The Scars of the Erasure_web

Erasure_4a 10.1.11 20:29 Page 140140 THE SCARS OF THE ERASUREthe violation of constitutional principles (e.g. the protection of the principle oftrust in law). The right to refuge was not violated, since many erased personswho registered as refugees found protection in Slovenia, in other countries ofex-Yugoslavia or in Western Europe, where they were recognized as refugeesfrom the war in the former Yugoslavia. The right to association was not violatedeither. The erased people established two associations through which theystrive to achieve reinstatement of their rights, although the right to associationwas not respected in full, since certain events they organized or wished to organizewere disallowed.Our study provides a broad picture of the state of respect for human rights,while also attempting to establish, using concrete examples, when these wereor were not violated. Naturally, it cannot replace court rulings, which are theonly qualified final decisions on the potential violation of human rights, but itcan offer insight into the situation through a detailed analysis of typical examples.The findings of our study confirm that the erasure interfered with virtuallyall the spheres of social life of its victims, since it is possible to comment onevery right protected by international conventions in the context of the erasure.Our findings also show that, if we ignore for the moment the most seriouscrimes under international law, such as genocide, war crimes and crimesagainst humanity, it is difficult to imagine another measure that could have implicationsso wide and consequences so severe. For this reason, such measuresshould be accorded special attention, since countries that refrain from committinggenocide or crimes against humanity, may easily resort to a measure suchas the erasure was.