Documenting Human Losses in Croatia 1991–1995

Abstract

Looking at the post-war context in Croatia, this chapter analyses the need for a comprehensive accounting of all human losses from the 1991–1995 conflict, in order for Croatian society to deal with the past, using the framework of transitional justice. Since the end of the Balkan wars, Croatian civil society organisations have been advocating for an official state-led process to establish the factual truth about the war and its victims. In the absence of such an effort, Documenta, a Zagreb-based non-governmental organisation, has taken up the task of comprehensively documenting the dead and missing from the conflict in Croatia 1991–1995. Acknowledging the tensions created by a civil society organisation taking on a task that should fall to the government, this chapter sets out how Documenta is going about this task, including their collaboration with other organisations across the Western Balkan region to reach a comprehensive accounting of all human losses from the wars that marked the break-up of Yugoslavia.