The Croats whose houses were destroyed in the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina's parts which are now under the control of the Serb entity authorities can start applying for damages.

In order to facilitate the submission of the applications, commissioners in charge of that matter have been appointed in seven municipalities in the northern region of the Bosanska Posavina, according to the information provided by the office of the Republika Srpska vice president Josip Jerkovic who represents local Croat communities.

The seven municipalities concerned are Bosanski Brod, Samac, Derventa, Doboj, Modrica, Pelagicevo and Vukosavlje.

According to the 1991 census, in Bosnia and Herzegovina's areas that now are within the Republika Srpska entity, there were 152,856 Croats who were mainly of the Catholic faith.

According to official figures about the situation in 2013 and data collected by the local Catholic Church, that number plunged to 9,355 Croats.

In that entity, since the end of the war, some 6,000 properties owned by Croats have been reconstructed mainly with the assistance from Croatia.

Jerkovic has recently stated that this means every fourth or fifth destroyed house has been to date rebuilt.