Although there are 400,000 registered firearms
in a population of 4.4 million, during the conflicts of the 1990s
almost every able-bodied male was in a paramilitary unit, so that
the total number of SALW available will be much larger. The UNTAES,
which administers the country, has taken many paramilitaries into
the police, but the problem remains severe. UNTAES prohibited most
SALW through the Weapons Act of 1992, and in the next seven years
seized over 100,000 guns.
The JNA militia is responsible for supplying Serb militants during the war, and
also deployed large numbers of landmines in the north-east.
With the help and encouragement of UNTAES, the government has been involved in
buying back arms, both in the Croat-dominated regions and the Serbs in the north-east.
Unfortunately, the weapons have not been destroyed, but they are being stored
with the hope that conflicts will eventually subside. After spending four million
euros on this project, the government recently halted the amnesty, although the
public awareness campaign may be restarted.
Organisations
Ministry
of foreign affairs can be searched for documents
BICC
Croatia
e-mails for the local UNDP office should be sent to this address: registry.hr@undp.org
SEESAC
Croatia
OSCE Croatia
Other links
OSCE
factsheet in English and Croatian
SAFER-Net
factsheet on SALW in Croatia, with details of firearm deaths
by type, etc.
Report
on the weapons buy-back in Eastern Slavonia, Barunja and Western
Sirmium (1997) from BICC (PDF)
Report on the “Farewell
to Arms” campaign from Ocnus.net (2003) |
