The annual Remembrance Day of the suffering experienced by Vukovar at the start of the Homeland War in 1991, began in this eastern town on Friday under the motto "Brave People", with a conference of the Association of Returnees of Croatia (ZPH) called "20 years of exile from the Vukovar area".
Returnees continue to face difficult economic and housing circumstances, and lack of prospects for young people is especially worrying, said Dragutin Glasnovic, president of the ZPH Vukovar-Srijem County branch.
He said between 12-13 thousand people had returned to Vukovar, about 50 per cent of those expelled in 1991.
Glasnovic called for launching development projects in returnee areas, saying they considerably lagged behind the developed parts of Croatia.
A ZPH monograph was presented at the conference, featuring photos and documents on civilian suffering during the Serbian military aggression on Croatia 20 years ago and on the lives of hundreds of thousands of displaced persons in exile and their gradual return.
The Croatian parliament adopted in 1999 a decision proclaiming November 18 Vukovar Remembrance Day.
