You can support this action by:
- Signing the petition of apology to those who, as innocent, were killed during this operation and those who lost their loved ones. The apology is offered in the expectation that the highest government bodies of the Republic of Croatia, whose predecessors planned and carried out this Operation, will do the same.
- Sharing the content published on Youth Initiative for Human Rights’ website and social networks with the hashtag #isprika.
Let us show the face of Croatia that cares about justice and expresses solidarity with victims. Let us tell the Government that the apology is a minimum of solidarity after multiple violations of human rights and the absence of court proceedings.
This petition and signatures will be sent to the representatives of the associations of victims of ‘Storm’ who are still waiting for justice for the crimes.
The text of the petition:
“We, the undersigned citizens of the Republic of Croatia, wish to say to all our fellow citizens, victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during and after Operation Storm in August 1995
– we are sorry!
We apologise in the expectation that the highest government bodies of the Republic of Croatia, whose predecessors planned and carried out this Operation, will do the same.
By our signatures, we wish to apologise:
To all those who, 22 years ago, lost their closest relatives in the crimes against civilians during and after the ‘Storm’.
To all those who were forced to leave their homes, towns and villages in which they had grown up, lived, had friends, children and family.
To all those whose property was robbed and houses in which they had lived for generations – burnt and destroyed so that they had nowhere to return.
To all those who, in spite of everything, tried to return to their holdings, but were prevented from doing so by the state authorities of the Republic of Croatia.
To all those whom the Republic of Croatia promised peace if they stayed, but brought them violence, murders, destruction and arson instead.
With this apology, we express particular solidarity with those still searching for the remains of their loved ones. We wish to tell them that they are not alone.
We wish that our apology reaches out to all those who used to live or are still living as refugees, to the children and youth who were growing up far away from their homes against their will. We wish for our apology to be heard even farther, and to reach out to all those who have nowhere to return. To be heard by those who returned, but still suffer insults because of their national or ethnic origin, who cannot get a job and whose voice is silenced and ignored.
We, the undersigned, deeply believe that the achievement of any social or political goal, even when all diplomatic means have been exhausted, must never involve the committing of crimes and grave violations of human rights. It should not have happened in 1995, either.
Also, we reject and distance ourselves from every politics that planned the crimes, especially if the planners were officials of the government which is supposed to equally belong to them, to us, as well as to those who lost their lives in the ‘Storm’.
We are ashamed not only because these crimes were committed in our name, but also because the institutions of our country failed to respond to these crimes in accordance with the principles of justice, that is, they did not do enough to bring justice to victims. In that respect, little or nothing have been done to date. The one and only judgment for crimes committed during and after Operation Storm is too little for us to stand tall and without shame in front of you who experienced the ‘Storm’ personally.
We are raising our voices against silence, denial and relativisation and we live in hope that the Republic of Croatia will enable you the return and have a safe life.
Among us, the signatories, there are those whom the ‘Storm’ enabled to return to their homes after years of uncertainty and fear. And we also wish to loudly and clearly distance ourselves from crimes that were committed. We wish to state clearly that we still believe today that these streets, squares, schools and factories, our towns and our country – they belong to all of us together.
We wish this apology to serve also as a call on political officials and politicians in Croatia to admit responsibility and do everything in order to locate and identify the missing persons, enable the return of the refugees, enable a decent life to those who have returned, and for those responsible for crimes to be convicted. We call on them to, simultaneously with the celebration of the military victory, join the commemorations for all victims of crimes committed during and after Operation Storm.
With this apology, we wish to contribute to the building of a different Croatia. We wish Croatia to be a union based on the rule of law, legal certainty, truth, equality, democracy and human rights. We wish Croatia to be a society of reconciliation which is not fearful of its past, but rather learning lessons for the future from it.”
#ISPRIKA
#OLUJA
