The DCHV leadership considers the fear and enmity on the part of ethnic Hungarians towards the Serbian government to be legitimate and warranted: the order primarily affects Hungarian- and other minority-inhabited communities of the Bácska and Bánát regions and has es its goal the forced of the ethnic composition of these regions. We are outraged and reject this hypocritical policy which, under the guise of the most sacred of human emotions, humanitarianism and solidarity, wants to use refugees deserving a better fate for its awn devious goals. During the recent past, the Hungarians of Voivodina have on numerous occasions proved their willingness to make sacrifices. silently born the trial, and tribulations o this war which they have deemed senseless and aimless from the beginning while nonetheless empathizing with those who have forced them into this chasm 'The order has the audacity to call for "jointly bearing" burdens, thereby trying to cause even greater -on for a population that has already disproportionately suffered the burdens of this war. By forcing centralization Serbia had already long abolished the economic independence of these settlements plundering and impoverishing this region. Now, it wants precisely those people, who have been left with meager resources and whom it plans to evict from their hames, to bear the financial burden of resettling the refugees.

The DCHV was the first to raise its voice against this sordid was and against the policy which has cast all of us on the road to destruction. Now, once again the DCHV calls for reason to prevail, in the interest of peace in Voivodina and the peaceful coexistence of the peoples and national minorities living here. By planning to colonize the Bácska and Bánát regions and drastically change the ethnic proportions there, the Serbian government has sunk to violating valid international agreements, in other words, is preparing to commit newer crimes. In addition; it is not clear on what grounds, and according to which law, the Serbian (Yugoslav) powers enlist the citizens of other, sovereign, internationally recognized countries into their own armed units by granting refugee status to men age 16-60 only once they have registered with the Serbian military authorities.

Should the decree actually be carried out, unforeseeable consequences would result in other respects as well. Numerous examples point to the fact that once refugees arrive en masse to an area where once Serbians, Croatians, Hungarians , Muslim, etc. lived side-by-side peacefully, the situation deteriorates into one of ethnic purification. The DCHV is prepared for the danger that relations between nationalities will irreparably deteriorate and what ed in Herkóca will be repeated in various other places- [This community was inhabited approximately seventy percent by Serbians, the rest of the population being Croatian and Hungarian. In July 1992, the authorities forced the non-Serbians to flee the area since their homes were occupied by Serbian refugees. The name of the settlement has since been renamed. ~ Translator's note.] The DCHV once again calling to mind that the forced alteration of settlements' ethnic composition is a crime, calls upon the Serbian government to withdraw its intended and mistaken measure and instead show a willingness to resolve the refugee problem. The Serbian government should take meaningful steps to ensure that those people who have become homeless, suffered many vicissitudes and been separated from their families be able to r as soon as possible to their homelands and loved ones in Bosnia, Croatia as well as here, in Voivodina.