Country: Bosnia

Group: Croats

Date Finalized: 3/29/2020

Team: Sophia Agne (lead), Rayna Castillo, Kimberly Prete

Content Warning: homicide, imprisonment, torture, sexual assault, violence against women

Approximate Time Period: 1992-1995

In 1992, Bosnian Croats and Muslims declared independence from Yugoslavia through a referendum (Reuters, 2008). Despite opposition from the Serbs, the European Union formally recognized Bosnia as an independent country. Subsequently, a war broke out between the Serbs and the Bosnian Muslim/Croat population (Reuters, 2008). In 1992, Serbian paramilitary forces (which included some Croats) created concentration camps to systematically kill Bosniaks and Croats (Magrabi, 2017). Croat women in the camps were often, “chosen at random to be raped, often as a part of torture preceding death” (Allen, 1996). Croats were both the victims and the perpetrators of targeted lethal violence. Our team would give the data quality a 2; there was a substantial amount of information regarding atrocities committed against the Croats.

Sources

  1. Allen, B. (1996). Rape Warfare: The Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. University of Minnesota Press.
  2. Magrabi, N. (2017, May 10). Bosnia 1992: The Omarska Camp. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeraworld/2017/05/bosnia-1992-omarska-camp-170508061724966.html
  3. Reuters Staff (2008). Timeline: What happened during the war in Bosnia. (2008, July 21). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-warcrimes-karadzic-bosnia/timeline-what-happened-during-the-war-in-bosnia-idUSL2164446420080721