The Number, Status and Organizational Aspects of Serbs in Zagreb

This paper provides an overview of the basic characteristics regarding number, as well as normative and functional status, i.e. legal and institutional status of Serbs in Zagreb. Furthermore, the paper describes some distinctions among organizational levels of Serbian minority in Zagreb, concerning the most important aspects of socio-cultural, educational and religious integration. Serbian minority members’ number in Croatia and Zagreb is analyzed using an official demographic statistics, focusing primarily on major socio-demographic indicators, on population density and ethnic composition data for the population of Zagreb municipality for the period of 1981-2011. Legal position of the Serbian minority in Zagreb is described using analysis of official documents, including legislative framework provisions, which are related to issues of national minorities’ status and rights. Institutional and organizational status is elucidated by using descriptive analysis of cultural, educational, media and religious aspects of minority’s life. The number of Serbs in Croatia decreased drastically in last twenty years, affecting their number being reduced to approximately one-third of the prewar number. In the period 1981 to 2011 there was a continuous increase of number and proportion of Croatian majority population, and continuous reduction of national minorities in Zagreb. The biggest percentile decreasing in the municipality of Zagreb (during period 1991-2001) have undergone members of the Serbian (57.7%), Slovenian (48.9%), and Montenegrin (43.7%) minority. In the case of Serbs, this is primarily and predominantly a consequence of forced emigration (displacement) induced by the war in the 1990s. Moreover, negative demographic trends together with a possibility of “false” national declaration in census, as well as the relentless process of assimilation are counted as specific factors in reducing the number of national minorities’ members. Status of Serbs as the former "constituent people/ethnicity" in Socialist Republic of Croatia was modified in the status of "national minority" in (Democratic) Republic of Croatia, due to constitutional changes in 1990. Today, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitutional Law on National Minorities in 2002 national minorities in Croatia enjoy the rights in the area of cultural (linguistic, educational and religious) autonomy. Implementation of these rights still faces many problems in everyday praxis, which is reflected in organizational aspects and levels of Serbs in Zagreb. Cultural, artistic, and educational associations and initiatives among Serbian minority organize activities that contribute to promotion, preservation and expressing specific national minority’s identity. Although satisfactory level of normative (legal) integration does not guarantee functional integration of minorities into wider socio-economic, cultural and political matrix, that normative integration, along with political will and favorable social climate, sets an essential precondition for the willingness to implement laws and regulations in order to improve Serbian minority status.