ZAGREB – Former president of Croatia Ivo Josipović sent a letter to the Croatian president Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, urging her to support the RECOM initiative. The full statement reads as follows.
Honourable Madam President of the Republic of Croatia,
The time of the aggression on the Republic of Croatia and the Homeland War brought great suffering of our citizens. The fates of almost two thousand people still remain unknown. Unfortunately, the efforts to discover and punish the perpetrators of the crimes, and to discover the fates of the missing and give each of them a dignified burial, have brought only partial results.
I am taking the liberty to draw your attention to the fact that, alongside and in addition to the efforts of state authorities to punish war crimes perpetrators and resolve the issue of the fate of missing persons, the RECOM Initiative has been active for several years now. At the time of my presidential mandate, I supported this initiative, together with other presidents and prime ministers from the newly formed states in the region. Prominent experts have participated in this initiative, and my own Envoy was Prof. Zlata Đurđević PhD from the Faculty of Law in Zagreb. Thanks to the work of these experts, many criticisms of the RECOM Statute have been successfully addressed, so I believe that sound foundations have been laid for the continuation of RECOM’s noble mission.
It is my suggestion that you too, as the President of the Republic of Croatia, be involved in the Initiative for RECOM. This would position Croatia as a leader in the region as regards dealing with the past, and solving the painful humanitarian issues that burden internal and international relations. In particular, establishing the fate of the missing persons is an important part of the humane policy that Croatia has been spearheading in relation to the victims of war.
I am at your disposal for any further information. Respectfully,
Ivo Josipović
President of the Republic of Croatia 2010-2015