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Advocacy Project Announcements - http://www.advocacynet.org

October 22, 2001

The Advocacy Project announces the opening of the web site of its
partner organization, the Coalition for Work with Psychotrauma and Peace
(CWWPP) - Croatia.  The site can be visited at http://www.cwwpp.org  You
may make online donations towards the work of CWWPP through its website
with help from http://www.egrants.org.

*
HEALING VUKOVAR'S WOUNDS

Ten years after the Croatian town of Vukovar was reduced to rubble by
vicious fighting during the early years of the Balkans wars, many of the
town's inhabitants remain fearful, traumatized and uncertain about the
future, according to staff at the Coalition for Work with Psychotrauma
and Peace (CWWPP).

Vukovar lies in Eastern Slavonia, the first region of Croatia to undergo
an assault by forces of the Yugoslav National Army in the spring and
summer of 1991, following Croatia's secession from Yugoslavia.

The town fell to Serb forces on November 18, 1991 after a long siege.
During the siege, some 200 wounded soldiers were taken from a hospital
and murdered by Serbian forces. In the course of the war, 300,000 Croats
were displaced from their homes.

However, it is a much less widely publicized fact that hundreds of
thousands of Serbs were also displaced throughout Croatia. Many of them
were subjected to torture and mistreatment similar to that suffered by
the Croats. Serbs were also in significant measure mistreated before the
start of the war, and during the war in places where Croats were in
control.

The war has left traumatized people on both sides of the conflict, and
rather than focusing on the guilt of one party or the other, the
Coalition for Work with Psychotrauma and Peace (CWWPP) seeks to rebuild
the entire society of Vukovar. 'I don't care who tortured or was
tortured. The torturers need punishment and the tortured need
treatment,' says the CWWPP Head of Mission Dr. Charles Tauber.

The emotional healing of Vukovar's residents has lagged behind the
town's physical reconstruction. One reason is that the peace remains
tenuous and there is tension between the area's Serbs and Croats.
Suicide and attempted suicide is endemic, especially among demobilized
soldiers. Dr. Tauber and his colleagues describe the area as a 'powder
keg.'

CWWPP officials advocate a comprehensive approach to the healing of
trauma, called 'complex rehabilitation.' They try to help victims
develop their own plans for the rehabilitation of their own society,
starting from the bottom up. CWWPP has worked with 30 client groups, and
with 15 groups of professionals and semi-professionals. These have
included pedagogues, teachers, psychologists, professionals dealing with
developmental disabilities, social workers, sociologists, psychiatrists
and other health professionals.

The CWWPP has also been working in the Posavina area of Bosnia,
including the Brcko District and in the Vojvodina Province of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.  Both of these areas are adjacent to
eastern Croatia.  'The problems are similar in all of these areas', says
Tauber.  'Refugees from one part of the region have fled to another.
The problems of health do not respect national borders.'

This August the CWWPP invited the Advocacy Project to visit its center
in Vukovar and help develop its informational capacity. The new web site
is one product of this collaboration. The web site contains:

* An introduction to  'Complex Rehabilitation' and the work of the
CWWPP.
* Photographs from the CWWPP's work area.
* Position papers on the economics of psychotrauma, on health issues and
on obstacles to the return of people to their homes
* Scientific papers.
* Information about employment.
* How to donate to the CWWPP.

To contact the Coalition for Work with Psychotrauma and Peace directly,
write [log in to unmask]

The Advocacy Project may be contacted at [log in to unmask]

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