Damages Compensation for Refugees from Croatia and B&H

The lawyers from the International Aid Network (IAN) started an initiative at the Supreme Court of Serbia to review and revise its position on the cases of forced mobilizations of B&H and Croatian refugees, back in 1995. Refugees in Serbia The initiative was started on the behalf or 44 refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, who sue for compensation of damages caused by violations of dignity, freedoms and rights of the individuals, for the suffered fear and physical trauma inflicted in 1995 by the illegal detentions by the Serbian Police and Security Forces, and the subsequent transport to territories engulfed in military operations and war. IAN, the Humanitarian Law Centre and Belgrade Centre for Human Rights started an initiative in which they demand from the Supreme Court to review and change its position that the right to compensation of non-material damages expires after three, i.e. five years. The three organizations that started the initiative believe that these were not individual cases of illegal actions by the Ministry of Interior officials, but that the actions were a consequence of the overall policies of the Republic of Serbia. Also, they argue that the principle of individual responsibility would not contribute to the general principles of justice and legal equity. In the period between August-October 1005, Serbian Police arrested more than 5,000 refugees from Croatia and B&H. They were collected, under the threat of use of force, in collective centres in Serbia, and then to training camps in Erdut and Manjaca. The majority of forcefully mobilized persons were Serbs from Croatia who fled after the “Storm” operation of the Croatian Army. Some of them were arrested and detained only several days after they reached Serbia in refugee convoys.

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