

responsibility to the dead and the

living, is an exceptional contribu-

tion to the new culture o memory

and o interethnic solidarity.


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o the ethics o responsibility or evil done, o the culture o coexistence between peoples o theworld at global and local levels, o our mutual responsibility or one another irrespective o ourethnic, religious or ideological aliations o peoples who are aware that, when all is said anddone, they should continue lie together in a uture o peace.

Father Ivan arevi, a proessor at the Sarajevo Teological College, said that society hadbeen presented with "our books which are as grave as history itsel. "Te Bosnian Book o theDead, on account o its metaphysical responsibility to the dead and the living, is an exceptionalcontribution to the new culture o memory and o interethnic solidarity. Tis book puts an end tothe denial o others; armed with it, we rise up against the culture o oblivion, in solidarity with thesuering o others."

Te UNIIC Business Centre in Sarajevo also hosted an exhibition presenting 51 works by 10BH artists who illustrated the book. Te artists, including Elena Monaco, Dr Goran V. Jankovi,Mehmed Slezovi and Vedran Babi, donated their work to the Research and DocumentationCentre.

A large number o portals, radio stations and print media carried highly avourable reports on theevent, including excerpts rom the promoters addresses. However, although several V crewswere present and interviewed all the book promoters, no V channel reported on the event.

Te debates on reconciliation held recently in Sarajevo and in Belgrade demonstrated thatartists have the largest capacity or sending out the message o reconciliation, while the academiccommunity oers the smallest participation in that process.

Te two debates, in Sarajevo (12/7/2012) and in Belgrade (12/13/2012), organized by the Coali-tion or RECOM, ocused on the issue o how to proceed on the road to reconciliation in theregion and who should be the principal promoters, who would also animate those segments o

!ThePromoterso Reconciliationin the Region

"The 21st century clearly is not

the time or great gestures like

that o Willy Brandts. Such be-

haviour is not even on the horizon

when it comes to our politicians."


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society which have been indierent towards any inclusion into this process. Te debates wereorganized with prominent persons o the artistic and academic community o both societies,who discussed how to proceed with the reconciliation process. Tey identied the weak points oengagement in this process so ar, and looked into the ways the RECOM process could contributeto the reconciliation.

Participants in both debates reached the same conclusions: Art has the key role in the reconcilia-tion process, as it has the greatest potential or ostering empathy, understanding and acceptanceo the suering o others. Te Arts are the irreplaceable and most powerul instruments or com-ing to terms with the dicult past and or answering the need or reconciliation.

On the Power o Art

In his opening address to the Sarajevo meeting, the theater directorDino Musta stated that the ruling regional policies still manipulateacts, praise criminals as heroes and cultivate oblivion, or the sake okeeping politicians in power and preserving their position, but thereare numerous valuable works o literature, lm, theatre, music and painting which nourish a par-ticular kind o creative remembering, appropriating thereby the space o reedom in the realm oa dicult past, a past ull o evil and blood. Musta added that cultivation o empathy must beincluded in some uture platorm or reconciliation. It is, thereore, necessary to reorm the systemo education, which is currently a sort o institutionalized oblivion.

Te actor Ermin Bravo said that empathy is crucial or the reconciliation process. Justice isessential or achieving peace. When justice takes root, reconciliation becomes possible. rustis needed to reach reconciliation. But it looks like the oundation o all this is empathy. How todene it, how to actually institutionalize it? How to make some person believe in the results oempathy, how to make peace with the experience o the victim, to paciy ones own ghosts? Tisleads to some sort o catharsis, then to empathy, which enables one to reach an understanding othe position o the other. It makes it possible to put onesel in someone elses shoes, and ostersnot only understanding, but also the acceptance o it emotionally. I have the eeling that this is thegoal o all our actions, the goal o RECOM, o our entire initiative. With regard to this, I believe

Keynote speakers at Belgrade debatePhoto: HLC archive

"Public testimonies o the victims

make sense, they have the right

strength, but only i they are or-

ganized by the state."


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that the artistic community does not achieve empathy by ollowing this whole series o steps, butmore directly. It is essential that this is the only thing which resists institutionalization. However, Ibelieve that there are institutions adequate or this - and I reckon that this is Art. So, I shall speakrom my position: theatre is institutionalized empathy, he concluded.

Andrej Nosov, student, theatre director, Director o theHarteactFoundation, said that in thelast our to ve years a whole series o art works related to the past have appeared, but the main

problem is how to make them socially visible.

Te actor Branko Cveji stated in Belgrade that artistic circles almost never encountered anyproblem while promoting their mission o reconciliation within the theatrical and other artisticcommunities. However, the main artistic challenge is to step down rom the stage and continueteaching about the past.

Teatre director Stevan Bodroa agreed that the power o Art to infuence an advancement o con-sciousness in people is huge, but theatre audiences cannot be compared to those o television, popularmusic or Internet. However, theatre is able to change the particular persons who enjoy theatre, to

touch such persons, to provoke catharsis. Te participants at both meetings concluded that art ormscapable o reaching a larger circle o people should be considered in the uture. It was suggested thatthe orthcoming debates on reconciliation should be organized in connection with various estivals.

Nataa Kandi, the Foundress o the Humanitarian Law Center, stated that the artistic communityis unique at this moment because, as compared to the other communities, other civil society com-ponents, other proessional groups, it can achieve more in the conrontation, reconciliation and rap-prochement o dierent views on what happened in the past, based on that minimum about whichall o us can say, All right, this is that minimum on which we have ormed a clear joint attitude."

Te Actual Obstacles: Distrust

Participants in both debates concluded that a hugeobstacle to reconciliation has been the act that most o the communities in the region had gotused to gloriying war criminals as heroes and to denying the crimes committed against otherethnic groups, although there is now irreutable evidence related to those crimes now available.Te participants also considered that the series o acquittal verdicts rom the ICY had contrib-uted to that. While certain participants were o the opinion that these verdicts had delivered anirreparable blow to the reconciliation process, the majority o them agreed that courts stick totheir own logic a logic based on the process o consideration o evidence. However, the outcomeo the trials does not mean that the crimes did not happen, or that there were no victims. Tis isthe message which must reach the wide audiences which create public opinion. Te acts demon-

strated and proven beore the ICY (and the national courts) should also be known. Tey tell usabout the crimes and the suering, and they can thereby contribute to a better understanding othe others and to the process o reconciliation.

Milo olaja, Proessor o Philosophy at the Faculty o Political Science in Banja Luka, said thatthere is no reconciliation at the level o the society as a whole, and there cannot be any, becausethere is no trust any more between the ethnic groups. Te entire loss o trust occurred in thewake o the Hague verdicts on Gotovina and Haradinaj. rust at the individual level does exist,but olaja does not see any sense in insisting on reconciliation, because it not possible any longerat the collective level. Tis is particularly noticeable in rural areas.

"The reconciliation o the two

presidents was their personal matter."


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Te political scientist Vlade Simovi pointed to the problem o particularity o all areas o lie inBH and in all proessional and ethnic communities. Tat problem can neither be denied nor re-solved by changes rom above, but must proceed rom the level o small communities indoctri-nated by the educational system and public political discourse. Only changes in the textbooks andthe establishing o truth commissions could instigate changes, he concluded.

Proessor o PhilosophyVlada Milutinovi considers that the main problem is that the victimso war are in some way connected with the collective guilt. Since ordinary people as a whole seethat a certain crime is linked to the collective guilt, which implies a collective punishment, they

want to reject such guilt, and the punishment entailed, which they consider undeserved and un-just. He judges it necessary to avoid the issue o collective resposibility.

Te Need or New Proponents o Reconciliation

Vesna Pei said in Belgrade that it is neccessary to reach down towards the deeper layers osociety, where the motivation to continue the reconciliation process is perhaps strongest. On this,Musta commented that it is true that it is there that there is the greatest interest in reconcilia-tion and conronting the past.

Zlatiborka Popov-Momilovi o the Faculty o Philosophy in Eastern Sarajevo reported the re-

sults o the research on reconciliation building in BH, executed in collaboration with the Univer-sity o Edinburgh. Answering the question, Which components are important or building recon-ciliation and trust at the level o the entire country? citizens o BH had expressed their strongesttrust in the educational institutions and in teachers, particularly those who are not nationalists.Te greatest distrust was elt or the organizations representing the victims. Te bottom was oc-cupied by journalists and politicians, stated Popov-Momilovi.

Politicians, Yes or No

Te lawyer Dragan Pjeva said that there is little trust in politicians. Although some politicians

At Sarajevo debatePhoto: HLC archive


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try to redeem their past sins, which is good and which we support, it mostly boils down to cheepintellectual juggling. It is important that Serbia is not at war any longer, and reconciliation is theduty o the Serbian elite. We need to live in peace with our neighbours, with the world and withourselves. In my view, this is the right measure or patriotism and love o ones motherland oratherland, he concluded.

Te playwright and author Ljubica Ostoji said in Sarajevo that the politicians eorts towardsthe reconciliation appeared abstract to date. Even were one to try, one cannot imagine personslike Josipovi or adi shooting people, killing and torturing - and then they apologize in thename o the state and the nation, or similar. On the other hand, the killer, torturer or whoever, hasnot tried to nd his/her victim or victims and apologize to them. She added that it is necessary tosee what young people think about the reconciliation and how to address them and animate themor this process.

Vincent Degert, the Ambassador with the Delegation o the European Commission in Serbia,said that our eort should be directed towards cooperation between politicians, and there weresignicant eorts in that direction, which had sent important messages, like the meeting o

Josipovi and adi in Vukovar.

Proessor o LawVesna Raki Vodineli held the opposite opinion. She said that thereconciliation between the two presidents was their own personal aair, in which no otherinstitutions, neither o the Republic o Croatia nor o the Republic o Serbia, were included. Itwas done or political show and it did not leave any signicant trace. Numerous other participantsalso expressed doubts as regards the expectations that politicians could act as the leaders o thereconciliation process. Te 21st century clearly is not the time or great gestures like that oWilly Brandts. Such behaviour is not even on the horizon when it comes to our politicians, saidMusta and added that education and working with the youth holds the key to everything; thatis probably the real target group, whom we must keep addressing.

Te Importance o Education and Awakening o the Academic Community

Te conclusion was reached in both debates that a great part o the academic community keepsvery passive as regards reconciliation. Saa Madacki, the Director o the Centre or HumanRights in Sarajevo, said that the problem with the academic community is that it does not at allexist as a totality. Tere are just isolated groups, not on ethnic grounds but by their locations,like the legal community, the historians community, etc. and there is no exchange or dialoguebetween them. We do not know how they teach, what sort o content we are in generaltranserring to those generations. Tis is an example o apartheid as a division between educationproessionals and society, said Madacki. He pointed out that the academic community itsel

needs opening up and critical assessment, to enable it to begin re-examining the content o whatit is transerring to young people.

Nataa Kandi said that the possibilities o nongovernmental organizations had been limited inthe reconciliation process, and that a register o the names o victims constitutes the greatestcontribution which they can make to this process. Revision o textbooks must start as an initiativeo the institutions themselves; otherwise it will not have any eect. Te academic communityis able to do more than that, and it is their obligation to establish the scientic acts. I we[nongovernmental organizations] establish the orensic acts, there is also a chance o dening thescientic acts which rank above the judicial ones. Te orensic acts decrease the margin o lies,


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manipulation and alsication. Tat is the minimum - and at the same time, it is the maximumrom which we can start and which can then lead us towards a certain degree o trust. Tat is howI see the role o the academic community. It can provide much more precise answers than thecivil society, said Kandi.

anja ljivar said that the key problem lies in the amily, in the media and in the educationalsystem. Tese three mechanisms unction strongly and as areas o solidarity in every entity o BHand in the entire region. Tereore, no kind o reconciliation can be achieved i it does not startrom those three basic levels.

In Belgrade, Kandi concluded: We, the nongovernmental organizations, as well as the artisticcommunity, cannot be the proponents o the act o public recognition o the victims. We cannotdo that because we cannot replace the institutions o the state in according such recognition.Public testimonies o the victims make sense, they have the right strength, but only i they areorganized by the state. We must be aware o that. We must also be aware that we are in a positionto encourage them, to keep constantly encouraging others to become the promoters.

Te Importance o Judicial Justice

In addition to artists, scientists and proessors, several ambassadors participated in the debatein Belgrade. Tey spoke about the importance o the judicial justice, but they also stated thatthe reality tells us that judicial justice is not sucient or the process o reconciliation. As theAmbassador o Switzerland Jean Daniel Ruch put it, Te right to justice is only one aspect othe need o the victims. Ambassador Vincent Degert pointed out that or the European Unionthe rule o law is a non-negotiable value and we continue relying on it, in spite o the surprisingverdicts which we heard rom the International ribunal. He said that the next step has been theinvestment in schools and educational programmes, which is already in progress.

Proessor o LawZoran Paji spoke, both in Belgrade and in Sarajevo, on the discrepancybetween the court verdicts and the expectations o the victims, but he pointed out that justiceand the satisaction o the victims (primarily through the access to the right to reparations) canopen the road towards the reconciliation. Proessor Milan Podunavac agreed with ProessorPaji that the region had been burdened by a negative legacy and the absence o critical refection.He added that Serbia has an even more complex problem. According to him, Serbian societyhas been additionally burdened by the act that it is a post-dictatorship society and a deeatedsociety. Deeated societies encounter a huge problem while attempting to orm some sort obasic political consensus about which there is no political struggle, or political competition; asociety within which agreement has been reached on the undamental values o such a society,said Podunavac, in explaining the key obstacles to the progress o the process o reconciliationwith neighbours.

Several participants at both meetings concluded that there is very little trust in the associationso victims. Paji and Kandi emphasized that politicians had abused such associations, andthat thereore they cannot be the leaders o the reconciliation process. anja ljivar citedthe rustrating example o the President o the Association o Mothers o Srebrenica, whocongratulated Croatia or the acquittal verdicts on Generals Gotovina and Marka. Someone whois the symbol o a civilian victim does not accept the other civilian victims. Tat makes me thinkthat reconciliation is really very, very ar away.

Jelena Gruji


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TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN THE REGION

On November 29, 2012, the International Criminal ribunal or the ormer Yugoslavia (ICY)acquitted Ramush Haradinaj, Idriz Bala and Lah Braahimi o charges that included murder,torture, rape, inhumane treatment o prisoners o war and violent expulsion o Serbs rom theirhomes. Te rial Panel, ollowing the partial re-trial, acquitted them o all charges. According tothe rst indictment, in the period rom March 1 through September 30, 1998, in the Dukadjini /Dukagjin operational zone, specically in the village o Jablanica / Jabllanic in the municipalityo Djakovica / Gjakov, there was a camp where detainees were exposed to cruel treatment andtorture about which all three o the deendants were inormed. However, the prosecution ailedto present the evidence which would link the deendants to the crimes, despite the act thattheir presence in the area where it is believed that the crimes were committed between March

and September 1998 was established at the trial. Te deence easily discredited the prosecutionwitnesses, who were members o the security services o Serbia. Te deence accused thewitnesses o having served as important links in the chain o murders and disappearances oAlbanians. It is signicant that the prosecution managed to prove that, during the period coveredby the indictment, in that particular territory war crimes were committed and the victims can beidentied.

Te trial received wide media attention, both in Kosovo and in Serbia. While Haradinaj and hiscomrades were gloried in Kosovo, and their activities in the liberation war were considered pure,in Serbia, they were seen as criminals in a war waged with the aim o cleansing the territory onon-Albanians and political opponents. In Kosovo, thereore, the war is interpreted as a struggle

or the creation o a ree and independent Kosovo, while in Serbia it is seen as a war or theAlbanization o Kosovo and persecution o non-Albanians.

Tis media debate omits the most painul part o the story the victims. Te goal o the ICYwas not to determine the nature o this or that war, nor was it tasked with determining whetherthe war was just or unjust. Instead, its one and only goal was always either to determine individualcriminal responsibility (whether o masterminds, perpetrators or supporters) in war crimes casesand cases involving serious human rights violations, or, in certain other cases, to determine theexistence o a joint criminal enterprise. With the exception o non-governmental organizations,which during all court proceedings keep seeking justice or the victims, the institutions o both

The truth must be based on the acts

o what actually happened in the

past, and RECOM is the kind o body

that could establish this truth.

!Justiceor Victims the Only Pathto PeaceulCo-Existence


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Kosovo and Serbia, along with their media and intellectuals, have ocused on the character o thewar; while the ICY, depending on the discourse and the circumstances, has been characterizedeither as politically motivated or as an institution providing a air trial. Issues concerning thebasic needs o the victims, including their right to know the ate o their amily members, andtheir right to justice and reparations these were not on the agenda or society in Kosovo orSerbia.

On his return rom the Hague, Haradinaj did not address the issue o the victims. He mostlytalked about the need or the return o all the displaced rom all ethnic groups in Kosovo, aboutthe need or co-existence among all peoples, and about the common path towards the EuropeanUnion, which can be built only through good inter-ethnic and inter-state relations. At no point

did he explain how he imagined this trust might be built or how reconciliation might be achieved.Nor did he speak about the need to prosecute the perpetrators responsible or the murder omore than 40 non-Albanians (mostly Serbs) in the zone o his command responsibility. Haradinajnever addressed the problem o reparations, or the need or the rehabilitation o victims amilies.

Tis kind o public attitude toward the victims in all the states o the ormer SFRY, coupled withthe act that justice or victims has not been achieved through war crimes trials, only increasesthe need or establishing a regional act-nding commission or war crimes and other seriousviolations o human rights (RECOM). Te truth must be based on the acts o what actuallyhappened in the past, and RECOM is the kind o body that could establish this truth. Factsdetermined in such a way would put an end to the cycle o manipulation o victims statistics, and

should be integrated in the ocial state policies o all countries in the region. Te prosecutiono war crimes and other violations o human rights by national courts will continue to be oparticular importance. Criminal law has the power to strengthen our aith in the rule o law,but this aith can be additionally strengthened by enabling victims to exercise their right toreparation. Tis is how the idea o the coexistence o dierent ethnic communities can be takenseriously and begin to make sense.

Kreshnik Sylejmani

Te author is Coordinator o the Inormal Education Project o the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo

Ramush HaradinajPhoto: www.lbnelert.com


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Holocaust Museums deal with the representation o the only element the human dignity omillions o people was reduced to remembrance. Tereore the role o Holocaust Museumsshould always be directed towards a more complete uture lie. Such museums should instigatethinking not only about what it was like or some, but also the considering o questions like whowe are?, who is like me? and how I can realize the collectiveness? In the realm o conrontingthe past, however, history has shown us many times that the road to a uller uture, oundedon solidarity, reconciliation and building o the communal memory, is oten a stray road ull oavenues o multiple rememberings, interpretations and presentations o the past. In the complexmeshes o the reconstruction o past events, in the meshes o remembering and orgetting, thepast becomes a social construct which may be presented and retold in dierent ways in versions

which have been distorted, concealed, diminished, overblown, orgotten, neglected, abused,instrumentalized, banalized, or manipulated.

Te Memorial Museum o Memorial Site Jasenovac has a special status and a special missionamong the museum monuments not only in the Republic o Croatia, but in the widergeographical region as well. Its specic historical background makes it a place o constantrecontextualization. Te general human tragedy inscribed in that place, and presented in theexhibition, must represent a constant challenge to every orm o closing in, o hate and ointolerance. However, the question arises as to whether the Memorial Museum in Jasenovac doesin act present enough o a challenge to hatred and intolerance? As an historical and symbolicplace, Jasenovac used to be and still is a rather controversial place o remembering, thereore it

has been the theater o national conficts and misappropriations. For instance, the les o therials in Te Hague demonstrated how that very notion o Jasenovac was an incentive or awhole chain o crimes that took place. In the Jasenovac Camp, which was the largest camp oincarceration, orced labor and death in the entire Independent State o Croatia at the time oWWII, the Ustashas brutally slaughtered Serbs, Roma and Jews, and Croats who were opponentso the Ustasha regime. Te ordeal o numerous victims belonging to dierent ethnic and nationalgroups, and the current inability o such groups to develop a communal memory, account or themajor part o the Jasenovac trauma. Te construction o memory has to be ounded on the truth,as well as on a zealous engagement in nding paths to a communal dialogue at state/politicallevel as well as at the equally important societal/cultural level. Emerging rom disagreements over

!Jasenovacin ront oChallengeso Memory Jasenovac was the biggest camp

o extermination, incarceration

and orced labor in the Indepen-

dent State o Croatia during the

World War II.


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the number o victims all the way through to questions over the orms o commemoration, thediscrepancies between the collective memories o Serbs, Jews and Roma constitute an obstacle tothe establishment o a common dialogue.

In reerence to this, the Memorial Museum o Jasenovac has deep symbolic importance. Asthe sole space o remembrance, this museum unctions as the place o encounter with themost horrible periods o the national history related to it. Tese periods, inseparable rom theideologies and totalitarian regimes then prevailing, let deep and diverse social and culturalimpressions on the collective memories o the Croatian people, but also impressions on the

everyday lives o citizens, thus infuencing their relation to other national and ethnic groups.Te history o Jasenovac crime and persecution in the collective, but also individual memories,underwent the development rom denial and repression through infation to banalization,which is the basis o the abuse o the history and remembrance o Jasenovac. Tereore, we haveto ask ourselves how Jasenovac could become a place o reconciliation, i.e. a center or thereconstruction o memories o past suering which might become an encouragement to theexpansion o solidarity and empathy. Te current museum exhibition, entitled Te Victim is aName, represents a very important shit in the understanding o the trauma by placing the victimin the center. From the same perspective, it insists on their historical positioning, and tries toavoid their abstract conguration.

While praising the museums exhibition and honouring the rich and proound historical-scientic work produced in this research into Jasenovac, we must be warned that Jasenovacas a challenged place o remembrance requires permanent review and additional study andobservation. As represented so ar, the trauma o Jasenovac does not enable the creation o jointrameworks or a mutual sharing o the memories and burden o the suering, and consequently,it does not infuence interethnic relations positively.

Within the scope o the search or a human approach marked by more solidarity between allthe nations and ethnic groups involved in the trauma o Jasenovac, the questions posed by theissue o the Jasenovac Museums manner o (re)presentation are: How to actualize an encounter

Memorial area o JasenovacPhoto: en.wikipedia.org


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which would enable the (re)structuring o memory in a way inclusive o the Other? Is it possibleto achieve it at all, by means o a museum exhibition? Te leading idea at the oundation o allthe Holocaust Museums in the world was the same the realization o a more peaceul uturethrough coming to terms with the past. Only by permanent conronting o the past, acceptanceo responsibility, apology and exchange o memories in an active, critical dialogue by all groupsinvolved in the Jasenovac tragedy and trauma, will we be able to take the road towards a morepeaceul uture.

Andriana BeniTe author is a doctoral student o sociology (Ph.D. thesis on the sociology o recollection and

remembering, the sociology o cultural trauma); Address at the raining in ransitional Justiceorganized by the Youth Initiative or Human Rights o Croatia

FROM OTHER MEDIA

Omer Karabeg (Radio Free Europe): We are talking with Nataa Kandi o the BelgradeHumanitarian Law Centre and Vesna ereli o the Zagreb NGO the Documenta Centreor Dealing with the Past. In September last year, activists o the RECOM Initiative sent thepresidents o all the states in the territory o the ormer Yugoslavia RECOM postcards askingthem to launch an ocial procedure or setting up a Regional Commission or establishing theacts about the war crimes. What was the presidents reaction?

Nataa Kandi: We carried out a brie enquiry o our own. We called the oces o thepresidents o the states in the region to nd out about their reactions. Macedonian President

!More than30,000 people

killed, 2 millionpeople expelled

Radio Free Europe: Nataa Kandi and Vesna Tereli


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Ivanovresponded by immediately calling Proessor Biljana Vankovska, the RECOM Initiativerepresentative in Macedonia. In Belgrade, we were told that President Nikoli had understoodthat the postcards were presents. Zagreb inormed us that President Josipovi had read thepostcards. Tat was all we were able to nd out. Tere were no reactions to the contentso the RECOM postcards. All this shows that our high-ranking politicians are not used to

communicating with ordinary people, that in general they do not react to messages rom thecitizens.

Omer Karabeg: What is the Croatian governments attitude to RECOM?

Vesna ereli: Te government remains reserved. Te questions we keep putting to it remainunanswered. However, the support we are receiving rom President Josipovi, who has upheld theinitiative to establish RECOM on several occasions, is o exceptional importance.

Omer Karabeg: Ms. ereli, you said in an interview that RECOM should produce a largebook o the dead containing the ull names o all those who were killed as rom 1991, as well aso all who are listed as missing. You said that the circumstances o their deaths should also be

established. Would that be possible?

Vesna ereli: It would be possible, above all because substantial research has already beencarried out. It has been carried out by civil society organizations such as the Research andDocumentation Centre in Sarajevo, the Humanitarian Law Centre in Belgrade and Pritina,and our Centre or Dealing with the Past Documenta, which has been documenting crimesin Croatia. Much inormation has also been collected by government services and scienticinstitutions. I think that all the governments in the region have the responsibility to make publicthrough RECOM the ull names o the killed and missing persons, as well as the circumstances othe crimes in question. Tey owe this above all to the victims, but also to each o us. Every citizeno a post-Yugoslav country is entitled to access to such inormation. As to the numbers, we are

unortunately still talking about estimates; however, I believe that we can say with a air degree ocertainty that more than 130,000 people were killed or went missing.

Nataa Kandi: How did we arrive at this number o some 130,000 killed or missing? In Bosniaand Herzegovina 69,000 lost their lives, and in Croatia about 11,000 Croats and between 6,000and 7,000 Serbs. As regards Serbia, which, according to what its late president used to say, wasnot at war some 1,600 citizens o Serbia and Montenegro lost their lives on the territory oCroatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. With respect to Kosovo, 13,500 people were killed therebetween January 1998 and the end o December 2000 during the armed confict and shortlyaterwards. About 250 people were killed in the war in Macedonia in 2001 and about 50 memberso the ormer JNA [Yugoslav Peoples Army] and the Slovenian erritorial Deence were killed on

the territory o Slovenia at the outbreak o the war.

Omer Karabeg: Are there any approximate gures regarding the number o expelled anddisplaced persons?

Nataa Kandi: What is certain is that at least two million people no longer live at their oldaddresses. Tere has been some local relocation, people having moved rom one village toanother. All things considered, my estimate is that there are about two million displaced persons,including over 600,000 who have let the territory o the ormer Yugoslavia or good and are nowliving abroad in Europe, America, Australia, other continents.


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Omer Karabeg: Te ICY has the largest archives or war crimes committed in the territory othe ormer Yugoslavia. Would RECOM take over those archives ater the closure o the ICY?

Nataa Kandi: All the evidence on which the sentences o the ICY are based is available onthe Internet. It can be used by researchers, historians, political scientists, sociologists. We at the

Humanitarian Law Centre also make use o the ICY archives available on the Internet. Tisis terribly important, because we would never have obtained this inormation rom our stateinstitutions. Te Humanitarian Law Centre had or years been asking the state institutions oSerbia or documentation concerning the disposition, movement and presence o particularmilitary and police units in Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia and we never received any. Teunvarying explanation was that all that had been destroyed in the NAO air raids, but then weound all those documents on the ICY website. Tere is one part o the archives, namely thearchives o the ICY Oce o the Prosecutor, which has not been used in the trial proceedingsand which contains very important inormation that could be misused should it all into thewrong hands. I am reerring, above all, to the documents and inormation provided by individualswho wanted to help the ICY but who insisted that they should never be made public and, in

particular, that they should not be allowed to come into the possession o the states they camerom. So ar no decision has been taken as to what to do with those archives o the Oce o theProsecutor; but in any case they must not be returned to the countries rom which the peoplewho supplied the inormation and documents come, because certain services might be temptedto misuse them or political ends.

Name and surname

Organisation

Country

AddressEmail

Website

Phone

Sign

For your own sake.

So that everybody knows. Lest we forget.So it doesnt happen again. To move on.

Join RECOM Coalition


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Omer Karabeg: Te way I see it, you have done the better part o the job and now the ball is inthe court o the states but they are keeping silent. Do you think there will be a breakthrough in2013 so that RECOM could become ocially operational in, say, 2014?

Nataa Kandi: We are not waiting. We keep working on the list o names o those who were

killed or went missing in the wars during the 1990s. Civil society has the capacity to do what theBalkan states have never done. For the rst time in the history o the Balkans, a list o names owar victims will be drawn up to put an end to the Balkan practice o manipulating the numbers ovictims, which have always been infated or reduced depending on the political interests o thosewho present them. You cannot manipulate names. It should be remembered that public supportor establishing RECOM is beyond dispute and is growing all the time. I was sure that thissupport would infuence political backing or our initiative; however, I was bitterly disappointedto realize that these two kinds o support do not correspond; the act that people keep signingthings, sending RECOM postcards to state presidents, asking questions has no infuence on thepoliticians whatsoever.

Vesna ereli:It will be important to establish RECOM as soon as possible, because much timehas passed since the crimes. oo many people have died beore receiving any recognition o their

suering. Te establishment o RECOM must not be postponed also because too oten we seepoliticians rom countries o the ormer Yugoslavia blaming and accusing each other. For instance,politicians in Croatia still blame Serbia or the 1991 expulsion o Croats, while rom Serbia we hearaccusations regarding the 1995 exodus o Serbs. In this connection, various gures are bandiedabout by the dierent sides, in accordance with what is to their advantage. RECOM will establish

Name and surname

Country

Address

Email

Registration numberID card number

Passport number

Driver licence number

Sign

For your own sake.

So that everybody knows. Lest we forget.So it doesnt happen again. To move on.

Sign for Establishing RECOM


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the acts and lay the oundation or recognizing the suering o all the victims. While many othem have not lived to see any penal justice, all expect recognition o their suering or at leastestablishment o the acts. Tats why I think that the governments o the post-Yugoslav states oweRECOM to all o us, and to the victims in particular. Whether they will establish it this year orsome other year thats in the hands o the politicians - the ball is in their court.

Vesna ereli: When we publishedJedna povijest, vie historija a ew years ago, the greatestamount o controversy was stirred up by the page bearing two photographs next to each other,the one o deenders returning to Zagreb rom Operation Storm and the other o reugees leavingCroatia. According to the inormation o the High Commissioner or Reugees, just over 132,000people have returned to Croatia, but only about 48 percent o them permanently. So it seemsreturns are still a ormidable challenge - they have been stopped by the Croatian authorities andthe crimes hushed up. All that constitutes the heavy burden o dealing with the past which wein Croatia are still coping with. Te interpretations o what happened during Operation Stormvary widely, and we rom the NGOs are trying to bring them closer together. Te acts about thekilled, the missing, the torched villages ought to be established and should not give rise to anydebate among us. It would be improper or us to argue about acts. Tis is why we need RECOM

as a joint mechanism or establishing the acts. Without it we can hardly lay the groundwork orbuilding condence and normalizing relations.

Te Books o the Dead and the Memory Books

Nataa Kandi: On 21st January this year, the Research and Documentation Centre in Sarajevoand the Humanitarian Law Centre in Belgrade will present Te Bosnian Book o the Dead. Teour-volume book contains the names o 96,000 people who were killed or went missing in thewar in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1991 and 1995. It will be the only monument to allthose people who lost their lives. All o them are there, theres no distinction between thosewho were on this, that or the other side. Incidentally, in September 2001 the Humanitarian Law

Centres o Serbia and o Kosovo put out the rst volume oTe Kosovo Memory Book, containing2,050 names. Te circumstances o the deaths o each man, woman and child are presentedalong with their names. At present the Centre or Dealing with the Past Documenta - and theHumanitarian Law Centre are preparing a list o people who were killed in the war in Croatiarom 1991 to Operation Storm and aterwards. We will thereore be doing most o the work; itwill remain or the states o the ormer Yugoslavia to establish RECOM, which would veriy theacts we have collected and do the most important thing something we cannot do, namely,ensure public recognition o the victims. Only states have the power to do that. Tese nameswill orm a bridge linking everybody together. Te names are veriable and thats something thatwill be respected by all. I dont see any problem arising in that connection. What is problematic,however, is how these acts are construed. We dont think that it lies with RECOM to establish acommon truth. Every victim and every amily is entitled to their own truth, and that is something

no one can alter. What we want to do is bring about understanding o the views o the otherperson, trying to see things rom their point o view what they are actually seeing, what it wasthat happened to them which we are not seeing. Tis is to approximate dierent truths/ bringdierent truths closer together, something that can only be achieved through empathy. When thatcomes about, when there is understanding or the point o view o another person, then dealingwith the past will be on the right track. But we cannot achieve that without the state, without thepoliticians - without the state axing its seal to what has been accomplished by the NGOs whichhave been advocating the establishment o RECOM.

aken over rom daily Danas


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INTERVIEW

Pro. Stephan Parmentier teaches sociology o crime, law, and human rights at theFaculty o Lawo the K.U. Leuven. Among numerous important roles worldwide in the eld o criminology is hismembership o the Advisory Board o the Oxord Centre o Criminology where he also teaches, avisiting proessor at institutes and universities in Spain, Costa Rica, Australia, Netherlands, SouthArica), etc. He worked as an advisor to theEuropean Committee or the Prevention o orture, andwas vice-president o the Flemish section oAmnesty International. Pro. Parmentier is currentlythe co-editor o the new international book Series on ransitional Justice. He has published

numerous articles and books about reconciliation in Former Yugoslavia.

With your team, you were conducting a survey about dealing with the horrors o the past,both in Bosnia and Serbia. Can you tell us what where your ndings and conclusions?

Indeed, in our two surveys in Bosnia (June 2006) and Serbia (June 2007) we asked questionsabout what types o harm people had experienced during the war (type o victimization) andabout peoples opinions in relation to dealing with the past (strategies and mechanisms o post-confict justice). Te research has been unded by the University o Leuven and we worked closelytogether with local partners in both countries.

It is o course very dicult to summarize all our ndings, but let me try to sketch some o the mostimportant ones. First, it is clear that many people have been victimized by the armed confict. InBosnia, the ollowing types o harm during the confict were listed (the gure below only shows thosesaying that they were very much aected): about 37% denounced physical harm (injuries, amilymembers missing, killing o amily members), 73% indicated material harm (orced displacement, losso property, loss o income), and 85% o respondents reported emotional harm (in terms o eelings),which is the highest category o all. Also in Serbia people have suered the same types o harm and inthe same order, but the percentages tend to be between 10 and 20% lower. It means that many peoplehave been severely traumatized during but also ater the war, and it is ar rom clear i they have beenable to cope with their trauma and what kind o services are available to assist them.

Interview:Pro. Stephan

Parmentier!Regional dialogue

is crucial orreconciliation inFormer Yugoslavia

Proesor Stephan ParmentierPhoto: Te Kings University o Leuven


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Further statistical analysis o the data, at least or Bosnia, has revealed that trauma has a negativeimpact on peoples opinions on post-confict justice in general, and on reconciliation in particular.

When it comes to dealing with the past crimes, it is clear that Bosnian and Serbian people alikehave a strong desire to share their experiences and tell their stories about what happened to them

during the war. Both groups o respondents think that such stories should be told in a variety osettings like truth commissions, at public events (roundtables and workshops), and even in smallgroups in the community, particularly when members o other ethnic groups are present. A largenumber o respondents in both groups also thinks that stories o the war should be told in courts,although the percentage is somewhat higher in Bosnia (83%) than in Serbia (74%).

Another aspect relates to reparations or victims. Particularly in the case o Bosnia, but alsoin Serbia, respondents were very clear that the best way or them to repair their harm iswhen oenders take active responsibility or their past behaviour. Tis means that they wouldacknowledge their guilt by conessing to what they have done and apologising or it (more than80% o the respondents). Also important actions are the return o stolen property, or i this isno longer possible, paying compensation to the victims (over 65%). Also memorials or victims

are considered important orms o (symbolic) reparation, but more so byBosnians (over 60%) than by Serbs (about 40%).

Tis is just a very brie summary o the ndings. Obviously, one shouldalways be careul with the interpretation o these results, because thistype o quantitative research also has certain weaknesses and the guresnever constitute the ull reality o peoples opinions about the many dicult issues o post-confictjustice.

How would you evaluate the process o transitional justice in the Former Yugoslavia today?What do you see as crucial obstacles or urther progress?

Tis is a tough question, or the simple reason that it was not our aim to ully evaluate and judgethe whole process o transitional justice in the ormer Yugoslavia. We basically wanted to addnew insights into the strategies and mechanisms o transitional justice that could be useul topolicy makers, to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to oreign actors, and also to thepopulation at large. Nevertheless, some eatures have struck us as researchers and that needurther refection. For example, the gures clearly indicated that there was still a very high level otrauma in the countries that we investigated, and it seems to us at rst sight that little attentionhas been paid to this problem. In another question, we asked about the actors that have beenmore or less helpul in rebuilding trust between ethnic groups. In Serbia, more than hal o thepeople thought that the time lapse since the end o the war, the positive memories o the pre-war

period, the acknowledgment o each others suering, and the role o (NGOs) have had positiveeects on inter-ethnic trust. When it comes to negative actors or trust-building, the Serbianrespondents clearly pointed at politicians, schools, the media and the high level o trauma insociety. Te gures and the proportions between the categories were very similar in Bosnia.

Even though you analyse all the mechanisms o transitional justice in the region, it seemsyou paid particular attention to the war crimes trials. Can you tell us why?

Well, we could o course not avoid to also ask questions about criminal prosecutions, because thistype o strategy tends to dominate any discussion about war crimes committed in the Balkans.

Both Bosnians and Serbs eel

an urge to share their experi-

ences and to tell their stories.


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In act, the ocial discourse o the international community puts a tremendous emphasis on theimportance o criminal trials, with the International Criminal ribunal the ormer Yugoslavia(ICY) as its spearheading. Te respondents in our survey provided a ar more nuanced viewabout such prosecutions. First o all, they indicated that they preer criminal prosecutions in oneo the countries o the ormer Yugoslavia over prosecutions in a country outside o ex-Yugoslavia

(both Serbs and Bosnians think the same about this issue, although the preerence o Bosniansor internal prosecutions (70%) is higher than that o the Serbs (63%). Furthermore, the roleo the ICY was clearly a bone o contention between the two groups: while hal o the Serbrespondents indicated that the ICY has not been helpul in rebuilding trust between ethnicgroups, hal o the Bosnian respondents thought the contrary and said that it had been helpul inpromoting reconciliation. Interesting to note is that the non-response o the Serbian group wasmuch higher (almost 20%) than the Bosnian group (12%), which suggests that many people werein doubt about this question and may want to refect urther.

Is it a reconciliation process the same or every confict and every country?

Questions about reconciliation are always among the most dicult ones in discussions about

post-confict justice, or the simple reason that there is no common understanding o whatreconciliation actually means. Some say that the mere process o bringing ormer enemiestogether already amounts to reconciliation, others argue that there should be tangible resultsin the relationship between individuals or between groups. Te ruth and ReconciliationCommission in South Arica talked about our levels o reconciliation (intrapersonal, betweenindividuals, between communities and within the nation state) and the Peruvian truthcommission related reconciliation to three areas o lie (interpersonal, social and political). Tesame diversity in conceptions was illustrated in our survey, when we asked the open questionWhat does reconciliation mean to you? Although the answers widely dier, it is very strikingthat three basic concepts emerge in the top 5 both in the case o Serbia and Bosnia: rst on the listin both countries was peaceul coexistence (22% and 24%), immediately ollowed by orgiveness

(12% in Serbia but 21% in Bosnia), and also respect was in the top 5 in both cases (12% and9%). Judging rom these ndings, one would be tempted to argue that sustainable reconciliationimplies that ormer enemies can live together in a peaceul, non-violent way, over a longer periodo time, nothing more and nothing less. But asking the same question to other people in othercountries may produce very dierent results.

What are your recommendations or urther progress, what should be the next steps?

From a thorough statistical analysis o the Bosnian data we could conclude that the strongestpredictor o trust and reconciliation in a society is dialogue. Tis means that processes that arebased on orms o dialogue between individuals and among groups stand a better chance o

leading to peaceul coexistence, to recall the terminology used above. We need urther analysisto ully understand what kinds o dialogue are more conducive to trust and reconciliation, butor the time being we assume that all types are useul, both in small groups and in large groups,even within a society as a whole, as long as people can interact in a reciprocal way (and thatmonologues are avoided). Tis is what we have called elsewhere a process approach to dealingwith the past. For the moment, we cannot yet conrm that the Bosnian ndings will be exactlythe same in the case o Serbia but these interpretations continue to take place and we hope to beable to inorm you in the near uture.

How do you consider the RECOM process so ar and how do you see its uture?


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Although we have not studied the initiative o the Regional ruth Commission in detail, we thinkthat this process ts very well into the importance and the need or dialogue in the countries oex-Yugoslavia. Discussions inside o groups o victims and combatants, and between such groupsseem particularly useul or people in order to gain a better understanding about what happenedto themselves as well as to other individuals and groups. However, the real strength o RECOMin my view lies in its trans-border character, through which the consultations and discussions aretaking place in more than one area and more than one country o the ormer Yugoslavia. In thisway, it is denitely producing a more inclusive and more balanced view o peoples opinions andproposals about how to deal with the past and how to build a better uture.

Jelena Grujic

THE VOICE OF VICTIMS

Obren Viktor spent 44 months in the camps o Silos, Krupa, Hrasnica and Viktor Bubanj. Hetestifed on his ordeal at the Tird Regional Forum on Mechanisms or Establishing the Facts

Related to War Crimes in Former Yugoslavia, held in Belgrade 11-12 February 2008.

Viktor testied that he was 78 kilos in weight when he was taken to the camp, but ater the 35days o his connement at Silos, I was less than 40 kilos. In that camp, I did not eat anythingor the rst two days. Later they started giving, not only to me but to everybody, one little crusto bread each, [] and sometimes they skipped even that. Tat is why I lost my weight in sucha short time. Tey used to take me out or certain interrogations. Whenever they picked onsomeone rom my village or rom the urin area, I had to come as well, I do not know why.I would like to say that I had not been any kind o an activist; I had not done what I was notsupposed to do. With any such taking out [interrogation], beating up was the usual practice.[] It went on like this, those abuses, until October, when they permitted us to have a little ood

Testimony:Obren Viktor

!Thirst, Hungerand Kicks, Two

Years Long


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brought rom home. Even prior to that, my wie used to manage somehow We were pretty wello, comortable, so, i she wanted to prepare me a sandwich, or me to receive it she had to bribea camp guard, who was my neighbor, with some 10 or 20 marks, to cause him to deliver it to me.Sometimes, she would send some money, too. I she had set aside 20 marks, I would receive acarton o Opatija cigarettes priced at 4 marks [the guard would keep the rest].

Tey said that we received lunch packs daily, that the prison authorities had been distributingthose, but we received them only on the day o the visit o the Red Cross [11/26/1992]. Aterthat, they distributed them every three or our days, not every day. Te Red Cross delegationtold us that we would be receiving those lunch packs every day. But it was never like that. Itwas somewhat better, I admit, when they permitted us to get some ood rom home. You wouldreceive one loa o bread, or instance. [...] Firstly, you had to share it with those who did not haveanybody to send them some. Ten you split the remainder into 15 daily portions. I you ate up theportion set aside or the next day, you would not have anything to eat on that day.

AtKrupa it was a little better or us. Te ood was the same or worse, but the cell doors weremade o wire mesh. Tey could open, so at least we had eye contact with the outer world, whilst

at Silos that was not possible. Silos is an area or silos or grain. Each silo is ve meters wide, vemeters high and ten meters long. No light, nothing, just concrete. You know what a silo is. It ismade so as to prevent grain rom spoiling. Well, I think that prevented us rom spoiling as well.We had it good [atKrupa camp]. We could go out or the call o nature at any time, while it wasnot permitted at Silos camp. Tere, when they opened the door, they used to say: 'Four o youget out.' Tere were 45 o us. Four could step out; the others were not permitted to exit. Let merepeat: there were 45 o us, sometimes 35. In one cell there were even 57 people. We were given1.5 litres o water or 24 hours.

We knew these guards very well. Tey were our neighbours, whatever. Within the rst day ortwo, massive abuse started. Many neighbours who had turned into camp guards were there. On

January 6 [1993], Christmas Eve, they took out Savi Milomir, who was called Lako, Stevo Viktorand Vojin Milanovi. Tey were beaten unconscious. When they threw them back into the cell,we thought they wouldnt survive. Well, they did. We had to eed them with a straw or a coupleo days.

Viktor was transerred toHrasnica with a group o prisoners. Tey were greeted with cries o'Tese are Chetniks', although I am not a Chetnik, I am a civilian. Also, at the arrest [on 05/30/1992], they came to nd and collect my arms, both personal and or hunting. I did not haveanything o that sort at home, just the JNA uniorm which everybody had to keep at home.Five days ater they ound it, they destroyed all structures at the property except the house.Everything. Tey let only the house, which was habitable only until January 1996, my release.

When I returned, they destroyed that as well [...].

I was digging the access path and the entrance to the house with that cellar [which was actuallythe tunnel under the Butmir airport]. I did not know its purpose. When the ollowing groupreturned, and ater talking with the conscripts o the BH Army engineering squad, I learned thatwe were the ones who had started it, and that they were digging on one end while the prisonersrom Sarajevo were digging on the other. And that there were not only prisoners; there were alsosoldiers, engineers squads, everybody, to dig it through. So, I was in Hrasnica, doing this andsimilar jobs. In that Butmir trench, at the arm compound, it sometimes happened that I had tocrouch with the shovel, with a gun barrel pressed against my ribs, while being jumped over by


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27soldiers, sometimes Serbs, sometimes Muslims. I apologize or calling them Muslims. At thattime Bosnians used to declare themselvesas Muslims. So, soldiers rom both sides jumped overme and over that guard next to me. [...] Te building had two entrances, one or Serbs, the other

one or Muslims. You can imagine the soldiers returning ater 2-3 hours o battle - they comeback [...] and discharge all their anger on us [...].

I did all sorts o things. [...] I carried logs. You know, same as when you mount an easel on ahorse, just we had no easel. Tose logs had to be moved, though. He [the guard] says: 'You maycarry two or our at a time. Nobody may carry three', in order to prevent us rom mentioning theHoly rinity. [...] But he said:'It would be better or you to carry our'. So I carried our logs, youknow. Tey are heavy.

When they brought us to Viktor Bubanj, we did all kinds o jobs. We replaced a group o 30people. Tey brought 30 o us, too. Only three o those 30 had not been wounded. Te others

came without an arm, a leg, with open wounds. Some were treated at the ormer militaryhospital, now the state hospital in Sarajevo. Some o them never recovered. It was a mess. Mypredecessors and I were digging the Ceneks trench there. [...] Under the 50 meters long concreteslab, handcued, on a rope not tied to the handcus, but put through them, and I did not haveanything to cut it with. Tat guard kept both ends o the rope. He would release me orward orpull me back. I had to ll a plastic bag with soil and return with it. I used to pass it to a prisonerbehind me. Ten I had to return to digging. We dug the tunnel through. Tere were someother strange situations, as well. We were digging towards a bunker. Tere were some moreexcavations alongside, all o them under the concrete slab. Countless shells hit that slab above us.In other words, we were deep enough down. Where the tunnel ran shallow, we covered it with a

Obren Viktor (in the middle)Photo: HLC archive


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waterproo slab. Until then I did not believe that no shall could pierce it unless it had been placedagainst something solid. I it is placed over the channel, nothing can harm you, at least not theinantry and artillery weapons used at that time. So, the tunnel had reached its last leg. One sidewas already completed. Te previous group had dug it up to the Serbian bunkers. Can you believethat they had tied canisters with explosives to my back, to shoot at i I ailed to do as ordered? Healso gave me another canister, to place it in that same trench. But rst, I had to wrestle with a Serbthere. We had managed to remove one side o a wall made o sandbags. Whoever participatedin the war knows what that means. When we reached the other side, there was a soldier rightbehind it. We ought over the bags, he pulls, I pull, and I say: 'Serb, Ill kill you!' 'Go ahead! Man,I dont care, will I be killed by you or by him.' Many times I elt sorry about that... And I am stillsorry, believe me, or having survived all this. Tey abandoned it - that Serbian unit withdrew. Butrst they buried us all there - I do not know how and with what. But we, the prisoners, managedsomehow I had some people rom my group behind me. Ten we heard the cries o the soldierswho had guarded us. Tey even asked or knives to kill themselves. But the prisoners ound someopening, managed to get out and we were saved.

Close to the end o October, I was still at Viktor Bubanjbarracks when the Dayton Agreement

was signed [Te Dayton Peace Conerence took place 1-21 November 1995]. I was returnedto Silos. Tere was more brutality than ever beore. Until 01/21/1996 there was an astonishingamount o beating and abuse. [...] Tere were 43 o us survivors. We expected and were told thatthey were going to execute us in retaliation or certain Muslims who disappeared in 1992. Wewere convinced o that. But rom 19th through 27th the Red Cross delegates visited us every day, sothey kept us in a more or less stable physical condition - because they had told us, as I said, thatthey intended to execute us. I consider that only dear God and the Red Cross saved us.

I said at the beginning that I used to have everything: a comortable lie, a healthy amily, ahome. All that a man and a head o amily ever needed. I orgot one more thing. On the 7 th o July,my younger son was wounded in the apartment. He was shot through the bathroom window,

near the bathroom doorway - a ve years old kid wounded in the corridor. He is still 70 percentdisabled. He is missing his let hip and hal o the intestines in his stomach. In whose way was hestanding? Every bullet red rom BH Army positions [even] rom a 6.35mm calibre gun which hasthe shortest range, ell on civilians, on the children in Hadii. Countless shells. [...] Now, aterI have told this story, I am o to Saint Sava temple, to light a candle or all my riends who havedied or were killed, and or the good health o those who have survived the ordeal, like me. Andmay this never happen again to anybody.


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HE RECOM PROCESS

Te debate about the best way to uncover the truth and ortruth-telling about the past was launched in May 2006 at theFirst Regional Forum or ransitional Justice, organized by theHumanitarian Law Center (Serbia), the Research and Docu-

mentation Center (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Documenta(Croatia). At the Forum, participants representatives o NGOsand associations o missing persons and victims rom the suc-cessor countries o the ormer Yugoslavia committed to aregional approach in the establishment o the acts about warcrimes, arguing that the war had taken place in more than onecountry, and that in most cases victims and perpetrators did notreside in the same state.

Te Coalition or the ounding o a Regional Commission orEstablishing the Facts About War Crimes and Other Gross Vi-olations o Human Rights Committed on the erritory o the

Former Yugoslavia (RECOM) was constituted at the FourthRegional Forum or ransitional Justice on October 28, 2008in Pristina/Prishtin. Over the course o three years, throughintensive consultations across the ormer Yugoslavia, withover 6,000 participants, the Initiative or RECOM promptedthe most extensive social debate ever in this region. Based onthe proposals, requests, needs and views o the participantsin the consultative process, a Drat Statute was drawn up andpresented to the public on March 26, 2011. It was then sub-mitted, together with more than hal a million signatures insupport o the process, to the highest state institutions o thecountries in the region.

In October 2011, a regional team o Public Advocates orRECOM was established to press or the nal stage o theRECOM Process. Te states in the region have been requestedto institute an independent, inter-state regional commissionor the establishment o the acts about all victims o warcrimes and other serious human rights violations committedon the territory o the ormer Yugoslavia between 1991 and2001. Te ocial position o the Coalition or RECOM is thatRECOMs main task should be to establish the acts about warcrimes and to compile a list o all casualties, killed and miss-ing persons and that the nal decision on other objectives andtasks should be made by the governments o the region whowill jointly establish RECOM.

Te main goal o!Te Voice is to provide inormation about theRECOM Process to the members o the Coalition or RECOM,to the many supporters o the Initiative and to all those inter-ested in its development. In addition to this, !Te Voice ocuseson the progress o transitional justice in the region.

It is available in in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian/Montenegrin,Albanian, English, Macedonian and Slovenian.


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RECOM Initiative !Voice 12-2012

Documents

Transcript of RECOM Initiative !Voice 12-2012