CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VIII (1) ContemporaryEurasia81 | Page 112

THE UN “SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION PROGRAMME” IN UNPA SECTOR WEST …
1993 “Volunteer Project Pakrac”: “… to re-establish links between the
divided Croatian and Serb communities which will allow for the
eventual re-settlement of displaced persons into their original homes”.
These goals were formulated on the basis of the Vance Plan. The
above quotation stems from the magazine of the “Volunteer Project
Pakrac” (no number or year, probably 1994).
1995 “Info Centre Pakrac”: “The project’s aim is to help re-establish hope
in the future and slowly begin to re-open communication between the
conflicting parties.” Such was the formulation of goals after the re-
capture of Western Slavonia in 1995, as a reaction to the necessity to
primarily make available legal information to the slowly returning
population and members of minorities, but also to the NGOs present.
1997 “Centre for Peace Studies” (CMS): “To encourage a creative
exchange between theoretical and practical perspectives in peace
education, conflict transformation and social justice, through nurturing
a fruitful relationship between knowledge and action. To extend self-
education through providing opportunities for dialogue and
provocative questioning, to raise awareness of non-violence within the
wider public sphere and to empower new people to develop this
awareness and embody it in diverse forms in their life and work. To
consolidate the experience of peace-building work in Croatia and
other post-Yugoslav countries since 1991, through allowing those
involved to deepen their understanding of such work and continue
research and networking in an international context. To act as resource
centre for existing and future local initiatives in the broad field of
peace-building through partnership, support and information sharing.”
(CMS 1997: p. 2; this was the formulation of goals after the
organization was re-named and specializing in new tasks, on the basis
of the charter of the Anti-War Campaign Croatia 1991).
The volunteers were recruited from about 20 different countries all
over the world, primarily by the “Service Civil International” organization,
whose task it has been since World War I to mediate the recruitment of
volunteers for work camps. The first group of International Volunteers
arrived in Pakrac in the summer of 1993 in order to participate in the work
on the “UN Social Reconstruction Programme”. The volunteers funded their
own stays, most often of a three-week duration. Many of them, however,
stayed longer or returned several times. Some of them continued their
involvement upon returning to their respective home countries, for example
by engaging in fundraising activities.
In cooperation with work brigades, organized and administered by the
communities on the Croatian side, members of the “Volunteer Project
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