He encouraged uprisings of Serbs in Croatia and Serbia. ETHNIC CLEANSING AND THE PLIGHT OF REFUGEES The War in Outline 1.1 War broke out in the former Yugoslavia in 1991 as a result of rising nationalism exploited in the first instance by President Milosevic of Serbia and taken up with a vengeance by President Tudjman of Croatia. as "ethnic cleansing" since the Yugoslav wars began, it is important to recognize that legal and ... Serbs in Croatia, for example, may have claimed that identity more frequently after 1990 than they did in the preceding few decades, when many identified themselves as … Serbia, Croatia Not Guilty of Genocide 4: Ethnic Cleansing & War Crimes, 1991-1995 Executive … Slovenia and Macedonia had already gone. "Genocide as tool of ethnic cleansing" Legal team chief Saša Obradović on Thursday presented the evidence before the ICJ in Serbia's genocide counter-lawsuit against Croatia. Tomašević: History of Serbian Golgotha in Croatia ... By mid-1941, 5,000 Serbs had been expelled to German-occupied Serbia. Clear ethnic conflict between the Yugoslav peoples only became prominent in the 20th century, beginning with tensions over the constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes in … - Croats and Muslims in Bosnia have also committed atrocities and forced other ethnic groups to flee-the Croat destruction of Mostar is A variety of ethnic groups coexist within the republic. This article explores the concept of ethnic cleansing in its broader meaning as cultural genocide or After years of bitter fighting that involved the three Bosnian groups as well as the Yugoslav army, Western countries with backing by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization … And Catholic Croatians made up 17% . In Bosnia, Muslims represented the largest single population group by 1971. ethnic cleansing | war crime | Britannica Even as NATO military officials and politicians, visiting Kosovo on Wednesday, pointed to evidence of … With Serb gains secured in Croatia in 1991, Serb attacks now shifted to Bosnia, which declared independence in 1992 after a referendum boycotted by Serbs. Expulsions was one of the pillar of the Ustaše plan to create a pure Croat state. Croatian Serb There is a growing political storm in Croatia over the government's treatment of ethnic Serbs living in the country during and since the 1991-95 civil war. He encouraged uprisings of Serbs in Croatia and Serbia. More than 300,000 Serbs fled Croatia as the war broke. Richard Murphy, Bonn Wants Human Rights Court To Try Serbs, The Reuter Lib. It has a population of 4.28 million people, of which an overwhelming majority are ethnic Croats. lation-have fled Serbian ethnic cleansing and harassment, according to numerous sources." All three … That ambition led to war against the independence-seeking republics of Bosnia and Croatia, the creation of the term "ethnic cleansing" and a NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia. Croat census sparks 'cleansing' row. Ethnic cleansing was just beginning in Croatia as Serbian forces chased Croats from Serb-majority areas and Croats chased Serbs from Croat-majority areas. Seselj, 53, is accused of introducing belligerent nationalism that incited inter-ethnic hatred and led to the war between Muslims, Croats and Serbs in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Serbia’s leaders — ex-allies of Milosevic — will commemorate what they call the “ethnic cleansing” of Krajina, and have urged Western officials not to join Croatia’s celebrations of a victory that owed much to weapons sourced in Europe and training given to senior Croatian troops by retired U.S. military officers. Croatian Serbs also practice Orthodox Christianity (BELIEF = 3) and have a distinct culture (CUSTOM = 1). Definitions of genocide and ethnic cleansing -- The heritage of horrors -- Balkan Wars 1912-1913 : an unrecognized genocide. Serbs make up the largest minority group; however, their proportion fell dramatically as a result of the 1990s war of independence—from more than one-tenth of the population before the war to less than half that … But in the annals of history such atrocities are far from new. Chapter 9: War in Croatia Overview of the War Was it Genocide and/or Ethnic Cleansing? Croatia's savage ethnic cleansing so demoralized the Serbs that they soon agreed to sign the Dayton peace accord of 1995. Milošević and his allies sought to create a greater Serbia by annexing territory occupied by ethnic Serbs in the other Yugoslav republics. Croatia is more willing to take ethnic Croats. "It's a slow, bureaucratic ethnic cleansing," charges Ivan Zvonimir Cicak, a Croatian opposition figure and humanrights activist. In August 1995, the Clinton administration supported the Croatian Army when it drove hundreds of thousands of Serbs from Krajina, "ethnically cleansing" an area dominated by … BELGRADE, SERBIA — BELGRADE, Serbia -- In the turmoil of Yugoslavia's civil war, the term "ethnic cleansing" has become the most popular euphemism for terrorism and atrocities. As a result of the highly charged ethnic issues in the region, others’ ethnic backgrounds are common knowledge among the entire population of Croatia. Chapter 10: War in Bosnia and Herzegovina Problems Leading to the War Major Events of the War The Horrors of Ethnic Cleansing The Srebrenica Genocide Genocidal Rape Did Genocide Occur in Bosnia and Herzagovina? The election excitement sweeping Croatia as a presidential runoff approaches has failed to reach Vukovar, a small town hit terribly by the ethnic cleansing of the 1990s. Currently, 1,852 people are on the list of dead and missing Serbs in the "Storm" ethnic cleansing operation, of which 1,200 are civilians, 641 are soldiers and 11 are police officers. 1 That strategy, called “ethnic cleansing,” involved using murder, rape, expulsion and imprisonment on a large scale to drive Muslims and Croats from territory the Bosnian Serbs wished to … Croatia alleges that Serbia committed genocide with a campaign of ethnic cleansing during the 1991-95 Balkan conflict that broke out after Croatia's split from Yugoslavia. Ethnic cleansing sometimes involves the removal of all physical vestiges of the targeted group through the destruction of monuments, cemeteries, and houses of worship. The widespread ethnic cleansing accompanying the Croatian War of Independence that was committed by Serb-led JNA and rebel militia in the occupied areas of Croatia (self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina) (1991–1995). "Acts of ethnic cleansing may be part of a genocidal plan, but only if there is an intention to physically destroy the target group." "It's a slow, bureaucratic ethnic cleansing," charges Ivan Zvonimir Cicak, a Croatian opposition figure and humanrights activist. In the spring of 1991 Serbian paramilitaries in Croatia started a brutal process that was later called "ethnic cleansing." Expulsion and ethnic cleansing. Despite charges they were assisting in ethnic cleansing, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and UNHCR had been evacuating non-Serbs facing threats to their lives. The widespread ethnic cleansing accompanying the Croatian War of Independence that was committed by Serb-led JNA and rebel militia in the occupied areas of Croatia (self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina) (1991–1995). From ancient Assyria to modern Serbia, campaigns to homogenize populations within inviolate borders have been carried out variously in the name of God, nation or ideology. In 1991 and 1992, as Croatia’s military fought Yugoslavia’s military, Croat and Serb civilians in both realms undertook campaigns of “ethnic cleansing” – i.e. The nation of Yugoslavia was created in the aftermath of World War I, and its population was mostly composed of South Slavic Christians, though the nation also had a substantial Muslim minority. Slobodan Milosevic became president of Serbia in 1989. Key words: Bosnian genocide, ethnic cleansing, International Court of Justice, Genocide Convention, Serbia, Croatia On 18 November 2008, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that it had jurisdiction to examine Croatia’s allegation that Serbia committed genocide during the 1991–1995 Croatian War. Serbs then created II. Although the Serb-led Yugoslav army tried briefly to prevent Slovenian independence, the Serbs' main concern was Croatia. This is … One example of an ethnic cleansing in the 20th century is the Balkans, the area around former Yugoslavia. Details the history of the three major waves of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Balkan peninsula and Yugoslavia during the twentieth century. As a result, the Serbs are highly organized and cohesive (COHESX9 = 5). “Using a provocative phrase normally applied only to the Serbs, I told Tudjman that current Croatian behavior might be viewed as a milder form of … genocidal method-the Ustashas, to "purify" Croatia of Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies, and the Chetniks, to "cleanse" Muslims from eastern Bosnia. The atrocities apparently started last spring, when Serbian forces began the "ethnic cleansing" of newly independent Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ethnic cleansing is a particular form of genocide (the deliberate destruction of a racial, religious, or cultural group) based on ethnic prejudice. When Yugoslavia, a united nation of several states, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia among others broke apart, Bosnia & Herzegovina was split between ethnicities. Bosnia's nationalist Serbs have not heeded dozens of protests by the United Nations against their "ethnic cleansing" activities, which have uprooted hundreds of … Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica described Operation Storm as the biggest example of ethnic cleansing since World War II. : Rowman & Littlefield, c2011. 8. Ethnic cleansing means the deliberate attempt to eliminate an entire ethnic group. Indeed, in the latter, the Clinton administration even refused to acknowledge ostentatious ethnic cleansing, which largely emptied the Krajina region of ethnic Serbs. Croatia had a 600,000-strong Serbian minority, descendants of … The Bosnian government army tried to defend its territory, at times in alliance with, and other times in opposition to, Croatian forces. Serbia submitted that forcible transfer was irrelevant to any interpretation of the Convention, whereas Croatia formed the view that ‘forced displacement’ could constitute one of … In response to the claim, Belgrade alleged that Croatia had committed ethnic cleansing by expelling 200,000 ethnic Serbs from Croatia in 1995. The announcer called it a "depopulation plan." Ethnic cleansing as a Serbian war strategy was first used in 1991 in eastern Croatia when the Serb forces aimed to rid Croatian regions of non-Serb residents by targeting Croats (Ajami 1996, 162). The most significant ethnic minority group are the Serbs.Other ethnicities such as Bosniak, Italian, Romani, Albanian and Hungarian each constitute less than 1% of the total … NATO forces complicit in ethnic cleansing of Serbs. efforts by one ethnic, political, or religious group to rid certain geographic areas of another such group through coercion and violence. The violence erupted in Yugoslavia following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Soon Croatia and Bosnia were fully independent. Ethnic cleansing tends to stick, and not only because of government policy. Serbian forces committed egregious violent acts against ethnic Croatians in the early 1990s, but they don't equate to genocide, a U.N. court ruled Tuesday. In the eastern Croatian city of Osijek, a hotbed of nationalism near the front line of the rebel Serbs, 2,500 Serbs changed to more Croatian … With wire services Large numbers of Croats and non-Serbs were removed, either by murder, deportation or by being forced to flee. Muslims made up 44% of the population . 3. From ancient Assyria to modern Serbia, campaigns to homogenize populations within inviolate borders have been carried out variously in the name of God, nation or … Not only was the technique of "ethnic cleansing" identical, its purpose-"the entire transformation of the ethnic character of regions"-was clear to all. Radovan Karadzic . The Bosnian War Balkans war: a brief guide. 2,3 (Aug. 19, 1992). Tito had subdued nationalist and ethnic rivalries and fears Serbian efforts to force Bosnian Muslims from cities and villages throughout the Balkans have only recently lodged ethnic cleansing in the public mind. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic accused Milosevic of legitimizing the "ethnic cleansing" carried out in Croatia by attending the commemorative event. The Serb campaign also included the destruction … During the conflict, Serbian forces and paramilitaries implemented a systematic campaign to ethnically cleanse Kosovo--aspects of this campaign include the following: • Forcible Displacement of Kosovar Albanian Civilians: Serbian authorities conducted a campaign of forced population movement. Despite its undeniable brutality, “ethnic cleansing” should not per se be equated with “genocide” The ruling is likely to reinforce Serbian claims that the court is politically biased, since it has long held that the ethnic cleansing of Muslims and Croats carried out … The panel of judges rejected Croatia's claim in a 15-2 vote. THE USTASHE POLITICS OF ETHNIC CLEANSING Relation between the state-organized and wild ethnic cleansing in the Independent State of Croatia during 1941 By Lovro Kralj Submitted to Central European University Department of History In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Supervisor: Professor Constantin Iordachi But Croatia says Serbia is making too much of it - that there is no comparison with the genocide of 8,000 Muslims by Serbs at Srebrenica in the same year. The Yellow Wasps (Serbian: Жуте осе / Žute ose) were a Serbian paramilitary group which was active in the Bosnian War.It was headed by Vojin Vučković and Dušan Repić. ethnic cleansing, the attempt to create ethnically homogeneous geographic areas through the deportation or forcible displacement of persons belonging to particular ethnic groups. “This exhaustively litigated case against two high-level Serbian officials is the litmus test to prove Belgrade’s orchestration of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Croatia during the early 1990s. The HVO has previously conducted brutal ethnic cleansing against Muslims and Serbs and calls for "special" Croat zones in a liberated Bosnia. That ambition led to war against the independence-seeking republics of Bosnia and Croatia, the creation of the term "ethnic cleansing" and a NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia. Behind the front lines, Bosniak and Croatian civilians bore the brunt of Serbian assaults in what became known as “ethnic cleansing”: torture, rape, murder, robbery, and forced displacement. But in the annals of history such atrocities are far from new. The group was active in the Zvornik region. Large numbers of Croats and non-Serbs were removed, either by murder, deportation or by being forced to flee. Although the Serb-led Yugoslav army tried briefly to prevent Slovenian independence, the Serbs' main concern was Croatia. There was some disagreement between Croatia and Serbia as to whether or not ethnic cleansing constitutes an aspect of the actus reus of genocide. The war in the mid-1990s left roughly 100,000 people dead amid proven ethnic cleansing. 4. Now, it is helping Serbs unload their homes at a steep discount, and is building houses for ethnic Croat refugees in formerly Serb villages. 4. War, isolation, and international sanctions have brought substantial eco- Thursday, 23 May, 2002, 11:52 GMT 12:52 UK. People of Croatia Ethnic groups and religions. The politicians vying for control of Yugoslavia incited feelings of nationalism among the different ethnic groups in the region. The term ethnic cleansing, a … In Kosovo, both Albanians and Serbs took turns forcibly removing one another. • 1992, Serbia and Montenegro remained together and called themselves Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (until 2003 and 2006 respectively). Now, it is helping Serbs unload their homes at a steep discount, and is building houses for ethnic Croat refugees in formerly Serb villages. The forcible displacement of civilian populations was a consequence of the conflict and its objective through the ethnic cleansing campaign. The first to be forced to leave were war veterans from the World War I … In fact, it is a Balkan tradition to use genocide in order to create pure ethnic territories. Balkanizing The Balkans. Croats, for example, have conducted "ethnic cleansing" campaigns against Serbs in eastern and wester n Slavonia and in parts of the Krajina region, as well as against Muslims in the Mostar area. Patterson Professor Hagy HIST 2110 8/6/17 Bosnia Genocide The war in Bosnia and Yugoslavia in 1990 was deemed as an “ethnic cleansing” aimed at the Bosnian Muslims. Rep., paras. Milosevic had visions of a completely Serbian country and began his campaign of ethnic cleansing. Despite charges they were assisting in ethnic cleansing, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and UNHCR had been evacuating non-Serbs facing threats to … Their number was reduced by more than two-thirds in the aftermath of the 1991–95 War in Croatia as the 1991 pre-war census had reported 581,663 Serbs living in Croatia, 12.2% of the total population. In contrast to actions taken during 1998, Yugoslav Army units and armed civilians … This week in four days of blitzkrieg by the Croatian army, 150,000 Serbs living in the Krajina region of Croatia were ethnically cleansed, sent running for their lives to Bosnia and Serbia. Almost 3 decades later, the old tensions are being rekindled. One third of the population actually identified themselves as being Serbian and one fifth identified with being Croatian. War and Ethnic Cleansing in Yugoslavia. Serbian media in 1991-92 of master plans concocted in Zagreb and Sarajevo to commit genocide against Croatia’s or Bosnia’s Serbian minorities. The United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia today sentenced a former political leader of rebel Serbs in Croatia to 35 years’ prison after convicting him for his role in a campaign of ethnic cleansing.. Milan Martić was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on 16 counts, including persecutions, murder, torture, … Similar notices are posted on trees and lampposts in Banja Luka. In a follow-up resolution on the Serbs displaced from Croatia, the Council demanded that Croatia "respect fully the rights of the local Serb population including their right to remain or return in safety."' Serbian efforts to force Bosnian Muslims from cities and villages throughout the Balkans have only recently lodged ethnic cleansing in the public mind. Mojzes, Paul. Slobodan Milosevic became president of Serbia in 1989. Lanham, Md. Republic’s lack of an ethnic majority, and the presence of large populations of Croats in the North and Serbs in the South, created a lethal situation as Yugoslavia dismembered in 1991.3 In 1991, Slovenia and Croatia officially declared their independence4 from the Socialist Republic. 1. Expulsions was one of the pillar of the Ustaše plan to create a pure Croat state. Currently, 1,852 people are on the list of dead and missing Serbs in the "Storm" ethnic cleansing operation, of which 1,200 are civilians, 641 are soldiers and 11 are police officers. These were considered large scale crimes in killing 7,000 Bosnian Muslim boys and men at Srebrenica. The first to be forced to leave were war veterans from the World War I Macedonian front who lived in Slavonia and Syrmia. Croatia is an Eastern European country bordering the Adriatic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. General Cermak, 58, and General Markac, 52, are accused of ethnic-cleansing operations aimed at forcing the remaining Serbs out of the area. The former Yugoslavia was a Socialist state created after German occupation in World War II and a bitter civil war. Serbia's counterclaim was rejected unanimously by the judges, including Serbia's delegate. Serb Mayor Predrag Radic insists that there are no forced transfers of people. Croatian forces in the Republic of Croatia and BiH have engaged in "ethnic cleansing" practices against Serbs and Muslims. Croatia had initially planned to ask all NATO member states to send troops to join the parade, sparking a dispute with Serbia, which sees Operation Storm as large-scale ethnic cleansing. Montenegro left later. On Oct. 29, 1991, Croatian radio gave the Serbs 48 hours to leave their homes with the barest of necessities. 2. The Serb campaign included selective murder of civic, religious and intellectual representatives of Bosniaks and Croats; the sending of adult males into concentration camps and the rape of women. However, the practice of ethnic cleansing was most severely employed in Bosnia after the state declared independence in April 1992. While large numbers of native ethnic Serbs have fled to Serbia, Bosnia, and Europe, similar numbers of Serbs from elsewhere in Croatia have moved into the Serb-held territories. Bosnia: Serb Ethnic Cleansing Summary Evidence ndicates that ethnic Serb forces have carried out at least 90 percent of the destruc-tion, displacement, and loss of life associated with ethnic cleansing. Croats constitute about nine-tenths of the population. The term ethnic cleansing, a literal translation of the Serbo-Croatian phrase etnicko ciscenje, was widely employed in the 1990s (though the term first appeared earlier) to describe the brutal treatment of various civilian groups in the conflicts that erupted upon the disintegration of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. German Foreign minister Klaus Kinkel accused Serbia of attempting to carry out "ethnic cleansing" which would be a crime under the Genocide Convention which is binding on Serbia and other successor states. Milosevic had visions of a completely Serbian country and began his campaign of ethnic cleansing. Bosnian War, ethnically rooted war (1992–95) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a former republic of Yugoslavia with a multiethnic population comprising Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Serbs, and Croats. Croatia will mark the anniversary with celebrations on Friday. Ethnic cleansing as part of the actus reus of genocide. According to the 2011 census there were 186,633 ethnic Serbs living in Croatia, 4.4% of the total population. Following the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991, the civil wars in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, and Croatia saw widespread ethnic cleansing with a religious motive. Ethnic cleansing tends to stick, and not only because of government policy. Orthodox Christian Serbs made up 31%. Expulsion and ethnic cleansing. In contrast to Western plans was the Bosnian government's 12-point peace plan issued on August 18. ... During this time the Serbs created the Republic of Serbian Krajina in central and northwestern Croatia. In 2010, Serbia responded to Croatia's case with a countersuit, saying that ethnics Serbs were expelled when Croatia launched its 1995 operation to … The politicians vying for control of Yugoslavia incited feelings of nationalism among the different ethnic groups in the region. Croatian newspapers display ads placed by people seeking to swap houses with Serbs in Croatia. Croatia rolled out tanks and waved flags to mark the 20th anniversary on Wednesday of the blitz that ended its independence war while Serbia mourned the …