Zagreb - The parliamentary Committee for Croats Abroad conducted a meeting on Wednesday on the sustainable stay and return of displaced and refugee Croats to Bosnia and Herzegovina, in particular to its Serb entity, with the committee's chairman, Božo Ljubić (HDZ), saying that Bosnia had lost a large portion of its population in and after the 1990s war, with the Croat entity recording the greatest losses.
"That was particularly visible in the first five or six years after the war, when the greatest number of returnees were expected, yet international institutions completely ignored the return of Croats," Ljubić said. He explained that the aim of the meeting was to encourage and support Croats to return to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that he was optimistic as tens of thousands of Croats have expressed their desire to return.
Sarajevo Archbishop Vinko Puljić presented statistics that indicate that the number of Croats in Bosnia was on the decline. He said that these statistics refer to the number of Catholics and that there was at least an additional 5% of people who are Croats but are not Catholics.
"In 1991 there were 812,256 Catholics in Bosnia and Herzegovina yet in 2017 there were 376,134 or 53.69% fewer. There were 94.52% fewer in the Serb entity in 2017 than in 1991, 81.83% fewer in the Brčko District and 42.56% fewer in the Federation entity," the archbishop said.
"How to restore trust in life? It is necessary to achieve the rule of law and equal rights for all three entities. It is important to restore trust so that we all feel like one nation, that they support us and create a political atmosphere that we have the right to live in that area, so that people know their roots and value their heritage. I am glad that a large number of people haven't sold their land as that means there is a chance they will return. As such, it is necessary to protect private property instead of adopting laws to confiscate it," he said.
He believes that the most important thing is to assist family farms and develop the infrastructure.
The Minister for Refugees and Displaced Persons in the Serb entity of Republika Srpska, Davor Čordaš, underscored that over 350,000 Croats were expelled from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 210,000 of whom from the Croat-Muslim Federation entity, and that the Croat people are facing extinction in Republika Srpska. He added that housing reconstruction was going at a snail's pace and that a mere 5,500 housing units had been reconstructed.