As we have done in the past, we are providing you with a short report on the activities of Women in Black in the reporting period.
We would like to thank you in advance, in solidarity.
Street actions: In this reporting period we organized twelve (12) events, and we also actively participated in other street actions
- commemoration/marking important dates of crimes committed in our names;
- Feminist, anti-fascist, anti-war, anti-racist, anti-militaristic actions...
Commemoration / marking of important dates of crimes committed in our name, as well as other crimes against civilian population, during and after wars, in the territory of the former Yugoslavia:
Belgrade, October 5th “We shall never forget the Topčider crime”
On the occasion of the anniversary of the crime - the murder of two
guardsmen in the barracks in Topčider, on October 5, 2004, Women in Black organized two protests in mourning and silence:
- Protest in front of the barracks in Topčider, together with the families of the killed guardsmen. The banner “We will never forget the crime in Topčider” was displayed. Flowers with the message “Remember - Women in Black” were laid there.
- Protest in the city center (Knez Mihailova Street) where the
following banners were displayed:
– We will never forget the crime in Topčider
– We remember Dragan Jakovljević and Dražen Milovanović
– Who killed the guards?
– Discover the killers of soldiers!
Ten (10) activists took part in the protest.
Belgrade, 22th October “We remember the crime in Sjeverin!”
On the occasion of the anniversary of the crime in Sjeverin, Women in
Black organized a protest in mourning and silence, in Knez Mihailova Street.
The following banners were displayed at the protest:
- 22nd Oct. 1992 members of the Serbian paramilitary formation Avengers kidnapped residents of the village of Sjeverin from a bus on the Priboj-Rudo line
- Names of abduction victims in Sjeverin
- Why are you silent about the kidnapping in Sjeverin? How much longer?
- Sjeverin (22nd Oct. 1992-22nd Oct. 2021) Enough silence!
- We remember the crime in Sjeverin
- Solidarity
- Responsibility
The protest was attended by 20 activists, both Women in Black and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights and the Humanitarian Law Center.
Belgrade, November 18th “We will never forget the crimes in Vukovar”
on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the fall of Vukovar, Women in Black organized a peace action in Knez Mihailova Street in Belgrade.
About thirty (30) activists took part in the protest.
The following banners were displayed at the protest:
- We will never forget the crimes in Vukovar
- Solidarity
- Responsibility
- Women in Black
- Data on the devastation of the city
Then the stage action “We demand accountability for the camps for Croats in Serbia 1991-1992” was performed, during which the following banners were displayed:
Camps for Croats in the territory of Serbia 1991/92: after the occupation of Vukovar on November 18, 1991, the YNA captured a large number of members of the Croatian forces and civilians, who were afterwards transferred, by bus and trucks, to camps in Serbia. The detainees spent from a couple of days to nine months in the camps.
About 7,000 people passed through the camps, and about 3,500 people were kept in them for a long time. At least 14 detainees died in camps in Serbia as a result of battering and ill-treatment, as well as a lack of adequate medical care. Only one person was convicted for
all these crimes committed in the camps (according to the Belgrade Humanitarian Law Center).
- Camp Begejci - located in the municipality of Žitište. The camp was established on September 16, 1991. The Begejci camp was closed on December 21 or 22, 1991. At the time of closure, there were 555 prisoners in it. About 37 women passed through this camp.
Nobody was held accountable for these crimes! - Stajićevo camp - located in the municipality of Zrenjanin. The camp was formed on November 20, 1991 in the village of Stajićevo in Zrenjanin, on the farm “Livade”. More than 1,200 prisoners passed through the camp. The camp was closed on December 22, 1991.
Nobody was held accountable for these crimes! - Correctional Institution Sremska Mitrovica - the camp was established on November 21, 1991. About 4,000 prisoners passed through the camp, 90 of them women.
In 2015, Marko Crevar, a member of the Territorial Defense, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for crimes against prisoners of war in the Sremska Mitrovica Correctional Institution.
- Camp in Aleksinac – this transit camp was established on November 22, 1991; was in the YNA barracks in Aleksinac, when 400 prisoners were transferred from the Sremska Mitrovica CI.
Nobody was held accountable for these crimes! - Camp in Niš – the camp was established on November 18, 1991; it was located within the Correctional Institution in Niš and was under the control of the YNA Military Police. Detainees from the Sremska Mitrovica CI were transferred to this camp, as well as from the Begejci and Stajićevo camps, which were closed in December 1991. The camp existed from November 18, 1991 to February 26, 1992. 447 detainees were released from this camp.
Nobody was held accountable for these crimes! - Military Remand Prison (MRP) in Belgrade – from December 1991 to the beginning of the summer of 1992, several groups of captured members of the Croatian National Guard Corps (ZNG) and the Ministry of Interior of Croatia were transferred from the MPR camp. Indictments were fi led against 82 detainees, 25 of whom were convicted before the Military Court in Belgrade. In mid-August 1992, 121 people left this camp.
Nobody was held accountable for these crimes! - Sexual abuse in camps – according to the testimony of detainees in camps in Serbia, women were subjected to rape and sexual abuse.
Nobody was held accountable for these crimes!
Report on our activities in pdf.