By Lieke Kuiper
A brief oversight
The forming of Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia came into existence in 1918. On the peninsula of ‘Balkan’ the three nations of the Slovenes, the Croats and the Serbs joined in the ‘State of the Slovenes, Croats and Serbs’. Due to political instability, lack of international recognition of state boundaries and other problems, the state merged with the Kingdom of Serbia into the ‘Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs’. King Alexander I renamed the Kingdom ‘Yugoslavia’, meaning Southern-Slavic Kingdom. Alexander gained absolute power which led to tension between the Serbs and the Croats who did not like the Serbian dictatorship. The Serbs were traditionally the dominant nation in the Balkan area. They were the majority and they did most of the dirty work in previous wars, while the Slovenes and the Croats enjoyed their peace and wealth. King Alexander eventually was murdered by a Bulgarian extremist. When, in 1941, regent Paul made a pact with Nazi-Germany, Yugoslavia fell apart. Croatian extremists seized this opportunity to get their revanche on the Serbs. Croatia became a vessel state of Nazi-Germany. The Catholic Croats then, were seen as Arians, while the Orthodox Serb as Untermensch and were therefore brutally slaughtered.
Tito’s reign Josip Broz, better known as Tito, the leader of the Partisan movement that fought the Fascists and Nazi’s, gained power after WWII. Tito, child of a Slovenian mother and a Croatian father, wanted to create a united Slavic State again. The different ethnic and religious groups were all granted plenty of autonomy and Tito made sure no republic was disadvantaged in relation to the others. Tito was a communist dictator that supressed all expressions of nationalism. In 1948 Tito and Stalin parted ways, resulting in Tito trying to unite Yugoslavia with the other non-bounded states (states that did not rally with either the US or the Soviet-Union).
Still, in the ‘70s the Croats complained that the Serbs had more power. As a result the provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina were granted more autonomy. The republics positions towards the central power were also fortified. When Tito died, however, all seemed to have been for nothing.
Ethnic tensions resurface
Kosovo, a province with mainly Albanians, wished to gain independence. Tourism, the main source of income for the entirety of Yugoslavia went down, resulting in an economic crisis. Meanwhile, nationalist Slobodan Milošević becomes the leader of Serbia. He gains popularity by focussing on the injustice suffered by the Serbs in the past and in doing so, consolidated ethnic tensions. Milošević wished to restore the Serbian dominance in Yugoslavia.
The Serbs, led by Milošević gained the majority in the governments of Serbia, Kosovo and Vojvodina and decided that the latter two should belong to Serbia again. In 1989 Milošević was elected President of Serbia. Neighbouring republic Montenegro also supported Milošević, resulting in Serbia effectively gaining 4 votes out of 8 in the joined consultation of all the republics in Yugoslavia. Especially Croatia and Slovenia disliked this large Serbian dominance. Resulting in the victory of nationalist parties in all the non-Serbian republics during the elections in 1990.
Milošević manipulated Serbian sentiment that Tito had disadvantaged them in favour of the Croatians, the Macedonians (who got their own republic, while actually being South-Serbia) and the Albanians in Kosovo. In turn, the non-Serbian states felt they were disadvantaged by being stripped of their autonomy while they had always done what Tito wanted of them. When The Kosovar Albanians started a petition for independence, all the non-Serbian republics supported them. In response, Serbian tanks surrounded the Kosovar parliament, forcing them to abolish Kosovar autonomy.
This Serbian act proved to be the final nail in the coffin for Yugoslavia. Both Slovenia and Croatia voted for independence and declared so the same year.
War and genocide
As a result the Federal Army, in practice a Serbian army, attacked. The so-called 10-day war follows, after which Slovenia wins independence. Macedonia also gains independence, since the Federal Army does not have the manpower to fight them as well. Given the history of tensions between the Serbs and the Croatians and the many Serbs living in Croatia, the war against Croatia gets full priority under Milošević. Ethnic Serbs living in Croatia established their own Serbian republic with the help of the Federal Army. When the Serbs needed their full capacity for the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia won this area back. It took the Croats a full year to win this war and with it, their independence.
The bloodiest conflict however, is that in Bosnia-Herzegovina. This republic is characterized by a large amount of ethnic diversity. Where different ethnic groups usually cluster together, Bosnia-Herzegovina is a true patchwork of Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Croats and Serbs. The Orthodox Serbs, Muslim Bosniaks and Catholic Croats fight for territory and power, resulting in a large influx of refugees to the West.
Bosnia itself was divided over its future. The Serbs mainly wanted to stay united with Serbia in the Yugoslav state. The Bosniaks and Croats however, mainly wished to gain independence. Greater Serbia led by Milošević and Croatia led by president Tudman had secretly agreed how to divide Bosnia between their two States.
During the end of 1991 Bosnia-Herzegovina split up. The Croats, Serbs and last Bosniaks all declared independence, resulting in civil war. Initially the Croats and Bosniaks rallied against the Serbs. After a years-long siege of Sarajevo, which led to many civilian casualties, the union of the Croats and the Bosniaks ended. The Croats and Serbs were backed up by greater Croatia and Serbia, leaving the Bosniaks to fend for themselves.
The Serbs had gained almost 70% of Bosnia and were thus not interested in the various peace plans of the UN. The UN eventually intervened and established several ‘safe zones’ in the most vulnerable areas. One of these areas was Srebrenica, guarded by Dutchbat, the Dutch Blue Helmets. These safe zones, however, were proven ineffective when the Serbs launched an offensive on Srebrenica. Led by Serbian general Ratko Mladic, the Federal Army killed over 8.000 Bosniaks that had fled to Srebrenica and other Muslim enclaves. Bosniaks and Croats, on the other hand, were also guilty of ethnic cleansings of Serbian areas in Bosnia.
After Mladic and his army attacked several other safe zones, the UN issued a clear mandate for air attacks on the Serbs. At the same time the Croats and the Bosniaks started their offensives, resulting in the Serbs agreeing with the Dayton-Accords. These accords re-established the united Bosnia from before the wars, with the exception of the Republic Srpska granted to the Bosnian Serbs.
By now, Yugoslavia only consisted of Serbia and Montenegro. Milošević became president of Yugoslavia in 1997. While everyone focussed on the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albanians in Kosovo started the Guerrilla Liberation army. Milošević then launched a war against these Albanians, partly to regain his status as war hero in Serbia.
While the Dayton-Accords officially ended the civil war in Bosnia, the violence in the Balkans did not end. In 2001 the Albanian minority in Macedonia rebelled, resulting in various offensives and eventually autonomy for the Albanians. Montenegro, while initially supportive of Serbia, also wanted its independence. It was only in 2006 that they got it through a referendum which was accepted by Serbia.
For Kosovo independence came less easy. The Albanian Liberation Army fought with the Serbian Federal Army, leading to various ethnic cleansings. Eventually the UN intervened with military action and took control of Kosovo. Milošević got impeached and extradited to the Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. In 2008 Kosovo declared its independence, which is still not recognized by all states.
From a war-torn society to present-day
After Slovenia and Croatia declared independence, roughly 80.000 Yugoslavs fled to Central, West- and Northern-Europe, where they joined their relatives as guest labourers. The largest influx of refugees was, however, after 1992. Roughly 1.2 million Bosnians fled because of the civil war. Most of them fled to Germany, where they were treated poorly. The policy in many Western countries was that these Bosnian refugees should be repatriated when the war was over. They thus did not receive any mental health care or other help. After Srebrenica these policies changed and the Dutch government even actively helped refugees from Bosnia to the Netherlands.
After 1998 refugees from Kosovo came to Western countries, due to the NATO bombing Kosovo and Serbia. An evacuation program led to 92.000 refugees fleeing the country in 1999. These refugees, however, were granted temporary asylum and were not allowed to work.
When they returned to their countries, they took their trauma’s and experiences with them. Resulting in ever-divided countries where ethnic tensions still lay close under the surface.
Human rights in the Balkans
During the Bosnian war, sexual violence was an often used tool by the Serbian forces. Many Bosniak women were raped. Partly due their Muslim culture, however, sexual violence and mental health are not spoken of. This culture of not talking about war trauma’s led to even more sexual violence or trauma by creating a ‘cycle of violence’.
Men were also sexually assaulted during the wars. For example Serbian military personnel raped males from the Croatian military. By raping and feminizing men, they were seen as less threatening to the Serbian military. Thus, the Croatians could be overthrown. The Croatian government on the other hand, would not recognize the rapes, since that would mean that their men were not tough and capable of protecting their country. Due to nationalism, religion and notions of masculinity and femininity, there are thus many men and women in the Balkans still traumatized.
The violence itself, moreover, did not end when the wars ended. Extremist nationalist groups still attack various ethnic groups. Societies themselves are divided along religious and nationalist lines. On top of that, the situation for the LGBTI-community is worsening. Hate crimes are increasing and people feel less safe.
Freedom of press is also eroding rapidly in the Balkans. Examples of the undermining of democracy and freedom of speech in the Balkans were shown by protestors trying to breach the building of the Serbian state television, journalists that are persecuted or have to flee because they exposed government corruption, etc. Journalists are not only bribed to be positive about the various governments, there are even incidents where violence was used against those who did not do so. The ‘Freedom of Press Index’ states that Serbia is a country where journalists are no longer safe. The same goes for Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro.
The European Parliament also adopted a resolution on the human rights situation in the Balkans. In this resolution the EP states that the following are important issues regarding the situation in the Balkans: lack of gender equality; lack of female labour participation; unequal payment for men and women; gendered education opportunities; lack of health care in rural areas; lack of female participation in post-war reconciliation attempts; lack of female political participation; high levels of domestic violence and lack of safe places for victims; large dark number in relation to domestic abuse; high levels of discrimination based on gender, religion and culture; stereotype views on domestic abuse and gender inequality.
Important to note here is the role of religion. In the Balkans, religion and culture are highly interwoven. Religion thus influences many of the points of view, and thus indirectly the degree in which certain issues are seen as social problems, the way in which post-conflict reconciliation is handled, the way in which gender roles are taught and how people perceive certain issues.
It is thus important to not only try to solve these human rights issues in general, but also to critically analyse how the history of conflicts between religious and ethnic groups and the religions and cultures themselves have influenced these current human rights situations.
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