The war has left terrible consequences, a lot of victims, suffering and destruction, including civilian victims, and the victims, because of various legal issues, are often not only not compensated but must pay court costs, so a way must be found to enable civilian war victims to exercise their rights, said Josipovic.
Vesna Terselic of the Documenta Centre for Dealing with the Past underlined the need to solve the issue of litigation costs, saying it was unacceptable that civilian war victims should pay them.
She said it was also necessary to equalise the rights of civilian and military victims, adopt an integral damages programme and set up a foundation for that purpose, as well as deal more appropriately with the rehabilitation of rape victims and prisoners of war.
Emina Buzinkic of Documenta said the number of civilian victims in Croatia remained unknown but that some sources put it at 4,000-8,000 killed, wounded or abused people. She said the suffering of their families remained unacknowledged, adding that they had lost damages lawsuits against Croatia and that many perpetrators had not been held to account.
Zoran Pusic of the Civic Committee for Human Rights said injustices were being done to civilian war victims through state institutions which should protect justice.