CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VIII (1) ContemporaryEurasia81 | Page 111

BEATA BOEHM
The Village Visitation Programme also encountered many forms of
resistance at the community level on both sides. One of the most frequently
advanced arguments against the programme was the contention that it would
support the return of war criminals.
In spring of 1993, local authorities on both sides allowed displaced
inhabitants of the Sector to cultivate their fields on the respective opposite
sides of the ceasefire line. Subsequently, the Serbian side presented UN Civil
Affairs with the wish of 1,100 individuals to work their fields on the
Croatian side. At the same time, 75 Croats wanted to cultivate their
vineyards located on the Serbian side. All such agreements and/or decisions
having to do with direct contacts with the other side required the additional
approval of the respective central authorities in Zagreb and Knin.
Social projects for the elderly
From the middle through the end of 1992, UNDP in coordination with
UNOV funded an international social worker whose task it was to organize
multi-ethnic teams of social workers. Since the communities did not agree to
joint seminars with Serb and Croat participants, the international social
worker, in collaboration with communities on both sides of the Sector,
organized separate seminars with local social workers with the purpose of
providing training for old-age care programmes.
Help Age International funded a visitation program providing at least
weekly visits to old people on both sides, assisting them with needed care
and humanitarian support. Although the teams of social workers acted
separately on their respective sides of the Sector, the visitation programme
worked very well, and there was an expectation that it would be continued
after the cessation of the international support as part of community
activities.
The “Volunteer Project Pakrac”
Based on initiatives from CARE Austria and the Croatian Human
Rights Organization “Anti-War Campaign Croatia” in cooperation with
UNOV, international volunteers became involved in “Social Reconstruction”
in summer 1993. Under the protection of UNPROFOR and the aegis of the
“Anti-War Campaign”, they were registered in Croatia as the “Volunteer
Project Pakrac”. Throughout the project’s duration, both the goals and
organizational form of this flexible “grass roots” organization were adjusted
on several occasions in order to respond to evolving events and new insights.
For this reason, the “Centre for Peace Studies” outlived the “Social
Reconstruction Programme”.
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