The UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Fabian Salvioli, will carry out an official visit to Croatia from 26 November to 2 December, to examine the progress made in redressing the legacy of serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed during the 1991-1995 armed conflict.
A series of economic and political crises led to the violent break-up of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and its formal dissolution in 1992.
Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were documented during the 1991-1995 armed conflict that affected Croatia and other countries in the region, and led to the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and to several other national, regional and international initiatives in the field of transitional justice.
“My visit aims to learn about and evaluate the measures taken by the authorities in Croatia in the areas of truth, justice, reparation, memory and guarantees of non-recurrence that have been adopted to address the serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed during the armed conflict that engulfed the region,” Salvioli said.
“During the visit, I will seek to have a broad view of the various initiatives taken, identify good practices, gaps and problems, and formulate recommendations in that regard.”
The human rights expert will meet Government officials, representatives of the legislature, members of the judiciary, security forces, the national human rights institution, civil society, victims’ groups, academics and representatives of the international community. He will visit Zagreb, Osijek, Knin, Vukovar and Split.
The expert will present his preliminary findings and recommendations at a news conference on Thursday 2 December at 10:30 am at the Westin Hotel (Krsnjavoga 1, 10000, Zagreb). Access to the news conference is limited to journalists.
The final report on the visit will be presented to the Human Rights Council in September 2022.