Three days ago were officially 12 years of peaceful reintegration of Eastern Slavonia and Podunavlje. By using the method of peaceful reintegration, the Republic of Croatia has made civilian control over the entire national territory without firing a single bullet, also excluding human casualties and serious violations of humanitarian law. However, by official observance and celebration of military actions, such as "Flash" and "Storm", state institutions unfairly marginalize and ignore these peace actions.
CMS, CZMOS and Documenta believe that it is of vast importance that the Republic of Croatia, as a country that has experienced war in its recent history, clearly define itself as a country of peace-building.
Croatia today, as a country that will soon become EU member, must clearly show what exactly are the values that it is going to share with the EU community. Work on the promotion of peace, nonviolence and human rights is one of the foundations that Croatia is entering with in the EU. However, not marking peaceful reintegration and the lack of any diplomatic effort to present it as a model of good practice in the international political forums, shows that the Croatian domestic and foreign policy do not have clearly determined systems of values, which are supposed to be in accordance to those in the EU.
Therefore, CMS, CZMOS and Documenta invite all relevant institutions to mark the date of the peaceful reintegration. These three organizations suggest that the 15th January, as date of the anniversary of International Recognition of Croatia, should also be celebrated as a Day of Peace-building, Trust and Inter-national Reconciliation, in order to symbolically build the sufferings of war victims into the foundations of lasting peace.
Center for Peace Studies – CMS, will soon organize also a public debate on the peaceful reintegration, fostering the respect of the policy of nonviolence.
Organizations signers:
www.cms.hr – Center for Peace Studies;
www.centar-za-mir.hr – Center for Peace, Non-violence and Human Rights;
www.documenta.hr – Documenta, Center for Dealing with the Past.
