Reports

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 seventeen (17) 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, May 6^th, “We remember”
- On the occasion of the 30^th anniversary of the crime of ethnic cleansing of the Croatian population from Vojvodina, Women in Black, the Humanitarian Law Fund and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights organized a vigil in black and silence. Thirty years ago (May 6, 1992), the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) hel d a pre-election rally in Hrtkovci in front of more than a thousand people, where Vojislav Šešelj called for the expulsion of the local Croatian population. In 2018, Šešelj was sentenced before the Hague Tribunal to 10 years in prison for inciting persecution, deportation and other inhuman acts, as well as for committing persecution as a crime against humanity in Hrtkovci, Vojvodina.

At the protest, which was attended by twenty activists (20), the following banners were displayed:

• Between 1991 and 1995, a campaign of intimidation and pressure on the Croatian population was carried out in Vojvodina, with the aim of making them move out of their homes and leave Serbia. The campaign resulted in the persecution of several tens of thousands of Croats.
• The main advocates and inspirers of the campaign of intimidation and pressure on the Croatian population in Vojvodina were Vojislav Šešelj and his Serbian Radical Party (SRS). The emigration of Croatian families took place under the pressure of various groups close to SRS.
• The intimidation campaign took place with the knowledge and tacit approval of the political structures of the Republic of Serbia.
• Members of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia, as well as members of the YNA reserve, participated in certain acts of violence against Croats. In the forced emigration of Croats from Vojvodina, the Department of State Security of the MI of the Republic of Serbia played a signifi cant role.
• Violence against Croats in Vojvodina included attacks on private property and religious buildings, threats, physical attacks and murders.
• The SRS rally was followed by organized violence against the local Croats, which led to the mass emigration of the Croatian population from Hrtkovci.
• In the period from May 10, 1992 to July 1, 1992, about 20 Croatian families were physically evicted from their houses in Hrtkovci, while a large number of them succumbed to pressure and agreed to exchange property.
• In the period from May to August 1992, about 450 Croatian and ethnically mixed families moved out of Hrtkovci under pressure.
• During the campaign of intimidation and pressure on the Croats of Vojvodina, in the period from 1991 to 1995, at least 14 people were killed.
• Stevan Đurkov from Sonta, brothers Mato and Ivica Abjanović from Morović are still on the missing persons list.
• Between the two population censuses, 1991 and 2002, in the territory of Vojvodina, the number of Croats decreased in 39 out of 45 municipalities in Vojvodina, and in the territory of the entire Vojvodina, the number of Croats decreased by 18,262.
• According to the 1991 census, 1,622 Croats lived in Kukujevci. In 2002, the number of Croats in Kukujevci fell to 72.

During the protest, several passers-by shouted:
Long live Russia! Fuck your Croats! Poor Serbian people! Serbs were expelled from Krajina, Why is no one standing up for them? etc.

May 24^th, Kruševac “We Remember the Brave Resistance of Women!”
– Women’s organization “Peščanik” from Kruševac and Women in Black, Belgrade marked the 23^nd anniversary of the women’s protest against forced mobilization in 1999. By this peace action, organized on the occasion of May 24^th – International Day of Women’s Action for Peace and Disarmament, activists recalled the courageous resistance of women to mobilization and war in Kosovo.
And on this occasion, a request was sent to the state of Serbia and the local administration in the Rasina District to declare May 24 as the Day of Remembrance of the May protests and brave resistance of the citizens of Kruševac and the Rasina District. Twenty (20) female activists participated in the action.

Belgrade, June 17^th “We remember the women of Foča”
- On the occasion of June 19 – the International Day of Combating Sexual Violence in War, Women in Black and the Autonomous Women’s Center organized a vigil and stage action in black and silence “We remember the women of Foča”.

Belgrade, June 17^th “We remember women rape in war”
- on the occasion of June 19^th – International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in War, Women in Black and the Autonomous Women’s Center organized a vigil in mourning and silence and performance “We remember women of Foča”.

The following banners were displayed in the protest:

• June 19^th – International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in War,
• We remember women of Foča
• We remember women raped in war

During the protest, the passers-by shouted the following insults:

• Serbia to Serbs
• Whores and foes
• Shame on you
• There was no genocide (in Srebrenica)
• You Soros mercenaries,
• You will go to the Hague, but not this one, to the new Hague, etc.

Feminist, anti-fascist, anti-war, anti-racist, anti-militarist actions...

Report on our activities in pdf.