International Conference On The Former Yugoslavia Medal

 

Post Yugoslavia Civil Wars - 1991.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

The International Conference On The Former Yugoslavia Medal was an international award presented for service in former Yugoslavia. The medal was instituted in 1995 and was awarded to approximately 100 observers who manned 17 land, and two rail crossings between Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina during September 1994.

 

 

The medal is circular, 38mm in diameter and was struck in silver. The obverse of this medal bears the wreathed globe emblem of the United Nations surrounded by 15 five pointed stars which represented the member nations of the conference. Above this is the inscription; ‘INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA’.

 

The reverse depicts an image of the mountains of Serbia and Montenegro below which a river runs and above which a dove soars. At the base of the medal is the inscription; ‘OBSERVER MISSION’.

 

The ribbon suspender is a small ring that surmounts the medal.

 

The medal was issued un-named.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 32mm wide and is red in colour with a central wide orange stripe with a narrow black and white stripe either side.

 

 

None were authorised for this medal.

 

 

 

* It should be noted that the values quoted above reflect the average price that a medal dealer may expect to sell this medal for - please see the ‘things you should know’ web page for more details about valuing medals.

 

 

This section contains information on:-

 

- The Yugoslav Civil Wars.

- The Conference On Yugoslavia.

 

The Yugoslav Civil Wars - The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars fought in Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001 between the republics that sought sovereignty on one side and the government in Belgrade on the other side that wanted to either prevent their independence or keep large parts of that territory under its control.

 

The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs and Montenegrins on one side and Croats and Bosniaks in Bosnia on the other, but also between Bosniaks and Croats in Bosnia, between Croats on one side and Serbs and Montenegrins in Croatia on the other, between Serbs and Slovenes in Slovenia, between Serbs and Albanians in Serbia, between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians in Kosovo and between Albanians and Macedonians in Macedonia.

 

The wars ended at various stages and mostly resulted in full international recognition of new sovereign territories, but with massive economic disruption to the successor states.

 

Initially the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) sought to preserve the unity of the whole of Yugoslavia by crushing the secessionist governments; however the JNA increasingly came under the influence of the Serbian government of Slobodan Milošević that evoked Serbian nationalist rhetoric and was willing to support the Yugoslav state insofar as using it to preserve the unity of Serbs in one state; as a result the JNA began to lose Slovenes, Croats, Kosovar Albanians, Bosniaks, and ethnic Macedonians, and effectively became a Serb army. According to the 1994 United Nations report, the Serb side did not aim to restore Yugoslavia, but to create a 'Greater Serbia' from parts of Croatia and Bosnia.

 

Often described as Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, the conflicts have become infamous for the war crimes involved, including mass murder and genocide. These were the first conflicts since World War II to be formally judged genocidal in character and many key individual participants were subsequently charged with war crimes. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established by the UN to prosecute these crimes.

 

According to the International Centre for Transitional Justice, the Yugoslav Wars resulted in the deaths of 140,000 people. The Humanitarian Law Centre writes that in the conflicts in former Yugoslav republics at least 130,000 people lost their lives.

 

The wars are generally considered to be a series of largely separate but related military conflicts occurring during the breakup of Yugoslavia and affecting most of the former Yugoslav republics: War in Slovenia (1991), Croatian War of Independence (1991-1995), Bosnian War (1992-1995), Kosovo War (1998-1999), including the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, Insurgency in the Preševo Valley (1999-2001), Insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia (2001).

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Conference On Yugoslavia - The Arbitration Commission of the Conference on Yugoslavia (commonly known as Badinter Arbitration Committee) was a commission set up by the Council of Ministers of the European Economic Community on 27 August 1991 to provide the Conference on Yugoslavia with legal advice.

 

Robert Badinter was appointed as President of the five-member Commission consisting of presidents of Constitutional Courts in the EEC. The Arbitration Commission has handed down fifteen opinions on ‘major legal questions’ raised by the conflict between several republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.