Peace Youth Group Danube , Vukovar
3. Struggling for the Right to a Future: Peace Youth Group Danube , Vukovar The Post-war Landscape of Vukovar In 1991, Vukovar was under siege for full three months, completely destroyed and conquered by the Yugoslav Army and the Serbian paramilitary forces on November 18, 2001, which was accompanied by a massacre of civilian population, prisoners of war and even hospital patients. More than 22 000 non-Serb inhabitants were displaced and around 8000 ended up in prisons and concentration camps throughout Serbia. The town remained under the rule of local Serb self- proclaimed authorities until the signing of the Erdut Agreement in November 1995, followed by the establishment of UN Transitional Administration in the region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) and the region’s full reintegration into the Republic of Croatia on January 15, 1998. During the two years of UNTAES, deemed one of the most successful UN missions ever of its kind, demilitarization, local elections (1997) and peaceful reintegration into the Republic of Croatia were achieved without major incidents, resulting in a considerably higher percentage of remaining Serbs, in comparison to other parts of Croatia that were reintegrated by means of military operations. At the same time, the processes of confidence building, resolution of property issues and investments into social and economic revitalization have been much slower than needed, considering the severity of devastation and trauma inflicted by the war. Despite the fact that the town of Vukovar represents the most prominent symbol of war suffering and destruction in Croatia the quality of life of its post-war inhabitants, a half of whom are returnees, has remained the worst in Croatia, with unemployment rate of 37%, incomplete reconstruction of infrastructure, only recently started investments into economic recovery, lack of social life and education opportunities and severe division along ethnic lines marking every sphere of political and daily life in Vukovar.
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