The United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) was a UN peacebuilding transitional administration in the Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia in the eastern parts of Croatia. The transitional administration lasted between 1996 and 1998. It was also sometimes known as the United Nations Transitional Authority in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium. The transitional administration was formally established by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1037 of January 15, 1996. The transitional administration was envisaged and invited in the November 1995 Erdut Agreement between the Croatian Government and the representatives of the local Serb community in the region. At the time of UNTAES deployment the region already hosted another traditional type UN peacekeeping mission known as the UNCRO. While the region was covered under the UNCRO's sector east, the whole UNCRO mission was brought into question by the Operation Storm escalation of hostilities.
Vukovar-Srijem County, Vukovar-Sirmium County or Vukovar-Syrmia County, named after the eponymous town of Vukovar and the region of Syrmia, is the easternmost Croatian county. It includes the eastern parts of the region of Slavonia and the western parts of the region of Syrmia, as well as the lower Sava river basin, Posavina and Danube river basin Podunavlje. Due to the overlapping definitions of geographic regions, division on Slavonia and Syrmia approximately divides the county vertically into north-west and south-east half, while division on Posavina and Podunavlje divides it horizontally on north-east and south-west half.
Borovo, also known as Borovo Selo, is a village and a municipality in Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The settlement is situated on the Danube river on the state border with Serbia and the municipality of Bač on the other bank. The history of Borovo is closely intertwined with the river which as an recognized international waterway helped in development of Borovo as an important regional industrial center.
The Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia was a self-proclaimed Serbian Autonomous Oblast (SAO) in eastern Croatia, established during the Yugoslav Wars. It was one of three SAOs proclaimed on the territory of Croatia. The oblast included parts of the geographical regions of Slavonia, Baranja, and Syrmia along the Croatian section of the Danube river Podunavlje region.
Erdut is a village and a municipality in eastern Croatia some 37 km east of the major city of Osijek. Lying on the border with neighbouring Serbia, it was the site of the signing of the Erdut Agreement, which initiated the UNTAES transitional administration over the Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia.
Trpinja is a village and an eponymous municipality in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The village is located on the D55 road between Osijek and Vukovar. Landscape of the Trpinja Municipality is marked by the Pannonian Basin plains and agricultural fields of corn, wheat, common sunflower and sugar beet.
Jagodnjak is a village and a municipality in the Osijek-Baranja County, Croatia. Landscape of the Jagodnjak Municipality is marked by the Drava river with surrounding wetland forest and by Pannonian Basin plains with agricultural fields of corn, wheat, common sunflower and sugar beet.
Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, commonly abbreviated as Eastern Slavonia, was a short-lived Serb parallel entity in the territory of Croatia along the Danube river.
Pačetin is a village in the municipality of Trpinja, Vukovar-Syrmia County in the easternmost part of Croatia. At the time of the 2011 Census the population of the village was 541. Village lies north of the Vuka River and west of the M601 railway. Its major landmark is the Church of St. Nicholas from the 18th century. County road Ž4111 passing through the villages of Pačetin, Bobota and Vera connect all three villages with D2 road and D55 road. Pačetin is 28.6 km southeast of Osijek, the economic and cultural centre of Slavonia and 17.2 km from the Osijek Airport. County seat Vukovar is 17.3 km east of Pačetin.
Srijemske Laze is a village in Stari Jankovci municipality of Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The village is physically connected with the village of Slakovci. According to 2011 census there is 566 residents in the village. The largest ethnic group in the village are Serbs of Croatia. The village is connected with the rest of the country by the D46 state road connecting it with the town of Vinkovci and continuing into Serbia as the State Road 120 to the nearest town of Šid. Surrounding landscape of the village is marked by the Pannonian Basin plains and agricultural fields of corn, wheat, common sunflower and sugar beet.
Bršadin is a village in the Trpinja Municipality in Croatian easternmost Vukovar-Syrmia County. Bršadin is located north of the Vuka river and west of the town of Vukovar on the main road to Vinkovci.
Bobota is a village in the Municipality of Trpinja in Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. Regional Bobota Canal, the first major water management project in modern-day Croatia in the post-Roman Empire period, was named after the village.
The Joint Council of Municipalities in Croatia is an elected consultative sui generis body which constitutes a form of cultural self-government of Serbs in the eastern Croatian Podunavlje region. The body was established in the initial aftermath of the Croatian War of Independence as a part of the international community's efforts to peacefully settle the conflict in self-proclaimed Eastern Slavonia, Baranya and Western Syrmia. The establishment of the ZVO was one of the explicit provisions of the Erdut Agreement which called upon the United Nations to establish its UNTAES transitional administration.
Vera is a village in Trpinja Municipality in eastern Croatia. The village is the northernmost settlement of the Vukovar-Syrmia County.
The Anti-Cyrillic protests in Croatia were a series of serbophobic protests in late 2013 against the application of bilingualism in Vukovar, whereby Serbian and the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet were assigned co-official status due to the local minority population. The implementation of this decision became mandatory after the 2011 Croatian census, according to which Serbs in Vukovar comprise more than one-third (34.8%) of Vukovar's total population. Signs in the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet had been put up as the Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities mandates bilingual signs in any area where more than one-third of the population belongs to an ethnic minority. This decision became subject of intense agitation by, among others, Croatian war veterans and many ordinary citizens who believe that due to events, particularly the Battle of Vukovar, the city should have been excluded from the application of the law on minority rights, although protests and vandalism have occurred in other towns and cities. The Serbs of Croatia are a minority group that have the narrowest usage of right to bilingualism among all national minorities in Croatia.
The Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities in the Republic of Croatia is constitutional law which defines rights of national minorities in Croatia. It is one of in total three Constitutional Acts in the Croatian legal system, with the other two being the Constitutional Act on Implementation of the Constitution of Croatia and the Constitutional Act on the Constitutional Court of Croatia. In its current form, the Act entered into force on 23 December 2002. Its earlier version, under the title Constitutional Act on National and Ethnic Communities or Minorities was passed in December 1991 as a precondition of the international community for the recognition of Croatian independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Act is hierarchically under the Constitution of Croatia and must comply with it, but above ordinary state laws and decisions, and above statutes and decisions of lower levels of government, which all must be in accordance with this law. Additionally, two special laws were created to define rights regarding education in minority languages and specific rights on the usage of minority languages in public life. Additionally, the Constitution of Croatia itself has articles directly relating to the protection of national minorities, and lists traditional minorities in Croatia.
The Serbs of Vukovar are one of traditional communities living in the multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-confessional eastern Croatian town of Vukovar on the border with Serbia. The Serb community constitutes slightly over one third of the entire population of Vukovar according to 2011 Census. Other significant communities include the Croat majority, as well as Hungarians, Slovaks, Rusyns, Ukrainians and historically Yugoslavs, Germans, Jews, Vlachs and Turks.
The Constitution of Croatia in its preamble defines Croatia as a nation state of ethnic Croats, a country of traditionally present communities that the constitution recognizes as national minorities and a country of all its citizens. National minorities explicitly enumerated and recognized in the Constitution are Serbs, Czechs, Slovaks, Italians, Hungarians, Jews, Germans, Austrians, Ukrainians, Rusyns, Bosniaks, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Russians, Bulgarians, Poles, Romani, Romanians, Istro-Romanians ("Vlachs"), Turks and Albanians. Article 12 of the constitution states that the official language in Croatia is Croatian, but also states that in some local governments another language and Cyrillic or some other script can be introduced in official use.
Ludvinci is a village located in the municipality of Trpinja, Vukovar-Syrmia County, Croatia. The settlement was originally established as a pustara, a Pannonian type of hamlet.
Sremske Laze railway station is a railway station in Croatia. The station is operated by Croatian Railways, the state-owned railway company. It is located in Srijemske Laze.
