Crimes against Children and Minors in Prijedor from 1992 to 1994

Abstract

In order to take control of the entire Prijedor Municipality, Serbian military and police forces conducted attacks on areas in which Bosniaks or Croats were the majority population. Thus, Kozarac and its surroundings were attacked on 24 May 1992, soon followed by the Ljubija area. From 24 to 26 May 1992, the Serbian authorities formed the camps Omarska, Keraterm, and Trnopolje as well as several other places of internment. Captive Bosniaks and Croats from the city and municipality of Prijedor were brought and imprisoned there. The municipality was completely conquered in the second half of July 1992, when the Bosniak and Croat villages on the left bank of the Sana were attacked. According to data gathered thus far, 3,173 Bosniaks and Croats were killed on the territory of Prijedor Municipality.

Victims of all the mentioned crimes included children and minors, killed exclusively due to their national or religious affiliation. In addition, many were subjected to imprisonment, expulsion, or other forms of crime. This paper is focused on the murders of 102 children and minors, based on records of missing and exhumed persons. The dates of their disappearances were recorded based on when their families reported them, which does not necessarily mean they were killed on those dates. The discovery of their remains during the exhumations and the fact that these bodies, and those that have yet to be exhumed, have been recorded in the database of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) are proof of the murders of said children and minors.