The Erdut Agreement ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Erdutski sporazum, Ердутски споразум), officially the Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium, was an agreement reached on 12 November 1995 between the authorities of the
Republic of Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capi ...
and the local Serb authorities of the
Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia region on the peaceful resolution to the
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yug ...
in eastern Croatia. It initiated the process of peaceful reintegration of the region to the central government control (implemented by the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
) and provided a set of guarantees on
minority rights
Minority rights are the normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or gender and sexual minorities, and also the collective rights accorded to any minority group.
Civil-rights movements ...
and refugee return. It was named after
Erdut, the village in which it was signed.
The signers were
Hrvoje Šarinić, the former
prime minister of Croatia, and Milan Milanović, a local
Serb
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
politician representing the self-proclaimed
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina or Serb Republic of Krajina ( sh, Република Српска Крајина, italics=no / or РСК / ''RSK'', ), known as the Serbian Krajina ( / ) or simply Krajina, was a self-proclaimed Serb proto-state, ...
(RSK) under instructions from the authorities of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of ...
. The witnesses were
Peter Galbraith
Peter Woodard Galbraith (born December 31, 1950) is an American author, academic, commentator, politician, policy advisor, and former diplomat.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he helped uncover Saddam Hussein's gassing of the Kurds. From 1993 ...
, the ambassador of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
to Croatia at the time, and
Thorvald Stoltenberg, the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
intermediary.
The territory of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium had previously been controlled by the RSK, and before that by the
SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia
The Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Srpska autonomna oblast Istočna Slavonija, Baranja i Zapadni Srem, Српска аутономна област Источна Славонија, ...
. The agreement was acknowledged by the
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1023, and it paved the way to the establishment of the
United Nations Transitional Authority for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium. UNTAES was not designed as an ordinary UN mission but rather as a transitional administration, partially modeled on the
United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia
The United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) ar, سلطة الأمم المتحدة الانتقالية في كمبوديا, italics=off zh, , italics=offfrench: Autorité provisoire des Nations unies au Cambodgerussian: Орг ...
, therefore providing the UNTAES with a direct and supreme governing mandate over the region which was an effective
United Nations protectorate.
Background
In 1995 mini
Contact Group of foreign ambassadors in Zagreb drafted a comprehensive proposal to
Croatian President Franjo Tuđman
Franjo Tuđman (; 14 May 1922 – 10 December 1999), also written as Franjo Tudjman, was a Croatian politician and historian. Following the country's independence from Yugoslavia, he became the first president of Croatia and served as p ...
and the leaders of the
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina or Serb Republic of Krajina ( sh, Република Српска Крајина, italics=no / or РСК / ''RSK'', ), known as the Serbian Krajina ( / ) or simply Krajina, was a self-proclaimed Serb proto-state, ...
in
Knin
Knin (, sr, link=no, Книн, it, link=no, Tenin) is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagr ...
aimed at peaceful resolution of the
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yug ...
. The proposal was known as the
Z-4 Plan and it proposed reintegration of Krajina to Croatian constitutional framework on the basis of a new Constitutional Agreement which defined Krajina as an autonomous region of Croatia. The plan did not envisage special autonomy for Eastern Slavonia but rather two years long transitional period. Krajina leaders in Knin refused to receive the draft proposal which subsequently led to
Operation Flash and
Operation Storm
}) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory for the Croatian Army (HV), which attacked across a front against the self-declared proto-state Re ...
and complete military defeat of Krajina resulting in over 200,000 Croatian Serb refugees who left their homes.
Rump and geographically separated territory of
Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia (commonly known as Eastern Slavonia) remained the only part of Croatia under Serb control. Contrary to Krajina, Eastern Slavonia shared a long border with the
Republic of Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
. It was also economically and socially dependent and politically much more closely aligned with authorities in
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...
and
Novi Sad
Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the P ...
than Krajina.
This led the international community to believe that Croatian intervention in Eastern Slavonia would trigger a military reaction from Yugoslavia and result in an escalation of hostilities.
At the same time, the military defeat at Krajina and signing of the
Washington Agreement
The Washington Agreement ( Croatian: ''washingtonski sporazum'' and Bosnian: ''vašingtonski sporazum'') was a ceasefire agreement between the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, signed in Washington ...
opened the space to resolve the
armed conflict in Bosnia which the US Administration wanted to use as political ammunition before the
1996 United States presidential election
The 1996 United States presidential election was the 53rd quadrennial United States presidential election, presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic Party (United States), Democratic President Bill Clinton de ...
.
Croatia conditioned its participation at the
Dayton Peace Conference on the resolution of conflict in Eastern Slavonia, while international community insisted on avoidance of any new major escalation of Yugoslav crisis. This created conditions in which peaceful resolution was preferred or acceptable to all parties concerned.
Agreement history
As a part of his Bosnia peace efforts
United States President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
also stated:
Despite
territorial autonomy's prominent place in President Clinton's plans and effort by the US ambassador
Peter Galbraith
Peter Woodard Galbraith (born December 31, 1950) is an American author, academic, commentator, politician, policy advisor, and former diplomat.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he helped uncover Saddam Hussein's gassing of the Kurds. From 1993 ...
to model this autonomy proposal on recently suspended precedent of the
Autonomous District of Glina and Knin from the
Constitutional Act on National and Ethnic Communities or Minorities, this proposal was rejected by Croatian Government which preferred military solution over territorial autonomy.
This convinced international community to focus on the models of non-territorial
national personal autonomy,
minority rights
Minority rights are the normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or gender and sexual minorities, and also the collective rights accorded to any minority group.
Civil-rights movements ...
and
inter-municipal cooperation Inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) is a generic term for all joint provision of public services between municipalities, who are normally but not necessarily neighbours.
Municipalities are elements of administration and have a history of several hund ...
. The refusal to include any territorial autonomy provisions strengthened demands for
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
provisions.
Provisions
Return of refugees
United Nations Transitional Administration was requested to ensure the possibility for the return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes of origin. The same rights were to be enjoyed both to those who have left the region or those who have come to the region from other parts of Croatia.
Inter-communal power sharing
Joint Implementation Committees formed both by local Croat and Serb communities assisted the UNTAES in governing the region. Local police forces were organized to have equal number of ethnic Croats and Ethnic Serbs plus additional smaller number from all the other communities in the region.
Minority rights provisions
The agreement itself and subsequent developments and commitments during the UNTAES mandate represent the basis on which numerous minority institutions operate today. Establishment of the
Joint Council of Municipalities
sr, Заједничко веће општина
, logo = Joint Council of Municipalities Logo.png
, size = 150px
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, with a Serbian majority population was one of explicit rights granted to the Serb community. Other institutions such as
Serb National Council and weekly magazine
Novosti were established at the same time, while some, such as
Radio Borovo
Radio Borovo ( sr-Cyrl, Радио Борово) is Serbian language radio station serving primarily Serb national minority in eastern Croatia. It has a local broadcasting license for the municipality of Borovo, Croatia. Its frequency is 100.7&n ...
, were registered in accordance with Croatian laws. Agreement requires respect of the highest levels of internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms.
International impact
Erdut Agreement was quoted as an precedent and comparable case by the
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
diplomats for implementation of Minsk II package of measures agreed within the framework of
Minsk Protocol aimed at halting the
War in Donbass
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
.
See also
*
Josip Reihl-Kir (25 July 1955 – 1 July 1991; assassinated
police chief
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
from
Osijek
Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...
during SFR Yugoslavia known for his
peacemaking initiatives)
*
Dayton Agreement
The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords ( Croatian: ''Daytonski sporazum'', Serbian and Bosnian: ''Dejtonski mirovni sporazum'' / Дејтонски миро ...
(Erdut Agreement was major precondition for the 1995 conference)
*
Croatia–Serbia border dispute
*
Croatia–Serbia genocide case
*
1997 Eastern Slavonia integrity referendum
References
Sources
*
External links
Full text of Erdut Agreement, UN Peacemaker(in English, French, Chinese, Arabic, Russian and Spanish)
{{Serbian minority institutions and organizations in Croatia
1995 in Croatia
Croatian War of Independence
History of the Serbs of Croatia
History of Syrmia
History of Slavonia
History of Baranya (region)
Joint Council of Municipalities
Croatia–Serbia relations
Peace treaties of Croatia
United Nations treaties
November 1995 events in Europe
1995 in international relations
Croatia–United States relations