Vukovar children massacre

Last updated October 04, 2019

The Vukovar children massacre or Vukovar baby massacre refers to a well known case of propaganda during Yugoslav Wars.^[1]

Two days after the Battle of Vukovar had ended, on 20 November 1991, Reuters reported that 41 Serb babies had been killed in the city during the battle. The report quoted a freelance photographer in the area who supplied pictures for Reuters, told Reuters and the Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) that he had seen and counted bodies of 41 children between the ages of five and seven slaughtered in a school in Borovo Naselje, and added he was told by Yugoslav Army soldiers that the children were Serbs killed by Croatian soldiers.^[1]^[2]

Battle of Vukovar siege of Vukovar in eastern Croatia by the Yugoslav Peoples Army (JNA) during the Croatian War of Independence

The Battle of Vukovar was an 87-day siege of Vukovar in eastern Croatia by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various paramilitary forces from Serbia, between August and November 1991. Before the Croatian War of Independence the Baroque town was a prosperous, mixed community of Croats, Serbs and other ethnic groups. As Yugoslavia began to break up, Serbia's President Slobodan Milošević and Croatia's President Franjo Tuđman began pursuing nationalist politics. In 1990, an armed insurrection was started by Croatian Serb militias, supported by the Serbian government and paramilitary groups, who seized control of Serb-populated areas of Croatia. The JNA began to intervene in favour of the rebellion, and conflict broke out in the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia in May 1991. In August, the JNA launched a full-scale attack against Croatian-held territory in eastern Slavonia, including Vukovar.

Reuters International news organization owned by Thomson Reuters

Reuters is an international news organization owned by Thomson Reuters. Until 2008, the Reuters news agency formed part of an independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data. Since the acquisition of Reuters Group by the Thomson Corporation in 2008, the Reuters news agency has been a part of Thomson Reuters, making up the media division. It was established in 1851.

Radio Television of Serbia is the public broadcaster in Serbia. It broadcasts and produces news, drama, and sports programming through radio, television and the Internet. RTS is a member of the European Broadcasting Union.

Although Reuters retracted the report a day later, based on his admission that he neither saw nor counted the bodies, the news made headlines in Serbia, where it was used to promote the importance of the "defense of Serb hearths" in Croatia.^[3]

The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) issued a rebuttal of the story and the RTS was also forced to make an apology, claiming their purported witness was "hallucinating".^[1] In spite of this, the Belgrade-based daily Politika still carried the story on the front page of its 22 November issue, only to publish a small retraction of the piece in the back of the 23 November issue.^[1]

The Yugoslav National Army, also called the Yugoslav People's Army, was the military of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1992.

Politika is a Serbian daily newspaper, published in Belgrade. Founded in 1904 by Vladislav F. Ribnikar, it is the oldest daily newspaper still in circulation in the Balkans and is considered to be Serbia's newspaper of record.

Extensive Serbian media coverage of the unconfirmed and false story continued their practice at the time of misrepresenting the Croatian people as inherently criminal and genocidal.^[1]

This misinformation led to supposed retaliations, including the Ovčara massacre which took place 20–21 November 1991, in which Serb forces executed 264 Croatian prisoners of war and civilians. Dr. Vesna Bosanac, the head of the Vukovar hospital from which the victims were taken, said in her testimony at the February 1998 ICTY trials of Slavko Dokmanović and Slobodan Milošević that she believed the story of slaughtered babies was released on purpose to incite Serb nationalists, encouraging them to retaliate by executing Croats.^[4]^[5]

Vukovar is a city in eastern Croatia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka and the Danube. Vukovar is the seat of Vukovar-Syrmia County. The city's registered population was 26,468 in the 2011 census, with a total of 27,683 in the municipality.

Slavko Dokmanović Croatian Serb politician

Slavko Dokmanović was a Croatian Serb who was charged with grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, violation of the customs of war and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for his actions in the Vukovar massacre while he served as the city's mayor.

Croats or Croatians are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia. Croats mainly live in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but are also recognized minorities in such countries as Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

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References

1 2 3 4 5 Renaud de la Brosse (2003-02-04). "Political Propaganda and the Plan to Create a "State for all Serbs" - Consequences of Using the Media for Ultra-Nationalist Ends - Part 1" (PDF). Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. pp. 7–8. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
↑ Vukovar Follow-up, by Julia Gorin
↑ Kurspahić, Kemal (2003). Prime Time Crime: Balkan Media in War and Peace. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace. pp. 77–78. ISBN 1-929223-39-0.
↑ "Order on Prosecution Motion for Admission of the Transcripts of Testimony of Dr. Vesna Bosanac Pursuant to Rule 92bis (D)". Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milošević. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. 2003-01-17. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
↑ "Testimony of dr. Vesna Bosanac". Prosecutor v. Slavko Dokmanović. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. 1998-02-02. Retrieved 2012-04-21.

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[RdlB-2003-1-1] 1 2 3 4 5 Renaud de la Brosse (2003-02-04). "Political Propaganda and the Plan to Create a "State for all Serbs" - Consequences of Using the Media for Ultra-Nationalist Ends - Part 1" (PDF). Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. pp. 7–8. Retrieved 2012-04-21.

[2] Vukovar Follow-up, by Julia Gorin

[kemal-3] Kurspahić, Kemal (2003). Prime Time Crime: Balkan Media in War and Peace. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace. pp. 77–78. ISBN 1-929223-39-0.

[ICTY_-_Testimony_dr.Vesna_Bosanac-4] "Order on Prosecution Motion for Admission of the Transcripts of Testimony of Dr. Vesna Bosanac Pursuant to Rule 92bis (D)". Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milošević. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. 2003-01-17. Retrieved 2012-04-21.

[5] "Testimony of dr. Vesna Bosanac". Prosecutor v. Slavko Dokmanović. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. 1998-02-02. Retrieved 2012-04-21.