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OPEN LETTER TO
OSCE
On March 10, 2002 I sent an Open Letter
to you, the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, concerning the Serbs who had to
leave Croatia during the secessionist war over there in the period of 1991-95,
particularly concerning their
rights to return to their homes and flats which they had rights to use as their
own property (so-called "stanarsko pravo"). Since the Open Letter was in
Serbian, no any positive action, and I have not received any reply on it, I
repeat it here in English.
According to some estimates, over 60.000
homes and flats had to be abandoned in Croatia by Serbs, which
Croatian authorities refuse to return to their previous righful tennants, thus
preventing not only the return of refugees to Croatia, but also depriveing them
of the basic human rights � right to life, right to return to their homes and
right to their property. It affects about 200.000
people who, as refugees live in Yugoslavia, Republika Srpska and in
many foreign ccountries all over the world. The main reason I now write this
letter are some encouraging statements about this problem given recently by the
officials of the OSCE � particulary by the head of its mission in Croatia - as
well as by the Croatian president. I write this letter not only on behalf of my
relatives who left their apartments there and who can not return to their homes,
but on behalf of all those who are in the same or simmillar situation, and their
number is, as already said, about 200.000 people.
It is now eleventh year
since most of those people were deprived of their most essential means for not
only decent living but for the very survival, and Croatian aurhorities continue
with the same policy of preventing of the return of their citizens of Serbian
nationaliy and returning them their property, contrary to all international
instruments which guarantee human rights, sush as Universal Declaration on Human
Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Accorning to
newspaper reports, Croatian official Lovre Pejkovic, in charge of the question
of the return of refugees, a few days ago gave a statement that Croatia does not
intend to return dwelling rights to the refugees who left their
appartments in Croatia.
There are numerous organizations "for the protection of human rights"
situated in Croatia, Yugoslavaia and all over the world, but up to now they have
not done anything to help those unfortunate people. They did not make enough
effort to compel Croatian authorities to honor their international obligations
to respect basic human rights without discrimination towards their citizens of
Serbian nationality.
The most responsible for
sush a state of affairs is undobtly OSCE. Let us remind that OSCE hole-hartedly
participated in the dismemberment of its member Yugoslavia, that is helped
Croatia to secede unconstitutionaly and violently from Yugoslavia, instead of
helping Yugoslavia to preserve its integrity, which was its obligation under the
Helsinki Final Act. And it was done in the most illegal and immoral way �
brutally disregarding the Charter of the UN, international law and � out of this
world! � completely ignoring and violating its own founding rules, the Helsinki
Final Act, solemnly signed on August 1, 1975 by the Heads of Member-States!
In the history of mankind there has never existed sush a shameles
organization! You could even stop
NATO aggression on Yugoslavia � it was also your duty!! � since you had in
Kosovo and Matohija 2,000 "observers" ,but it turned out that they were in fact
NATO spies! After you, therefore, actively
participated in killing one of your founding members, of killing one of the most
beautiful and a most prosperous states, which was "a small Europe" because of
its multiculturalism and multyconfessionallity, Yugoslavia, - why on earth you
at least do not help innocent victims of your crime, at least those who had to
flee from their homes so that they can return in their homes? Instead of
helping, the head of your Mission here in Belgrade brags about how he enjoys his
leisurely life in Belgrade and brags about his � helping organize Yugoslav
police force! He says that he made 106 (one hundred and six) proposals how to
better Yugoslav police! (Until now I didn't know that the Serbs are so
illiterate in police matters!)
So, stop bragging about and pretending to be of great importance so
important that even Serbian police cannot function without your presence here,
and try to do something
useful for big money on your disposal, taken from taxpayers all over
the world. You can't fool us, you can't fool anybody. I firmly believe that
everybody will, when all is said and done, be called to account for everything
he has done. Therefore, it is the eleventh hour that you force your
secessionist creation, Croatia, to stop to behave as highwayman and to allow the
tormented and exhausted Serbian people to return to their homes and flats in
full security, and not to find themselves in something similar to that what
befell Jovan Bota who these days returned to his home in village Kolarin near
Benkovac and who was massacred
exactly on the ustasha's
pattern 1941-45. Dr Milan Tepavac, Belgrade
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