Minefields in Croatia

Minefields in Croatia can still be found along the former front lines of the Croatian Secession War. The wars of the 1990s were brutal and left behind many unmarked mines that were laid by the Yugoslav army, Serbs, and Croatian forces themselves.

Areas suspected of containing landmines and unexploded ordinance(UXO) can be seen on this map.

File:PaziMineV.jpg

Mines warning signs, part of awareness-campagn, are to be removed by the powerful Croatian tourism industry lobby

The Croatian government has dedicated itself to eradicating landmines (demining), ratifying the Mine Ban Treaty in 1998, as well as allowing and assisting a network of international mine clearance programs. In 2001, 42.3 million square meters of land were returned to productive use. By early 2004, the government declared its first mine-impacted county “mine-safe”. Currently the Croatian government estimates to add 2-3 more counties to the mine-safe list by the end of the year.

The minefields issue poses a serious image problem for the tourism industry in Croatia, and the industry tries to minimise the negative effects the fear of the mines has on the tourists. This puts the tourist industry at odds with the minefield awareness programme, aimed at saving lives and avoiding injuries which can be serious, like severed limbs. For instance, Zdenko Micic, Croatia's minister of tourism, has vowed to remove mine warning signs [1], which were part of mine-awareness program, before summer season in 2006 because he thinks the campagn might hurt the industry.

The presence of landmines still hampers Croatia’s recovery. With continued support from international donor support, Croatia expects to be declared ‘mine-safe’ by 2008.

Adopt-A-Minefield (AAM) has supported mine clearance in Croatia since 1999 (working through the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance). All Adopt-A-Minefield donations earmarked for Croatia are matched dollar for dollar by the ITF.

Clearance of landmines is carried out by several different organizations and commercial companies who compete through a competitive bidding process for the job.

As of April 4th, 2006: 1,147 square kilometers are categorized as being suspected of containing landmines, comprising 12 (of 21) counties. One fourth of the entire population lives in these areas.

Since 1991, there have been 1,779 casualties reported due to landmines or unexploded ordnance (UXO), out of which 430 died. In 2005 there were 13 casualties reported out of which 4 died. In 2006, there has not been any civilian or deminer casualties reported.

External links

• Goverments of few countries warn their citizens of the minefield danger for tourists in Croatia - Australia is one of them
• Minefields in Croatia and Bosnia
• CROMAC (Croatian Mine Action Center)
• landmines.org (Croatia)