Contemporary Serb National Council postulate its cultural tradition in historical precedence of non-segregationist and non-territorial bodies of Serb cultural autonomy in the territory of modern day Croatia. Section Four (4) of the Article One (1) of the Statute[6] of the Serb National Council explicitly enumerate following historical foundations of Serb cultural autonomy based on which the body function:
On 8 December 1991 Serb Democratic Forum was established in Lipik (only two days after the government forces took control of the town) in an effort to prevent the further escalation of the Croatian War of Independence and to seek peaceful resolution of the conflict. At that time initial phase of the war was already finished which led to effective separation of Serbs and Croats. Serbs in areas controlled by the Croatian Government and Croats in Republic of Serbian Krajina were exposed to persecution and expulsion. In 1992 Serbs in the areas controlled by Croatian Government started their first initiatives to establish cultural coordination body.[8] The group intended to establish the Serb National Sabor on the model of historical bodies existing in Austrian Empire from the 17th to the 19th century.[8] The initiative was condemned by the members of Croatian Parliament and Croatian Government as an effort to create parallel Parliament of Croatia and the following negative media campaign accused the initiative of being more dangerous and perfidious than the separatist actions of Serbs in self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina.[8] This led to the failure of the initiative and absence of any new initiative until the late 1995 and early 1996.[8]
Erdut Agreement and the UNTAES transitional authority
The Serb National Council constituent assembly was held in 1997 in Zagreb at the incentive of the Alliance of Serbian Organizations and its members Prosvjeta, Serb Democratic Forum, Serb Community of Rijeka and Istria and the Joint Council of Municipalities of eastern Slavonia, Baranja and western Syrmia.[5] In addition, founding members were also Independent Democratic Serb Party, Baranja Democratic Forum, Association of Serb Refugees and Expellees from Croatia, representatives of some church parishes of the Serbian Orthodox Church, members of Parliament of Serb ethnicity and respectable individuals.[5]
Statute
The Serb National Council’s Statute consists of 29 articles.[6] According to Statute Article 2, legal bases for establishment of Council are:
Milorad Pupovac, who served as the president of the SNV for 22 years until 2019.
The Serb National Council structure consist of Assembly, Presidency, the Supervisory Board, president, deputy president and vice presidents. Permanent working bodies of Presidency are:
Committee for the selection, appointment and organization
Committee for Human Rights in the constitutional and legal position of the Serbs
Committee on education and youth
Committee for return, reconstruction and socio-economic position of Serbs
Committee on Information, publishing and documentation
Committee for Cooperation with the Serbs in other countries.[6]
Croatia
