Review article
Legal nature and political background of the armed conflict in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sandra Fabijanić Gagro
; Faculty of law, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Budislav Vukas, ml.
; Faculty of law, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
Problems of the Yugoslav crisis in the early 1990’s should be considered in the light of complex changes of the system of international relations as a whole and the breakdown of Communism in the period, resulting in a new system of international relations. A number of reasons had brought about the breakdown of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, leading to the evolution of new political concepts which resulted in demands for independence of the former Yugoslav republics. Unfortunately, the process erupted into the open armed conflict, the first after the Second World War in Europe. The specific context of constituting new independent states has left open the questions of international humanitarian law, or law of armed conflict. The moment in which the qualification of individual conflict changed from non-international to international, or vice versa, is still a matter of dispute in scholarly literature. The article outlines the historical context, legal facts, relevant documents and extensive case law of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Court, providing an overview of changes and conclusions which have had an impact on the qualification of armed conflict in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in international law.
Keywords
armed conflicts; qualification of conflict; breakup of Yugoslavia; establishment of independent and sovereign Republic of Croatia 1990-1992; establishment of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Croatian war of independence; Yugoslav crisis; International Criminal Tri
Hrčak ID:
29143
URI
Publication date:
30.10.2008.
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