Serbs of Vukovar
Other significant communities include the Croat majority, as well as Hungarians, Slovaks, Rusyns, Ukrainians and historically Yugoslavs, Germans, Jews, Vlachs and Turks.
The town is the seat of numerous ethnic organizations and institutions, including the headquarters of the Joint Council of Municipalities and the Independent Democratic Serb Party.
After the Operation Storm, signing of the Erdut Agreement and the end of the UNTAES mission of the United Nations gradual process of reconciliation started aimed at the establishment of sustainable peace.
[5] In the summer of 1991, Tomislav Merčep, at the time a leading official in the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and Secretary of People's Defense, was put in charge of the town.
Ethnic Serbs in Vukovar were subjected to forced interrogations, kidnappings and summary executions in addition to having their homes and cafes blown up.
[9] The non-Serb population of the town and the surrounding region was systematically ethnically cleansed, and at least 20,000 of Vukovar's inhabitants were forced to leave.
After the end of the war, Croatia and local Serb authorities signed the Erdut agreement in November 1995 and the region was reintegrated into the Croatian republic.
[18] In the aftermath of the reintegration of Vukovar, two parallel system of education in Croatian and Serbian were developed resulting in a de facto ethnic division of pupils.
[19] Some authors argue that for successful integration of the two school systems in Vukovar multicultural and intercultural model needs to be develop which will result in compromise and change in both communities.
In 2004 Zoran Milanović signed an international agreement on financial assistance with the Kingdom of Norway (with the minor contribution of Liechtenstein and Iceland) for the establishment of the so-called Integrated School in Vukovar.
Since the end of the Croatian War of Independence member of the Serb community is guaranteed right to hold the post of town's vice-major.
On October 2, 1997 Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan expressed concern that power sharing agreement between Croat and Serb political parties is not working well due to demonstrable lack of commitment by Croatian officials.
[28] Subsequently, he meet with the Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenković who stated that "HDZ policy was defined by the party leadership, while mayor Penava should deal with issues pertaining to the town of Vukovar".
[31] Delegation started its visit by meeting the Major of Vukovar where they submitted documentation from the central hospital which was taken by Serb forces once they left the Republic of Serbian Krajina.
[31] President of Serbia then visited Ovčara camp where he issued apology for the Vukovar massacre and laid wreaths in respect to the victims.
[31] Headquarters of the Joint Council of Municipalities, sui generis inter-municipal body formed on the basis of Erdut agreement, is located in Vukovar as well.
On February 15, 2014, Statehood Day of the Republic of Serbia, Consulate General moved to its new building which was acquired from the Vojislav Stanimirović family who change it for an apartment in Belgrade.
Serbian-language media from Bosnia and Herzegovina are accessible and popular as well, especially RTV BN and Radio Television of Republika Srpska which have occasional programs about or targeted at local audience.
