It is the Day of the Camp Inmates of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Despite numerous testimonies, not a single institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina has confirmed the exact number of concentration camps and victims. However, according to data from the Union of Camp Inmates of Bosnia and Herzegovina, over 200 thousand people were imprisoned in 657 concentration camps. Most of them have never achieved their rights as war victims, and many, regardless of their nation, live in conditions below human dignity.
Mirsad Gavranović spent five months in the Batković concentration camp. He suffered severe torture and abuse. He faced injustice even in peacetime, when he received a verdict ordering him to pay 8,000 BAM in court expenses because he had sued Republika Srpska for torture.
“Thirty years later, nothing has changed. I say that even stray dogs have more rights than the former camp inmates of all peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said the former camp inmate.
Around three and a half thousand people passed through the “Luka” concentration camp in Brčko District, while hundreds were killed. While they were expecting to exercise their rights thirty years after the war, even the bare minimum was taken from them. Over 95 percent of torture victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina have no status or rights even today.
“And as for all the other rights in the Law—under items A, B, C, D and so on—whenever we issue an official letter to the Government, they say they have not secured the funds for it. And for the fourth year in a row, they have been adopting a budget, yet there is no money for it. People cannot better their lives. And we feel neglected and treated like second-class citizens by this government,” emphasized the President of the Association of Imprisoned Camp Inmates of Brčko District, Amir Didić.
“De facto, camp inmates have zero rights on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” believes the President of the Union of Camp Inmates of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Seid Omerović.
Mirko Zelenika spent over ten months in a concentration camp. He emphasized to BHRT that it is not solely that Croat camp inmates in Bosnia and Herzegovina have no rights, but the country’s officials also deny they were ever in a concentration camp.
“This country even persecuted us. When I say the state, I mean state institutions, the federation, cantons, and municipalities… Croat camp inmates are in a state of unfulfilled justice, both in criminal proceedings and civil lawsuits,” emphasizes the first President of the Croatian Camp Inmates Association.
Republika Srpska also considers that camp inmates, as war victims, have been completely neglected.
“That lobby regarding fighters and heroes who defended Bosnia and Herzegovina and created Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has pushed camp inmates—who are among the primary war victims—into the background. They think that they are not as important as the soldiers, so they have no regulated rights here in the Federation, just like the camp inmates in Republika Srpska. They are marginalized, barely surviving without any particular assistance for them and their families,” said the President of the “Truth and Justice” Citizens’ Association, Dušan Šehovac.
Until this year, there was never any mention that numerous Roma were also victims of various camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This, too, is a consequence of politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“A man cannot speak about complete satisfaction, but it brings me satisfaction that for the first time it is being publicly spoken about the Roma population and that soon, alongside the memorial plaque for the Bosniak and Croat victims, a plaque for the victims from the Roma population will also be installed,” said Dervo Sejdić.
Instead of systemic support, camp inmates in Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of the nation they belong to, they have only faced the silence of the institutions and the feeling that they are left alone. On the Day of the Camp Inmates of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the question remains: how much does a society truly respect its past if it forgets the ones who paid the highest price?
