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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, is an agreement reached on 12 November 1995 between the authorities of the Republic of Croatia 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) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...
in eastern Croatia. It effectively ended the ethno-nationalist conflict in the region and initiated the process of peaceful reintegration of the region to central government control of Croatia. The reintegration was directly implemented by the
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. The agreement provided a set of guarantees on
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and
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 oft ...
as well as on the
refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
return. It was named after Erdut, the village in which it was signed by local Serb representatives. The signers were
Hrvoje Šarinić Hrvoje Šarinić (; 17 February 1935 – 21 July 2017) was a Croatian politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 1992 to 1993. Šarinić was born in Sušak and graduated from the University of Zagreb then-Faculty of Architecture, ...
, the former prime minister of Croatia, and Milan Milanović, a local Serb politician representing the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) under instructions from the authorities of the
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. The witnesses were Peter Galbraith, the ambassador of the
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to Croatia at the time, and Thorvald Stoltenberg, the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
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 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. Contrary to most of the other missions, UNTAES was modelled as the supreme governing authority in the region creating one of only a couple of United Nations protectorates in the history. While ensuring full reintegration of the region without territorial autonomy clauses, the agreement served as a cornerstone for the establishment of contemporary Serb minority institutions not only in the region but the rest of Croatia as well. It explicitly provided the basis for the establishment of the regional Serb institution of the
Joint Council of Municipalities The Joint Council of Municipalities in Croatia (; ; abbr. ЗВО, ZVO) is an elected consultative sui generis body which constitutes a form of cultural Self-governance, self-government of Serbs of Croatia, Serbs in the eastern Croatian Podunav ...
.


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) was a Croatian politician and historian who became the first president of Croatia, from 1990 until his death in 1999. He served following the Independence of Croatia, country's independe ...
and the leaders of the Republic of Serbian Krajina in
Knin Knin () is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka (Croatia), Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagreb and Split, Croatia, Split. ...
aimed at peaceful resolution of the
Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...
. 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 Operation Storm ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Operacija Oluja, separator=" / ", Операција Олуја) 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 f ...
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. It was also economically and socially dependent and politically much more closely aligned with authorities in
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and
Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...
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 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. 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
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also stated: Despite
territorial autonomy This list of autonomous areas arranged by country gives an overview of autonomous areas of the world. An Autonomous administrative division, autonomous area is defined as an area of a country that has a degree of autonomy, or has freedom from an ...
's prominent place in President Clinton's plans and effort by the US ambassador Peter Galbraith 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 oft ...
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
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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 numbers of personnel 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 The Joint Council of Municipalities in Croatia (; ; abbr. ЗВО, ZVO) is an elected consultative sui generis body which constitutes a form of cultural Self-governance, self-government of Serbs of Croatia, Serbs in the eastern Croatian Podunav ...
, 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, were registered in accordance with Croatian laws. Agreement requires respect of the highest levels of internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms.


International impact

In February 2020, the Erdut Agreement was quoted as a precedent for and a comparable case by Ukrainian diplomats for implementation of the Minsk II measures agreed upon in the Minsk Protocol intended to halt the War in Donbas.


See also

*
Josip Reihl-Kir Josip Tvrtko Reihl-Kir (25 July 1955 – 1 July 1991) was a Croatian police chief from Osijek known for his peacemaking initiatives in the opening stages of the Croatian War of Independence. He was assassinated in 1991; the man convicted of ...
(25 July 1955 – 1 July 1991; assassinated police chief 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 Peacemaking is a practical conflict transformation focused upon establishing equitable power relationships robust enough to forestall future conflict, often including the establishment of means of agreeing on ethical decisions within a communit ...
initiatives) *
Dayton Agreement The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Dejtonski mirovni sporazum, Дејтонски мировни споразум), and colloquially kn ...
(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 in Europe 1995 in international relations Croatia–United States relations