III       General remarks - 1999 – 2004
 

e) Security situation / Ethnically motivated incidents

33.       In its report from December 2003, the OSCE claims that general level of security in Croatia remains satisfying. “ There are very few ethnically motivated incidents. Despite that, the persecution of such incidents is rather difficult since there are no adequate regulations to mark such behaviour as a criminal act.”[1] “Although the security situation improved, it seems that the insecurity perception among potential Serbian returnees still de-stimulates return. Such a perception is increased by appearance of the long list of alleged war criminals of Serbian ethnicity that was published on the Internet by Croatian nationalists.”[2] The OSCE reported on several ethnically related incidents where the perpetrators were charged with misdemeanour offences, such as disturbing public order, rather than criminal offences; in a majority of the cases, police and prosecutors were reluctant to identify the cases as ethnic discrimination.”[3]

Incidents against returnees, ethnic Serbs, in most cases happened in the areas of return, Dalmatia for example. Interethnic incidents were also noticed among the students of one secondary school in Vukovar. The report on human rights practices in Croatia for 2003 by the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour mentions that ethnic Serbs in war affected areas were still the subjects to harassments, intimidations and occasional violence on a regular basis. “…In May, an ethnic Serb woman was verbally abused and attacked with a whip by her neighbour in the village of Kljucar in Vojnic municipality. Police took the attacker into custody, and the woman sought medical treatment for head and back injuries. In June, a group of young men smashed the windows of a home owned by a Serbian woman in Daruvar. Police intervened and caught the perpetrators; however, the owner of the home complained that police treated her inappropriately during questioning. In Benkovac, in July, police intervened on behalf of an ethnic Serb returnee whose neighbour has verbally harassed and threatened him since his return in 1999; however, despite the fact of repeated instances of extremely provocative hate speech and an attempt to break into the returnee's home, the police said they would cite the offence only as a public disorder. In August, an ethnic Serb returnee was physically attacked by his neighbour in Pakrac and suffered injuries when he tried to re-connect his house to the local water supply. Although police investigated, the returnee expressed dissatisfaction with the security in the area and stated his intention to leave the country. Also in August, a Bosnian Croat settler who occupies a Serb house in Donji Lapac was alleged to have shouted, abuse and attacked an ethnic Serb youth with an axe. The incident was reported to police, but no criminal charges were filed.”[4] Attacks against Serbian returnees and their properties continued in 2004 in villages Biljani Donji and Zemunik Gornji in the area of Zadar County. The president of Serbian National Council and the member of the Parliament, person belonging to Serbian minority, Mr. Milorad Pupovac, visited Zemunik Gornji after the incident and said: “We know of groups of people that are the source of such criminal acts in Zadar area. We are wondering why the police does not finish its work?”[5] The European Roma Rights Centre mentions the incidents against Roma and their properties in Zagreb at the beginning of 2003. – Two masked attackers broke into one house near Zagreb and beat up the whole Roma family, including a nine-year old girl and her disabled father. In the same month, a group of youngsters physically attacked one Roma person and burned his car. In February in Trokut settlement in Zagreb, after frequent threats a house owned by a Roma was burned to the ground by the neighbours. Roma associations accused the skinheads and similar groups for most of the attacks and complained against insufficient engagement of the police. Večernji List quoted Mr Kasum Cana, president of the Roma Culture Centre, stating that, in Zagreb in average, two Roma per week are violently attacked.[6] European Roma Rights Centre considers the protection against discrimination and racially motivated violence inadequate, while penal, civil and administrative punishments related to combat against racism and discrimination weak and exacerbated by failures in the effective implementation.[7]

Several cases of violence against foreigners were registered in 2003 – ”Zagreb police pressed charges against seven minors and one adult suspected of involvement in three separate attacks in July and August against foreigners. The incidents involved an attack on an Egyptian student, an 11-year-old Egyptian boy, and an Austrian family of Pakistani origin. Government officials publicly condemned the allegedly racially motivated incidents.”[8]

For details on incidents aimed against religious buildings and cemeteries and cultural institutions, see under Item IV.IV.  Incidents aimed towards Ethnic Croats, e.g. official state signs of the Republic of Croatia, were also registered, such as drawing of Serb nationalistic graphite in Baranja and Karlovac areas, damage to the monuments devoted to Croatian war victims in Vukovar, removing the Croatian flag in village of Turanj, etc. Croatian nationalistic graphite regularly appear in almost all former areas of conflict but elsewhere too. NGOs and individuals occasionally reported on the police harassment and discriminatory treatment of minorities in Danube region (former UNTAES) and outside that region.[9]