Croatia/Yugoslavia: Update to HRV19373.E of 9 January 1995 on military service requirements for Serb persons in Croatia and available exemptions, including for those who served in the Yugoslav army in 1991; duties and conditions of military service in Croatia; effect of service in the Croatian military on the treatment, by government authorities and members of other groups, of a person who takes up residence in Yugoslavia

At present Serb males living in Eastern Slavonia, and between the ages of 18 and 30, are exempted from military service in an agreement due to expire 15 January 2000 (AP 17 Aug. 1999).

 Military service obligations in Croatia are regulated by the Defence Law which was originally published in 1991, "completely revised in 1993," and amended again in 1996 (Refusing to Bear Arms Sept. 1998, 89; Amnesty International Apr. 1997). The length of normal military service is 10 months and men "aged between 16 and 60 years are liable" (ibid.). Women are sometimes called up "for certain duties" (ibid.) and according to a 1995 UNHCR report referred to in Refusing to Bear Arms, "they are exempted from military service, but in certain circumstances women up to the age of 50 may be obliged to serve in the reserve forces" (Sept. 1998, 89). For further details, as well as for information concerning available postponements and exemptions, please consult the Amnesty International report Out of the Margins: The Right to Conscientious Objection to Military Service in Europe (Apr. 1997), that is available in regional documentation centres and the attached pages from Refusing to Bear Arms (Sept. 1998, 89-91).

A 31 October 1997 AFP article provides further information concerning the service of Serb persons in the Croatian military. It quotes the Croatian defence minister as stating that military service "will be obligatory for Croatian Serb refugees who return to their homes, with the exception of those from Eastern Slavonia." He referred specifically to 2,100 Serbs living in Eastern Slavonia, "but registered as inhabitants of Knin in southern Croatia" and said "I am going to send their call-up papers to Knin, and if they do not reply, they will be considered in my view as deserters" (ibid.). The article states that "the UN administration in Eastern Slavonia has won guarantees from the Croatian government that Croatian Serbs from the region will be exempted from military service for two years after the UN mandate ends – which is due to happen in January" (ibid.).

On 29 January 1999, Beli Manastir Radio broadcast the text of a letter from Milos Vojnovic, president of the joint council of Croatian Serb municipalites, to the Croatian Defence Ministry:

We hereby inform you that Paragraph 10 of the letter of the government of the Republic of Croatia - about the completion of the peaceful reintegration of the region during the transitional administration of 13th January 1997 - says that the defence minister will make a special decision specifying that the obligation to do military service of all members of the Serb ethnic community from the territory under transitional administration will be postponed for a period of two years after the completion of the UNTAES [UN Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia] mandate. As representatives of UNTAES and the Croatian government reiterated on many occasions, the said regulations refer to all actions preceding the paperwork initiating military service, including exemptions for the said period from being entered into military records, recruitment and serving in the army.

Since we have no information about whether the special decision regulating the above matter has been made by the minister - and any action so far has been governed by that [as heard] - we suppose that the decision has not been made, because the local department of the Defence Ministry has already started distributing conscription notices with the goal of entering the conscripts' names into military records. The served notices have disturbed the families of the Serb ethnic community, because they were not expected before the expiration of the two-year postponement period.

Consequently, we expect all conscription notices served to members of the Serb ethnic community in the region to be recalled immediately upon the receipt of this letter.

On 17 August 1999, AP reported that "Croatian authorities showed Tuesday readiness to extend a provisional agreement exempting minority Serb males in the country's volatile eastern region from mandatory military service in the national army." The report stated that the Defence Minister had said he would give consideration to a renewed exemption but that he cautioned that, if approved, it "would not be permanent." (ibid.). BH Press news agency reported on 20 August 1999 that

Croatian Serbs from the former Krajina have demanded to be exempt from military service in the Croatian army over the next 15 years. …  Croatian Serbs believe that it is still too early for them to serve in the Croatian army, as many of them who would now be doing their military service have served in the [rebel Serb] army of Krajina, which might create unpleasant situations and tension. Moreover, they say that they resent the fact that portraits of Ante Pavelic [Croatian fascist leader in World War II] are hanging on the walls of some barracks.

The leadership of the association of the councils of Serb municipalities has backed these demands.

On 24 August 1999, HINA news agency stated that a Croatian Serb representative had sent a letter to the Croatian defence minister that

suggested that the defence minister prepare and pass before the government an appropriate decree which would solve the military service issue for Croatian citizens of Serb nationality for the possible duration of the decree, namely one year. The decree would simultaneously be submitted to parliament for verification.

For information on the amnesty given by the Croatian government to Serb persons who served in the Yugoslav army, as well as those who deserted or evaded military service, please consult HRV27204.E of 24 June 1997 and HRV25806.E of 18 December 1996. In information further to this, AFP reported on 25 March 1998 the concerns of spokespersons from the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) with the Croatian government's interpretation of a 1996 Croatian amnesty law. According to the UN spokesperson, a Croatian Serb who "had previously been sentenced in absentia to five years' imprisonment on war crime charges," had been arrested on 23 March 1998 (ibid.). AFP wrote that "under the law, Zagreb amnestied all those who fought against Croatia in the 1991-95 war, except people regarded as war criminals. A supposedly exhaustive list of these people was issued and under international pressure whittled down to just 25 names," which did not include that of the person arrested (ibid.). In the previous week the Croatian Justice Ministry released "a list of 13,575 people against whom charges had already been dropped" but, while welcoming this action, the UN spokesperson stated it "was 'not enough' and left thousands of people in doubt" (ibid.).

No information as to whether service in the Croatian military would have an effect on the treatment of Croatian Serbs if they were to take up residence in Yugoslavia could be found.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Agence France Presse (AFP). 25 March 1998. "UN Calls on Croatia to Clarify Amnesty Law." (NEXIS)

______. 31 October 1997. "Croatian Serb Returnees Obliged to Do Military Service, Zagreb Says." (NEXIS)

Amnesty International. April 1997. Out of the Margins: The Right to Conscientious Objection to Military Service in Europe. (AI Index: EUR 01/02/97). London: Amnesty International.

Associated Press (AP). 17 August 1999. "Croatia Ready to Allow Serbs Further Exemption From Military Service." (NEXIS)

Beli Manastir Radio [in Serbo-Croat]. 29 January 1999. "Croatian Serbs Protest Against Zagreb Conscription Notices." (BBC Summary 3 Feb. 1999/NEXIS)

BH Press news agency [Sarajevo, in Serbo-Croat]. 20 August 1999. "Croatian Serbs Demand Exemption From Military Service for Next 15 Years." (BBC Summary 23 Aug. 1999/NEXIS)

HINA news agency [Zagreb, in English]. 24 August 1999. "New Proposals for Serb Military Service in Croatian Army." (BBC Summary 26 Aug. 1999/NEXIS)

Refusing to Bear Arms: A World Survey of Conscription and Conscientious Objection to Military Service. September 1998. Horeman, Bart and Stolwijk, Marc. London: War Resisters' International.

Attachment

Refusing to Bear Arms: A World Survey of Conscription and Conscientious Objection to Military Service. September 1998. London: War Resisters' International. pp. 89-91.