Veteran

Decades after the 1990s wars in the former Yugoslavia, Montenegrin MPs voted to increase veterans' welfare benefits and to give payments to civilian victims, but rights activists believe the legislation is flawed and discriminatory.

The Croatian War Veterans' Ministry said that the number of people granted the official status of war veteran rose by 3,324 from March 2020 to November 30 this year, news website Index reported on Sunday.

The Serbian Assembly on Saturday adopted a new law boosting the rights of military invalids and giving some new rights to war veterans from the 1990s wars and World War II, although it failed to extend benefits to victims of conflicts outside Serbian territory.

Lawmakers in the Federation entity on Thursday night adopted new law on war veterans - one of the demands raised by ex-soldiers from the Bosnian war who staged a series of protests in 2017 and 2018.

Dejan Ivanovic was wounded while serving in the Kosovo war in spring 1999, when he stood on an anti-personnel mine in Kosare and lost one of his legs.

For the last 20 years, he has been a military invalid, but has had to struggle with bureaucracy to get the benefits that he is guaranteed by law.

The Croatian Veterans' Affairs Ministry and local authorities in the towns of Daruvar, Petrinja, Sinj and Sibenik signed agreements on Monday to set up new centres for people who fought in the 1991-95 war.

The centres in the four towns will provide care and assistance, basic physical rehabilitation and sporting, recreational and educational activities for Croatian veterans.

President Klaus Iohannis in a message sent on the War Veterans Day said he appreciated the devotion and abnegation of those who fought under the national flag.

After a Croatian war veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder burned his own house down, experts warned that many ex-soldiers in the country still need psychosocial care.

Anti-NATO organisations in Montenegro will mark the 19th anniversary of the Western alliance’s bombing of Yugoslavia with a church ceremony that will also be attended by Russian war veterans.

Widows of war veterans have condemned Croatia's national broadcaster for showing a comedy film about investigations intp their pensions – although it was moved to a late-night slot.