Eastern Slavonia, the only remaining Serb-held region of Croatia, was scheduled to revert to Croatian control by July 15, 1997. Some 120,000 to 150,000 Serbs who lived in that region will come under the authority of their bitter opponent during the war. While the transition of authority in Eastern Slavonia was designed to be carried out peacefully under the auspices of a U.N. peace-keeping operation, we were concerned that the transition would be accompanied or followed by serious violations. The Croatian government issued numerous widely publicized statements and pledges, enthusiastically welcomed by the international community, that guaranteeed the rights of ethnic Serbs in Eastern Slavonia, but it failed to take the steps necessary to permit the exercise of some of the most fundamental of these rights.
Croatia: Human Rights in Eastern Slavonia During and After the Transition of Authority