UNITED NATIONS - SECOND RESOLUTION

UNITED NATIONS - SECOND RESOLUTION

The United Nations, during its Fourth General Assembly Session held on November 18, 1949, unanimously adopted the following resolution:

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1. In studying the report submitted by the Red Cross International Committee and by the Red Cross League, on the issue of repatriating the Greek children, we give recognition to the two Red Cross international organizations for accepting to facilitate the implementation of the General Assembly Resolution 193, III C;

2. Noting that Greek children have not yet returned to their homes, as recommended by the General Assembly resolution, we believe that we should take new steps for the full implementation of the Resolution;

3. The General Secretary is to call on the Red Cross International Committee and on the Red Cross League to continue to strive to achieve this humanitarian goal and to give any assistance that will be required in the performance of this task;

4. The General Assembly calls on all states; members of the United Nations and other countries who provided accommodation for the Greek children, to take all measures, in agreement and in cooperation with the international Red Cross organizations to facilitate the rapid repatriation of the Greek children, based on the above Resolution;

5. The international Red Cross organizations are asked to inform the Secretary General and members of the UN on the progress of the implementation of this resolution.

(UN, 288 b / IV / 1949)

YUGOSLAV RED CROSS TERMS FOR RETURNING THE CHILDREN TO THEIR PARENTS

Since the beginning of 1950 the Yugoslav Red Cross, regarding the implementation of the November 27, 1948 UN General Assembly Resolution concerning the repatriation of Greek children, has taken the position and set the conditions under which it will return the children to their parents and has informed the Red Cross League and the International Red Cross Committee.

Following are the Yugoslav Red Cross terms, manner and procedure for the repatriation:

1. Following the UN General Assembly 288 (IV) B Resolution taken on November 18, 1949, the repatriation of the Greek children will be mediated by the Red Cross League and by the International Red Cross Committee. In addition, the Greek Red Cross will submit all the necessary documentation to the League and to the International Committee, which in turn will certify them and submit them to the Yugoslav Red Cross. The Yugoslav Red Cross, in turn, will then submit the necessary documents to the league and to the International Committee and from there to the Greek Red Cross.

2. The documents that the Greek Red Cross must submit are as follows:

a) The authorities must submit a certified written request from the parents indicating that their child can be returned through the Red Cross;

b) The authorities must also submit a certificate of kinship made legal by the competent Greek authorities.

3. In addition to a request from the parents, the Yugoslav Red Cross, based on the UN General Assembly Resolution 193 (III) C, of November 27, 1948, would also require a statement from the child about whether he or she wants to return to Greece or not. Such a statement will be required only from children that are mature to make such a decision;

4. The handover of the children will be conducted on the Yugoslav-Greek border in the presence of representatives from the Red Cross League and from the International Red Cross Committee. During this process documents will be drawn up and signed. A record with all the necessary data for the handover of children will be maintained along with any medical findings on the situation of the child;

5. The Yugoslav Red Cross has requested from the League through the Greek Red Cross to get a guarantee from the Greek government that the handover of children to their parents will be executed immediately without locking the children in quarantine camps, shelters, etc.

As can be seen from the above requirement, the Yugoslav Red Cross wanted the entire repatriation process to be carried out with the help of the Red Cross League and the International Red Cross Committee, and did not want to work directly with the Greek Red Cross.

This was done because this process was in agreement with the above mentioned United Nations Resolution. But if we take into account the great Informburo campaign, which at that time was working against Yugoslavia and thereby subjecting our country (Macedonia) to attacks, we may falsely conclude that the Red Cross used this issue to repatriate the children in Greece. So by going through the international Red Cross and documenting its requirements, Yugoslavia put an end to the idea that the Greek children were being returned to the Greek fascists and placed in camps. Given all this, the Yugoslav Red Cross proposal to work through the Red Cross League and through the International Red Cross Committee was quite appropriate.

STATEMENTS MADE BY DR. OLGA MILOSEVICH DURING A RED CROSS LEAGUE MEETING IN GENEVA

On May 10, 1950 Yugoslav Red Cross Secretary General Dr. Olga Milosevich, during a meeting with the Red Cross League Executive Committee in Geneva, outlined the Yugoslav Red Cross position regarding the issue of repatriating the Greek children.

“The Yugoslav Red Cross.” said Dr. Olga Milosevich, “has repeatedly stated its position on the return of the Greek children to parents. During the last meeting, the Yugoslav Red Cross Executive Board stressed that the Red Cross League must do its part and apply its authority in aiding the return of all children in the world to their parents, hence the Yugoslav children from Germany, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union and so on.

The Yugoslav Red Cross position on the issue of repatriation of the Greek children is based on the United Nations General Assembly Resolution, which recommends that interested countries take measures to surrender children to their parents and, in their absence, to their relatives.

In terms of the United Nations Resolution, the Yugoslav Red Cross has taken measures to address this issue by taking a whole series of concrete measures. It has also approved measures for Greek parents living in Australia and France and is preparing everything that is needed to address the repatriation of their children in those countries.

The Yugoslav Red Cross has prepared a group of children to be sent to their parents in Czechoslovakia. Regarding this, the SFRY government informed the Czechoslovakian Embassy in Belgrade, four times now, to prepare to accept these children. But since the Czechoslovakian government, to this day, has not responded, the SFRY Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to insist from the Czechoslovakian Embassy in Belgrade that this matter be addressed. We are receiving similar silence to our pleas to return children to their parents in Romania and Hungary.

For the purpose of returning the children to their parents, we have carefully examined the information which the Yugoslav Red Cross possesses as well as the lists of children which the Greek Red Cross requested, as delivered to the Yugoslav Red Cross through the International Red Cross Committee and through the Red Cross League.

According to the information we collected, as of May 4, 1950, there were 9,506 refugee children from Greece in Yugoslavia. Of that number 7,812 already live with their parents, 1,224 children live in Red Cross homes. The numbers living in the homes are in constant decline due to ongoing repatriation. As a result of this 151 children living in homes were handed to their parents this year.

Up to now we have concluded that, among the children living in the homes, there are 218 children whose parents are living in Eastern Europe, 15 have parents in Australia and one child has parents residing in France. The remaining are children who have parents living in Yugoslavia and who want their children to remain in the homes. The number of children whose parents live in Yugoslavia or in a Eastern European country are not definitive because, based on requirements, the identification of these children and of parents living in Yugoslavia has not yet been completed, nor have we been able to find their parents in Eastern European countries.

In further addressing the issue of returning children, we have run into difficulties due to the fact that the lists, which were supplied to the Yugoslav Red Cross, do not provide sufficient assurances to resolve the issue. Thus, based on the lists of children prepared by the Greek Red Cross and delivered to us through the International Red Cross Committee and through the Red Cross League, we have determined the identity of 123 children. However, the parents of 12 of those children whose names were on the Greek lists are in Yugoslavia, the parents of another 5 are in Australia and the parents of 1 child are in Czechoslovakia.

Similarly, the names of some children of Macedonian origin appear in both Macedonian and Greek. I.e. there are two names for a single child which leads to the misconception that these are two separate children; one child with a Macedonian surname and the other with a Greek surname, when in effect there is only one child.

Another difficulty we are facing is that the lists are prepared with different orthographies. In regards to that, it is understood that the lists submitted by the Greek Red Cross to the Yugoslav Red Cross can be taken as a starting point for solving this problem. But despite all these difficulties, the Yugoslav Red Cross will take all necessary

measures to resolve all issues and release the children to their parents or close relatives because this is in the spirit of our humanitarian objectives under which, in this case, are headed by the Yugoslav Red Cross and in the spirit of fulfillment of the commitments undertaken by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution,” concluded Dr. Olga Milosevich.

1) This part of the statement, made by the Secretary General of the Yugoslav Red Cross, refers to the children from different countries and military events which separated them from their parents, an issue which the United Nations and the International Red Cross have not dealt with. This issue was left to the parents to demand their children back in various different ways; through national organizations, through the Red Cross and through other services and means. Immediately after the war, the Yugoslav Red Cross began to deal with requests for repatriation from both children and parents. This work lasted many years and ran into many difficulties. Since 1951 the Yugoslav Red Cross had processed separate requests for repatriating 761 children, of whom 294 had parents in Yugoslavia while the children themselves were living in different countries. There were 72 children living in West Germany, 115 in Austria, 31 in Italy, 4 in France, 2 in Belgium, 1 in Switzerland, 3 in the USSR, 34 in Hungary, 10 in Romania, 3 in Poland, 6 in Czechoslovakia, 2 in Bulgaria and 1 in Albania. There were 96 children outside of Yugoslavia who had parents in Yugoslavia and abroad, but it was unclear exactly in which countries they were located. So a number of requests have been made in various countries on their behalf. Eventually 69 children were found in West Germany, Austria, Italy, the Soviet Union and Bulgaria, but it was unknown where their parents were, for whom more requests were made inside Yugoslavia and in other countries. Three Yugoslav children were taken to Bulgaria in 1945 but by 1951 none had returned and nothing was known about them. Yugoslavia’s enemies took entire families as prisoners from the many camps in Yugoslavia. There the children were separated from their parents. Parents who survived the war then began to search for their children after the war. There are many similar requests to search for children and parents in our country and in many other countries. There are searches on all sides but it seems that neither the United Nations nor the International Red Cross is interested. According to the Yugoslav Red Cross, in 1953 there were

Yugoslav children found as follows: 484 it in West Germany, 268 in Austria, 54 in Italy, 1 in Switzerland, 3 in England, 1 in Turkey, 1 in France, 3 in Belgium, 1 in Israel, 1 in Morocco, 2 in Australia, 4 in the US, 8 in Trieste and 2 in Argentina. Furthermore, there were 234 children in Hungary, 11 in Bulgaria, 11 in Romania, 2 in Albania, 10 in Czechoslovakia and 2 in Poland, for a total of 1,103 Yugoslav children.

According to the Yugoslav Red Cross, in 1953 there were foreign children in Yugoslavia as follows: 277 Hungarian children, 804 German children and 788 Greek children. By 1953 the Yugoslav Red Cross had repatriated 889 children in West Germany, 261 children in Austria, 9 in France, 3 in England and 1 in Switzerland. The SFRY Social Welfare Committee repatriated 337 children in West Germany and 211 in Austria.

The Yugoslav Red Cross will continue to work finding lost children and their parents.

(Yugoslav Red Cross Central Board Archives)