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The horrors of war
The war in Ukraine evokes sad memories of the events in Croatia from 1991 to 1995. The suffering of people, property, flora and fauna, infrastructure, the degradation of moral values and the endless columns of the war fire of refugees. These are vivid images of memories of the horrors of war.
Solidarity
In the Homeland War, solidarity towards the oppressed people from the war zone of Croatia was shown by communities of people in areas without war activities. In safe destinations, state hotels opened their doors wide at the time. In some hotel resorts, refugees and tourists were staying at the same time.
Perhaps the most striking testimony of human solidarity is that of our foreign guests. They were the first to organize, along with the Croatian diaspora, petitions to their governments to help Croatia, they organized humanitarian convoys, invited our people to their homes, and found them jobs. At that time, the faithful guests of the family accommodation were in the lead in all humanitarian activities. Tightly, emotionally connected to their hosts, they really did their best to help the people and the country in which they find their second home.
Today, that human warmth is repeated in the opposite direction. Croatian hosts invite and receive war refugees from Ukraine. Some of them visited Croatia last year as tourists or worked as seasonal workers in tourism.
A humanitarian catastrophe
According to estimates by humanitarian organizations, the war in Ukraine, which is escalating day by day, could trigger the biggest wave of refugees since World War II. Estimates of how many Ukrainians could leave their country are constantly growing. First there was talk of 3, then 5, now 5 to 7 million people are already forecast. This huge number of refugees will have to be distributed to all EU member states. Although all countries have already opened their doors wide, the largest number of refugees are going to neighboring Poland, then to Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and then to Germany, Italy and other countries. Croatia estimates that it could receive 1% of the total number, ie between 35.000 and 70.000 refugees.
Refugee integration
The European Union has launched a mechanism for the rapid integration of war refugees. Entry into EU countries will be accompanied by three-year rights to work and education. These rights can be extended in case of impossibility to return to the homeland. Exiles from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina had similar experiences, and in the XNUMXs they also found refuge in one of the EU member states.
Organization and integration of refugees in the Adriatic
It would be good to organize capacities for a decent life for people fleeing Ukraine with the possibility of seasonal employment in tourism. We know that Croatian tourism needs more than 30.000 employees for the next season. If we provided housing and school facilities for mothers with children who want to work in tourism, we would enable people to live in dignity in exile.
Croatian experience from the recent past can be valuable in organizing the reception of war-affected families. Finally, we still have active county Civil Protection headquarters due to the pandemic. It is also the "main address" for the organization of refugee reception. It is up to us to express ourselves, to do everything for these people to make their temporary stay in Croatia as pleasant, dignified as possible, to make them feel useful. The right to work and school in exile was also experienced by our exiles, which alleviated the war traumas at least a little. I believe that we have the strength to reorganize, even though we believed in the "it did not happen again".
Author Nedo Pinezić; nedopinezic.com
Cover photo: Pixabay
