Zagreb, August 4th, 2021
Invited by the Serb National Council (SNV), the Youth Initiative for Human Rights – Croatia attended the central commemoration for civilian war victims of Operation Storm in the village of Donji Skrad on August 3, 2021. This commemoration takes place at a different site of suffering every year.
Apart from the representatives of the victims’ families and local authorities, the commemoration was attended by Boris Milošević, the Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia in charge of social affairs and human and minority rights, Milorad Pupovac, member of parliament and the president of the SNV, as well as Vesna Teršelič, the director of Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past.
According to the report of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, six people lost their lives in Donji Skrad in the period between August 5 and 6, 1995. In the Dmitrović house, Kata Dmitrović, Nikola Dmitrović, Zorka Gazibara, Stanka Končalović, and Smiljana Končalović were killed. The next day, Danica Dmitrović, whose husband was killed the previous day, was captured and raped. Her body was found in the nearby well (pp. 222-223). The perpetrators are not known nor have they been prosecuted – there is no war crime judgement.
At the commemoration, Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milošević told the families of the victims that they are not alone and that the victims are not forgotten. He sent a message of peace and reconciliation.
As emphasized by the Serb National Council, visiting this place expresses “support for the memory of innocent, fellow citizens who stayed at their homes believing in their innocence”. Aneta Vladimirov, the vice president of the Serb National Council, emphasized that “those who remember and know the past do not live in the past”; instead, “those who forget the past, or those who abuse it, are those who live in the past. We come here to learn how to survive today and every other day”. She stated that there are very few who understand this, but emphasized the Youth Initiative for Human Rights as one of the rare ones.
Vesna Teršelič, the director of Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past, was invited to speak at the commemoration in the name of civil society organizations that cherish the memory of those who are left behind in the process of collective forgetting. She highlighted the solidarity which society showed to those affected by the earthquakes and claimed that “it is important for all of us to support one another in life and in remembrance”.
In hopes that this year’s anniversary of Operation Storm will pass with dignity for all victims, the Youth Initiative will continue advocating for the right to truth, prosecution of all perpetrators of war crimes, and reparations for all victims, as well as against forgetting and denial.
Campaign 2: Commemorating civilian victims of the wars of the 1990s on marked and unmarked sites of casualties is part of the project 4O: Discovery, awareness, empowerment and human rights organization whose total value is 170.147€ out of which 149.922,00€ is funded with the support of Iceland, Lichtenstein, and Norway under EGP grants.
