Yugoslavia: Information on the current treatment of Roman Catholic Serbs in Serbia
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 March 1992 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | YUG10482 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Yugoslavia: Information on the current treatment of Roman Catholic Serbs in Serbia, 1 March 1992, YUG10482, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6abc260.html [accessed 2 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Information specific to the treatment of Roman Catholic Serbs in Serbia is not currently available to the IRBDC. However, the following information may be of some interest.
Sources indicate that most Serbs in Yugoslavia belong to the Serbian Orthodox faith; most Croats and Slovenes are Roman Catholic (Minority Rights Group 1989, 132; Nyrop 1982, 98). According to Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1991,
religion is identified with ethnicity in Yugoslavia. In the context of increasing ethic animosities and armed conflict, the nationalist governments which came to power in 1990 in the republics have established close public ties with the dominant religious establishments and usually discriminated against minority religions (1992, 1318).
As stated by another source, in Yugoslavia history has "tainted relations among the major religious groups with nationalistic animosities" (Mews 1989, 326). Yugoslavia: A Country Study also indicates that religion in Yugoslavia has had a "long-standing association with nationalism" (Nyrop 1982, 99). Reuters reported in July 1991 that "Serbs accuse the Roman Catholic Church of complicity in the massacre of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies by the Croatian pro-Nazi puppet state in World War II" (15 July 1991). An article in The Washington Post in November 1990 claims that 200 000 Serbs in Croatia were "forcibly converted" to Catholicism during this period (6 Nov. 1990). According to The Independent, several Serbian books published in 1990 described Catholicism as the "age-old enemy of Serbs."
Bibliography
The Independent[London]. 8 July 1990. Barber, Tony. "The Priests Who Could Split the New East..." (NEXIS)
Mews, Stuart, ed. 1989. Religion in Politics. "Yugoslavia." Essex, UK: Longman Group UK Ltd.
Minority Rights Group. 1989. World Directory of Minorities. "Yugoslavia." Essex, UK: Longman Group UK Ltd.
Nyrop, Richard F., ed. 1982. Yugoslavia: A Country Study. Washington: United States Government.
Reuters. 15 July 1991. Radovic, Vjekoslav. "Yugoslav Church Chiefs Split By Nationality."(NEXIS)
U.S. Department of State. 1992. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1991. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.
The Washington Post. 6 November 1990. Gavrilovic, Kosara. "Crimes of Croatia." (NEXIS)
