Published 21.12.2023. | Tena Mur
On Tuesday, December 19, a press conference was held in the organization of the Initiative for a Free Palestine, with the support of the Center for Peace, Nonviolence, and Human Rights in Osijek. We discussed the difficult situation of 23 Croatian citizens evacuated from Gaza and sent requests to the government of the Republic of Croatia.
As we have learned, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has promised debt forgiveness to Croatian citizens and their family members who were evacuated from Gaza at the beginning of November!
We believe that this decision by the Ministry is a consequence of media pressure and the activities of the Free Palestine Initiative Solidarity from Croatia, which sent an open letter to the Government of the Republic of Croatia on November 14 requesting a write-off of the evacuation costs. The Center for Peace also sent an official request for writing off these expenses to the Ministry, and we expect it to send an official response about the decision on forgiveness to the Center and the Free Palestine Initiative Solidarity from Croatia.
The decision to forgive the debt brought great relief to the refugees, but we emphasize that the state should never have exposed highly traumatized and completely materially deprived people to such stress and dehumanization
You can read the details of the decision in the report of Al Jazeera Balkans journalist Marina Barukčić: http://tinyurl.com/h8exywur
Thank you all for your support and solidarity in the fight for human rights!
