{"id":20565,"date":"2026-07-19T13:07:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T12:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yihr.rs\/?p=20565"},"modified":"2026-07-19T13:07:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T12:07:20","slug":"yihr-report-on-human-rights-violations-against-citizens-of-croatia-in-serbia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yihr.rs\/en\/yihr-report-on-human-rights-violations-against-citizens-of-croatia-in-serbia\/","title":{"rendered":"YIHR Report on Human Rights Violations Against Citizens of Croatia in Serbia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The report continues documenting anti-Croatian propaganda and human rights violations against Croatian citizens, as well as Serbian citizens holding dual Serbian and Croatian citizenship, during the political crisis in Serbia. Particular attention is given to cases in which Croatian nationals had their residence permits revoked on the grounds that they posed an “unacceptable security risk,” as well as to the role of state institutions and the media in creating and sustaining such practices.<\/span><\/p>\n

The report was presented by <\/span>Kristina Todorovi\u0107<\/b>, lawyer at the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM), <\/span>Zoran Gavrilovi\u0107<\/b>, Executive Director of the Bureau for Social Research (BIRODI), and <\/span>Ivana Nikoli\u0107<\/b>, Research Coordinator at the Youth Initiative for Human Rights and author of the report.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nikoli\u0107 presented the report’s main findings, with particular emphasis on the conduct of state institutions and the misuse of the term <\/span>Usta\u0161a<\/span><\/i> as a tool for targeting political opponents and dissenting voices. She explained that between 11 December 2024 and 1 March 2026, words containing the root “Usta\u0161-” were mentioned at least 15,488 times in pro-government media outlets in Serbia\u2014approximately one-third more than during the period preceding the outbreak of mass protests in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It is normal for journalists to report on Usta\u0161a crimes. What is not normal is talking about them every single day. Yet these television stations mention crimes committed by the Independent State of Croatia every day (…) The fact that this is discussed daily only confirms that the aim is to divert attention from the real problems facing this country and to exploit everything that has ever been portrayed as coming from Croatia in order to suggest that Croats cannot be trusted,” Nikoli\u0107 said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zoran Gavrilovi\u0107 pointed out that this rhetoric is aimed at a particular segment of the ruling regime’s electorate in Serbia:<\/span><\/p>\n

“They do not do this simply because they hate someone, perhaps ideologically. They call people ‘Usta\u0161e’ in order to persecute them through the media, while avoiding discussion about why Serbia is now ranked among the worst countries in terms of corruption, or why it performs so poorly on the rule of law. Instead of talking about reforms, they talk about ‘Usta\u0161e’ and people allegedly organizing some kind of revolution here.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Gavrilovi\u0107 recalled that BIRODI had submitted a request to the <\/span>Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM)<\/b> to examine media content in which citizens are labeled as <\/span>Usta\u0161e<\/span><\/i>. He expressed hope that the newly appointed REM Council would respond to the promotion of hate speech. Numerous instances of hate speech by public officials directed against the Croatian people continue to go without political or legal consequences. For example, <\/span>Nemanja Zavi\u0161i\u0107<\/b>, Deputy Speaker of the Assembly of Vojvodina, has faced no sanctions despite stating from the parliamentary podium in March this year that “all Croats are Usta\u0161e.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Addressing the cases involving the expulsion of Croatian citizens, Kristina Todorovi\u0107 explained that the state has discretionary authority to deny foreign nationals entry into or residence in the country. However, every such decision must be properly reasoned and substantiated; otherwise, such actions amount to ethnic stigmatization.<\/span><\/p>\n

The report is available at the following link.<\/span><\/p>\n

*<\/span>The promotion of the publication was carried out with the financial assistance of the European Union. The Youth Initiative for Human Rights is solely responsible for the content of the promotion and the publication, and such content does not in any way reflect the official views of the European Union.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Youth Initiative for Human Rights presented its new report, Croatia Dossier 2: Expulsions, Targeting, and Other Cases of Human Rights Violations Against Croatian Citizens in Serbia, at the Human Rights House in Belgrade on 15 July 2026.","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYIHR Report on Human Rights Violations Against Citizens of Croatia in Serbia - YIHR.rs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/yihr.rs\/en\/yihr-report-on-human-rights-violations-against-citizens-of-croatia-in-serbia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"YIHR Report on Human Rights Violations Against Citizens of Croatia in Serbia - 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