The billboard is part of a media campaign launched by the Croatian government and the OSCE to encourage the return and reintegration of refugees and displaced people. The campaign, entitled "Where there is room for everyone" and "Croatia is the home of all its citizens", will be officially introduced at the Belgrade Media Centre on December 15.
The Belgrade Association of Croatian Serbs said it was "hypocritical and disgraceful to publicly advertise return and call on Serb refugees to return, while at the same time the Croatian authorities are doing all to prevent their return".
"With a 4.5 percent share of Serbs in its population, Croatia is ethnically the cleanest country in Europe. Instead of creating normal conditions for the return of several hundred thousand citizens, providing for their security, returning confiscated private property, and tenancy and other rights, it hypocritically uses advertisements to paint a false picture," the association said in a statement.
The Serbian Commissariat for Refugees issued a statement on the campaign as well.
"We believe that this is not the right time to launch such activities and it is uncertain whether it will contribute to encouraging the process of return, given that talks between Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina on the 'road map' for the implementation of the Sarajevo Declaration are still under way," the Commissariat said, adding that there were outstanding issues that needed to be solved to ensure an unimpeded return and that the initial, rather negative reactions of refugees and refugee associations in Serbia should also be taken into account.
According to the association's data, 58,000, mostly elderly, Serbs have returned to Croatia since 1995. Some other Serb organisations have data on 70,000 returnees, while Croatian authorities speak about 150,000 returnees, says Politika.