claim new accommodations. Similarly, the refugees moving through Banja Luka forced Croats and Bosniaks out of their homes. Return of the refugees At the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence, in 1991–1992, a non-Serb population of more than 220,000 was forcibly removed from Serb-held territories in Croatia, as the RSK was established. In the wake of Operation Storm, a part of those refugees, as well as Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, settled in a substantial number of housing units in the area formerly held by the ARSK, presenting an obstacle to the return of Serb refugees. , out of 300,000–350,000 Serbs who fled from Croatia during the entire war, 132,707 are registered as having returned, but only 60–65% of those are believed to reside permanently in the country. However, only 20,000–25,000 more are interested in returning to Croatia. , approximately 60,000 Serb refugees from Croatia remained in Serbia. The ICTY stated that fact that Croatia adopted discriminatory measures after the departures of Serb civilians from the Krajina does not demonstrate that these departures were forced. The Human Rights Watch reported in 1999 that Serbs did not enjoy their civil rights as Croatian citizens, as a result of discriminatory laws and practices, and that they were frequently unable to return to and live freely in Croatia. The return of refugees has been hampered by several obstacles. These include property ownership and accommodation, as Croat refugees settled in vacated homes, and Croatian war-time legislation that stripped the refugees once living in government-owned housing of their tenancy rights. The legislation was abolished following the war, and alternative accommodation is offered to returnees. 6,538 housing units were allocated by November 2010. Another obstacle is the difficulty for refugees to obtain residency status or Croatian citizenship. Applicable legislation has been relaxed since, and by November 2010, Croatia allowed the validation of identity documents issued by the RSK. Even though Croatia declared a general amnesty, refugees fear legal prosecution, as the amnesty does not pertain to war crimes. In 2015 and 2017 report, Amnesty International expressed concern about persisting obstacles for Serbs to regain their property. They reported that Croatian Serbs continued to face discrimination in public sector employment and the restitution of tenancy rights to social housing vacated during the war. They also pointed to hate speech, "evoking fascist ideology" and the right to use minority languages and script continued to be politicized