Portfolio Croatia

Country in South Eastern Europe, 56,542 sq km. Population 4.5 million. Population composition: Croat 89.6%, Serb 4.5%, Bosniak 0.5%, other 5.4%.

Cause and scope of the landmine problem
Croatia declared its independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991. The Yugoslav Army (JNA) took the side of Serb forces that fought for the construction of a break-away Serb Republic within the borders of Croatia. After the JNA had pulled out in 1992, fighting between Serb and Croatian forces continued until 1995. Landmines were used extensively, and as a consequence, at the end of 2007, ca 997 square kilometers of land in Croatia are still contaminated or suspected to be contaminated with mines, and other explosive remnants of war. Around 800,000 people or almost 19% of the population is affected by mines and ERW in Croatia.

NPA Mine Action history in country
NPA started a mine action programme in Croatia in the fall of 2001. The programme was set-up in the town of Benkovac in Zadar County. The overall objective of the Croatia mine action programme is to facilitate the resumption of normal life, free from the threat of mines for the existing and returnee populations in war-affected areas within NPA’s areas of operation. NPA has been engaged in tasks located in southern Croatia in Zadarska and Sibensko-Kninska Counties and in north-eastern Croatia in Brodsko-Posavska, Osjecko-Baranjska and Vukovarsko-Srijemska Counties. Today NPA is predominantly engaged in Zadarska County. As of Nov 2007 NPA has surveyed over 32 million square meters and released the land covering 24 million square meters.

Capacity

Personnel: 36 national staff as of November 2007.
One team conducting general survey, task impact assessment, community liaison and mine risk education, two technical survey/manual mine clearance teams, one mechanical team (one MV-4 mini-flail), two mine detecting dog teams (4 mine detection dogs), and two medical teams.

Donors
The core programme funding comes from the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Additional donors have been Australian Embassy in Zagreb, Canadian Government through UNDP and International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF), Spanish MFA through ITF, Principality of Monaco directly and through UNDP and the US State Department through ITF.

Links

NPA Mine Action Programme in Croatia: http://www.npaid.hr

Landmine Monitor Report for Croatia: http://www.icbl.org/lm/2007/croatia

Croatian Mine Action Centre: http://www.hcr.hr/