Human Rights in Croatia - Since Independence

Since Independence

The armed conflicts in former Yugoslavia during the early 1990s, which included Croatia, were characterized by widespread violations of human rights and humanitarian law. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will have adjudicated only a relatively small number of cases involving the most serious crimes by the time it ceases operating. All other war crimes cases — whether initiated domestically or referred back from the ICTY — will have to be tried by Croatia.

The experience of Croatia illustrates many of the concerns about the shortcomings of trials to date. Patterns observed by Human Rights Watch in war crimes trials in Croatia include:

• A disproportionate number of cases being brought against the ethnic Serb minority, some on weaker charges than cases against ethnic Croats;
• The use of group indictments that fail to specify an individual defendant’s role in the commission of the alleged crime;
• Use of in absentia trials; and
• Convictions of ethnic Serbs where the evidence did not support the charges.

The European Union, other European organizations, such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe, and those countries that have supported the important work of the ICTY all have an interest in seeing that the legacy of the ICTY is carried on successfully.