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Foreword
During the three months of war in Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav Child
Rights Centre conducted a programme in Budapest for children who had
taken refuge in Hungary, either alone or with their parents. Most of
the children and their parents returned to their country when the war
ended. The Yugoslav Child Rights Centre was obliged to make the final
report on the implementation of the programme. Our decision was that
this time our report would be something more than a survey of what
was accomplished. This booklet is a result of that decision. It
describes the contents and methodology of our work under very
difficult and ever changing conditions. We believe that our
experiences can be of help to people all over the world who may find
themselves in similar unfortunate circumstances. However, this
booklet is not merely a report or a guide. It offers a unique glimpse
into the souls of children who have experienced war and who have,
luckily, escaped from it.
In this booklet we are not concerned with politics. We do not
evaluate. We do not judge. We do not condemn. We only seek to find
the answer to the question: what can we do when children are involved
in a crisis. Nevertheless, we are also obliged to place our programme
in the framework of what happened. For that reason we find it
necessary to give a chronological introduction to our story about
children - "invisible" refugees.
The political crisis that began to envelope the territory of the
former Yugoslavia in 1991, culminated with the NATO military
intervention in the present FR Yugoslavia. On the 24 March this year,
NATO forces began attacking military targets in the FRY.
Unfortunately, military targets are often situated on the outskirts
of cities, within the cities themselves and sometimes even next to
civilian residential areas. In other words, this kind of military
operation was a grave threat to the safety of the civilian
population. From the viewpoint of any parent or child, every bomb
could easily "miss" its target. This fear is constantly fed on the
occasional "mistakes" made in the assessment of military targets,
which only intensified the panic people felt. When we are frightened,
the normal reaction is swift flight from the place where we are
threatened. Just before the onset of the bombing and very soon after
it, people began to think about their safety and the safety of their
children. Most of them wondered how and where to find temporary
shelter from the horrors of war. Consequently, many of them left the
cities and went to stay with relatives in the country of in other
towns. Others moved to "safer" city areas or decided to go even
farther - to Montenegro, Republika Srpska, Bosnia, Romania, Hungary
or to "the end of the world".
At the beginning of April there were already 50,000 Yugoslavs in
Hungary. The Hungarian authorities were gracious. Nobody was
prevented from entering the country and nobody was forced to leave
while the war was in progress in the FR Yugoslavia. The above number
consisted mainly of women and children. As this was only a temporary
stay, very few people formally asked for refugee or asylum status in
Hungary. For example, a report from the Hungarian Ministry of the
Interior, Office of Refugee and Migration Affairs, dated 11th May
1999, states that only 1,276 citizens of Yugoslavia applied for such
status, and 485 of them were children. Others were staying in Hungary
on a tourist visa, which could be extended to three months. It was
only an act of Providence that the air raids on the FR Yugoslavia
ceased within this period.
In addition to the Yugoslav Child Rights Centre undertaking emergency
activities with children and parents in Yugoslavia, we also decided
to immediately start working with the children refugees who found
themselves in Hungary. The YUCRC is a small non-governmental
organisation, which promotes activities on the territory of the FR
Yugoslavia. We have developed relationships and co-operated with
various international organisations, but we have never conducted
programmes abroad. This time, however, there was a need to start
activities outside the borders of Yugoslavia. In spite of the fact
that our capacities were limited, we knew that we would not be alone
in our efforts in Hungary, and that we would be able to relieve some
of the fear and pain of the children who had suddenly and through no
fault of their own found themselves in completely different setting.
We decided to limit our activities to Budapest. An thus, only seven
days after the beginning of the war, we had already designed the
outline of the programme for children from Yugoslavia.
Our work would not have been possible without the understanding of
the Norwegian organisation Redd Barna which promptly provided us with
the necessary funds. Thus, we were all set to begin.
Owner: Milica Krstanovic