WOMEN ASK
To mark 15 years since the beginning of the war, illegal violent mobilization, aggression and crimes against peace, we address institutions and the public.
After every war, people try to reduce it to a balance. In the time of the Milosevic regime, the facts about the war crimes committed in our name in Serbia and outside of Serbia were not disclosed. We demand that the truth be revealed and that the stamp of military secrets be removed from those facts.
We know that Serbia was at war. So long as the Serbian people do not know the facts about the war, the climate which leads to war will prevail and the danger of new wars and conflicts will smolder.
Why is this action initiated by women?
o Women paid the highest price for war.
o Women most often cared for victims of war, refugees and deserters.
o Women were the first to actively oppose war.
o Women were the most active in the fall of the dictatorial regime.
Today, women who look for a break from the criminal past are experience to public vilification and vocal calls for violence against them.
WOMEN ASK
To mark 15 years since the beginning of the war, illegal violent mobilization, aggression and crimes against peace, we address institutions and the public.
After every war, people try to reduce it to a balance. In the time of the Milosevic regime, the facts about the war crimes committed in our name in Serbia and outside of Serbia were not disclosed. We demand that the truth be revealed and that the stamp of military secrets be removed from those facts.
We know that Serbia was at war. So long as the Serbian people do not know the facts about the war, the climate which leads to war will prevail and the danger of new wars and conflicts will smolder.
Why is this action initiated by women?
o Women paid the highest price for war.
o Women most often cared for victims of war, refugees and deserters.
o Women were the first to actively oppose war.
o Women were the most active in the fall of the dictatorial regime.
Today, women who look for a break from the criminal past are experience to public vilification and vocal calls for violence against them.
WE ASK:
• How many civilian victims of were there from 1991 to 1999?
• How many conscripts and soldiers were killed in the wars?
• What is the number of victims who were buried in mass graves in Serbia?
• How many people were disabled in the war?
• What is the number of refugees?
• How many volunteers from Serbia were there on the battlefields of the former Yugoslavia?
• How many men were violently mobilized in Serbia?
• What percentage of military reservists did not respond to the call for mobilization and how many reservists committed a violation to avoid their military obligation?
• How many men appeared in front of military courts for not responding to the illegal mobilization or for deserting the battlefield?
• How many men were prosecuted for these same reasons?
• How many mutinies of reservist were there in Serbia?
• How many men, mainly young men, left the country so they would not go to war?
• How many refugees in Serbia were mobilized, contrary to all international conventions but according to lists which the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs delivered to the Red Cross and the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees?
The President of the Republic of Serbia
The Supreme Court of Serbia
The Prime Minister of Republic of Serbia
The Representative for Information of the Republic of Serbia
The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Serbia
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia
The General Inspector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia
The Director Serbian Bureau of Statistics
The Red Cross of Serbia
The Commissariat for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Belgrade
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Office of the OSCE in Belgrade
The Office of the Council of Europe in Belgrade
On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of our work, which was marked from the beginning by public nonviolent response to wars and warmongering politics, and in keeping with the basic legal regulation about the right to free access to information of public importance, we are delivering to you a document which arose as a result of women’s peace initiatives. We expect you to answer the following questions for us and, by that action, contribute to informing women and the entire Serbian public about the results of the policies of the 1990s. Today, many endeavor to rehabilitate them or relativize their criminal character.
For Women in Black
Stasa Zajovic
Belgrade, October 9, 2006
In this letter, we are joined by The Women in Black Network—Serbia (Babusnica, Becej, Bor, Boljevac, Dimitrovgrad, Kikinda, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Krusevac, Leskovac, Nis, Novi Pazar, Pancevo, Pirot, Priboj, Prijepolje, Sjenica, Tutin, Vlasotince, Vranje, Vrbas, Zajecar and Zrenjanin)
