Vukovar, 23. April 2013
Outreach representatives Morgiana Brading and Goran Georgijev today visited a high school in the Croatian city of Vukovar. The school has two curricula, with one for Croat students and another for the Serb pupils.
In late August 1991, the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) laid siege to Vukovar, overrunning it three months later. The city was largely destroyed by JNA shelling and hundreds of people were killed.
Around 20 Croat students attended Morgiana and Goran’s presentation. The majority admitted that they knew little about the work of the Tribunal. Morgiana and Goran began by talking about some of the work and achievements of the Tribunal, and then went on to focus in more detail on some of thee ICTY cases relating to events in the local area.
The students were interested to hear about the crimes that had been committed in Vukovar and its environs, but were reluctant to discuss the events of the past at any great length, although they did suggest that the effects of the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia were still noticeable in their lives today.