Statement
by
Ambassador Ivan Šimonovic
Permanent Representative of the Republic of Croatia
in the Security Council
Maintenace of peace and security and post-conflict peace-building:
Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants
in a peacekeeping environment
New York, July 8, 1999
Thank you, Mr. President.
UNTAES was created in an environment favorable to its ultimate goal of peaceful reintegration of the formerly occupied Croatian territory: we had the agreement of the parties to the conflict, the recourse to the military option was unattractive to all interested parties, the political goal of peaceful reintegration was clearly set and known, as well as supported by political will of the host-government, the international community and the skilled UN leadership in the field. And yet, the process of reintegration was, of course, more than politically challenging. It represented major technical and bureaucratic difficulties for civilian aspects of reintegration.
Critical to the orderly implementation of the civilian timetable of reintegration, however, was the process of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants. Importantly, this process was launched not only early on in the operation, but also, was completed swiftly and competently in an innovative manner of a weapons buy-back scheme. The Firearms Buy-Back Program lasted approximately ten months, and was jointly conducted by the Croatian Government and UNTAES. Under the Program 9,680 firearms were collected, as well as 45,246 explosive arms and 2,325,378 rounds of ammunition and ignition devices and 106.16 kilograms of explosives, for which 10,700,000 kunas were paid or approximately 1.6 million USD. Since, the process of voluntary return and collection of small arms has continued. Beginning this August, any further illegal possession of arms will be penalized.
The UNTAES operation was concluded on schedule on 15 January 1998. During the last few months the number of peacekeepers was scaled down substantially. As the transition period proceeded, an increasing number of security functions were performed by the Transitional Police force or TPF, which was made of 40% each of Croats and Serbs and 20% of other ethnic groups present in the region. Importantly, the international community provided training assistance for a number of TPF members which proved crucial to establishing high-level of professionalism. This was invaluable to proper reintegration of former combatants and maintenance of law and order. Initially, under the responsibility of UNTAES, the TPF later came under the management of the Ministry of the Interior one year prior to complete reintegration of the region.
The nine-month follow-on UN Support Group, by monitoring civilian police practices, added its weight to the positive momentum for a normalization of life in the area. Not necessarily enchanted, but fully cognizant of the magnitude and complexity of the on-going process of reintegration, Croatia has later invited the OSCE to continue with certain monitoring duties in Eastern Slavonia. In doing so, Croatia has recognized the need to do what it takes in order to consolidate stability and sustain peace, and thereby help the local population move on towards joint tasks of rebuilding prosperity. In this regard, as it has been recently emphasized during the Zagreb Regional Conference on anti-personnel landmines, deminig remains a priority task.
In the interest of speeding-up reconciliation and the overall post-conflict recovery, special importance should be attached to economic and social measures. In this respect, reintegration of ex-combatants into civil society carries an additional weight. In Croatia, we tried to stimulate this reintegration in several ways, including by adopting an Amnesty Law, that exonerated former rebels, except for war crimes. Veterans are given priority in access to higher education and employment in the public sector. They are also eligible for preferential lines of credit for new business ventures or agricultural leases. For those who cannot be included in the active working population, special unemployment benefits, including health care, as well as early retirement benefits are available.
Needless to say, all of these policy measures have proven expensive. They are taxing on the national budget of an economy burdened with reconstruction, low investment and real growth rates and high unemployment, as is always the case in a post-conflict society. This is why Croatia strongly recommends that, as a part of the international financial assistance provided to post-conflict societies, special funds be earmarked for and allocated to specific programs that support rehabilitation and reintegration of former combatants.
Mr. President,
As we have stated before in this and other fora, reconciliation does not take place over night, but represents a long-term process. In this regard, I cannot overemphasize the importance of establishing the truth about what happened during the conflict, that is, the establishment of responsibility for war crimes that have been committed. The goal of reintegration of former combatants cannot be attained without this element of justice. In the alternative, if war criminals are not brought to justice, a neighbor will not trust a neighbor walking down the street after sunset, let alone join hands in rebuilding and developing a livelihood in the same community.
Thank you, Mr. President.
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