National consultation with religious communities on the Initiative for RECOM

Zagreb, October 16th 2009

The national consultation with members of religious communities and their leaders was organized by Center for Peace, Non-violence, and Human Rights, (Croatia) and Documenta, (Croatia). The gathering was attended by 47 participants, members of religious communities and their leaders, representatives of non-governmental human rights organizations, journalists, as well as several persons monitoring the event on behalf of the OSCE, ICTY, Delegation of the European Union in the Republic of Croatia, representatives of the Australian, Dutch, and Canadian embassies in Croatia. Speakers were Kevin Dowling (bishop from Rustenburg, South Africa), Vesna Teršelič (Documenta, Croatia), Nataša Kandić (Humanitarian Law Center, Serbia), and Ivan Novosel (Legalis, Croatia). The gathering was moderated by Katarina Kruhonja (Center for Peace, Non-violence, and Human Rights, Osijek, Croatia). HRT, Novi List, daily, and H-alter reported about the event.

Suggestions, opinions, and recommendations of the participants

Christians must always side with victims. Victims can help our societies heal and eliminate evil among us.

As a member of the St. Francis order, as a Christian, I believe that it is absolutely necessary to side with victims. Unfortunately, we all have victims that nobody wants. But now that we do have them, I think that (...) they are the most valuable members of the society because they hold the key to moving our societies and communities forward to new relations. They can help heal society; they can help purge our memory (...). And we have to be there for them every step of the way. We have to create a favourable environment for victims to be able, first of all, bear their tragedy, and secondly, to reach the primary Christian goal (...) which is to use their will and their free choice and stop the spiral of evil. (Fra Mijo Džolan, the Franciscan Institute for the Culture of Peace, Split, Croatia, National consultation with religious communities on the Initiative for RECOM, Zagreb, Croatia, October 16th 2009.)

The regional approach enables us to eliminate interpretations which are being used by the existing political solutions most people are not satisfied with.

Regarding this famous and permanent problem of the regional approach, I think that we should all be brave enough and wise enough in this process (...). We need to make sure that the results of our work don’t have any resemblance with existing interpretations which are simply being used as an enforcement of the political solution. First, that would disqualify us and secondly it would drive away a large number of people because the truth is that the majority of people are dissatisfied with the existing political solutions (...); many are dissatisfied. (Fra Mijo Džolan, the Franciscan Institute for the Culture of Peace, Split, Croatia, National consultation with religious communities on the Initiative for RECOM, Zagreb, Croatia, October 16th 2009.)

Believers and religious communities should have one goal before anything else – reconciliation, but there are very few results in that direction.

Religious communities throughout the region of the former Yugoslavia (...) are still not sensitive to such initiatives. They are afraid of any projects that try to achieve the goal set before them by Pope John Paul II when he was here in Zagreb in 1994. He asked all believers to consider reconciliation their primary task. Fifteen years later, we only have a few results of that effort. (Drago Pilsel, Novi List, Zagreb, Croatia, National consultation with religious communities on the Initiative for RECOM, Zagreb, Croatia, October 16th 2009.)

Before the dialogue on reconciliation, facts about who started the war, why the war was waged, and what its goal was must be established.

Before we establish the dialogue on reconciliation, we must truly clarify who started the war, why it was waged, and what was its goal. But we need a lot of facts to do that. (Ante Šola, CARITAS of the Varaždin Diocese, Croatia, National consultation with religious communities on the Initiative for RECOM, Zagreb, Croatia, October 16th 2009.)

The church and religious communities have a prevailing influence on the reconciliation process.

“How can there be God or how can there be God of Love if that happened to me?” Church and religious communities are responsible for answering these questions and adopting a position that can lead our societies to reconciliation through a generally holistic process which includes physical, emotional, very personal and spiritual dimensions. (Kevin Dowling, bishop from South Africa, National consultation with religious communities on the Initiative for RECOM, Zagreb, Croatia, October 16th 2009.)

Reconciliation is very difficult if victims are being stripped of their dignity.

First of all, I would like to say that reconciliation is not something simple. We can’t just say: we have to reconcile and then we start a process which we believe is going to be successful. The reconciliation process will require many of you who are victims to be included (...). Mentioning reconciliation to someone who is still suffering so deeply ... their instinctive, direct response is usually: “I want justice”. You have to start creating a different structure of life for all of them so that they can still live with some sort of dignity. (Kevin Dowling, bishop from South Africa, National consultation with religious communities on the Initiative for RECOM, Zagreb, Croatia, October 16th 2009.)

From a Catholic point of view all victims are the same because the dignity of a human being is sacred in our doctrine: we are all equal as victims and as criminals.

There are or there will be many temptations with respect to treating all victims in the same way, or treating all crimes in the same way. As a Christian scholar, I don’t have a problem with that simply because that in our doctrine the dignity of a human being is a fact so sacred that it makes us all equal both as victims and as criminals. (Drago Pilsel, Novi List, Zagreb, Croatia, National consultation with religious communities on the Initiative for RECOM, Zagreb, Croatia, October 16th 2009.)

Facts are an indispensable prerequisite to heal our societies.

Our proposal is very moderate – establish the facts in the years ahead of us, as much as possible, about all crimes and system violations in the 1990s, and then use it as a foundation for curing our societies. (Vesna Teršelič, Documenta, Zagreb, Croatia, National consultation with religious communities on the Initiative for RECOM, Zagreb, Croatia, October 16th 2009.)

We will have reconciliation once all countries start referring to their “savages” as “the savages in our midst”.

I think that it is going to be a lot easier to achieve reconciliation, to understand the situation, help the victims, and counsel the aggressors how to purge their souls when we start calling the savages in our own midst “our savages”. Many of us are tired of hearing that the other nation’s victims deserved whatever happened to them and that our victims are “pure; why did it happen to us”. (Mladen Jovanović, the Council of the Churches of Christ, Croatia, National consultation with religious communities on the Initiative for RECOM, Zagreb, Croatia, October 16th 2009.)

It is necessary to bring this initiative closer to religious communities because it may be rejected if people are not properly informed about it.

If we would like to establish cooperation with relevant persons and institutions, [representatives of religious communities], maybe we should do more to promote this project because it may happen that people reject it due to a lack of information about it. (Marija Znidarčić, Christian Peace Circle Association of Citizens, Croatia, National consultation with religious communities on the Initiative for RECOM, Zagreb, Croatia, October 16th 2009.)

RECOM should clarify the role religious communities had during the war. However, it could lead to the exclusion of religious communities form the process because criticizing their role may be interpreted as an attack on the very essence of the religion and church doctrine.

One very useful task of this project, of RECOM, would be to clarify the role of each and every religious community in the war. I witnessed it all myself, and I know that there are all sorts of things (...). However, when criticizing specific actions which should be criticized in the name of faith, many members of religious communities may understand it as an attack on the very essence of the religion or church doctrine. That may hurt people and result in their withdrawal. That would cause a great damage to the process. (Fra Mijo Džolan, the Franciscan Institute for the Culture of Peace, Split, Croatia, National consultation with religious communities on the Initiative for RECOM, Zagreb, Croatia, October 16th 2009.)

Instead of promoting reconciliation, religious media still favour hate speech.

I think that most of you will agree with me that our religious media, especially the Glas Koncila are still full of hate speeches instead of advocating reconciliation. (Petra Pajdakovć Šebek, Religious Culture Program of the Croatian TV, Croatia, National consultation with religious communities on the Initiative for RECOM, Zagreb, Croatia, October 16th 2009.)