We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
MORE THAN 20,000 survivors of wartime sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina are still being denied justice, says a new Amnesty International report.
“We need support, not pity”: reveals the scope of physical and psychological consequences of these crimes and the barriers preventing women from accessing the support and legal redress.
The report, based on research conducted over two years, reveals how systemic obstacles combined with a lack of political consensus have consigned a generation of survivors – raped during the 1992-1995 war – to poverty and hardship. During the conflict thousands of women and girls were subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence by military and paramilitary groups. Many were enslaved, tortured and even forcibly impregnated in so-called ‘rape camps’.
Elma was four months pregnant when she was taken to a rape camp and gang-raped on a daily basis. She told Amnesty International:
They would wear balaclavas and ask me if I could guess which one was on top of me. These were all local boys.
As a result of the physical abuse, she lost her baby and suffered lasting injuries to her spine. Almost 25 years on, Elma, who is unemployed, has not received any meaningful financial support from the State and is in need of medical and psychological assistance.
Since war crimes trials began in Bosnia in 2004, less than 1% of the total estimated number of victims of war crimes of sexual violence have come to court.
Courts across the country have completed only 123 cases involving sexual violence charges and although the number of prosecutions has increased in recent years, Amnesty is calling for more to be done to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.
After the war, Sanja, a woman who had been held captive and repeatedly raped by a soldier and his comrades, reported him to the authorities.
The police and judicial authorities failed to take action against the perpetrator and social services failed to recognise Sanja’s situation and provide assistance. She told Amnesty International:
I don’t trust anyone any more, especially not the state. They all failed me.
While there has been significant progress in witness protection and support, the report says this could be undermined by high acquittal rates in several jurisdictions and often-reduced sentences for those convicted. Meanwhile the increase in the number of cases prosecuted comes with a huge backlog of cases.
Women victims of sexual violence tend to experience high rates of unemployment and poverty and are among the most vulnerable economic groups in Bosnia. Only around 800 survivors have been able to access some monthly allowances and other basic benefits.
Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland says the report shows that the women are being forgotten:
“As each year passes, so does the prospect of ever attaining justice or receiving the support to which they are entitled. These women cannot forget what happened to them and neither should we.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
What a great world we live in,those animals need culling,not court
This is vile and a sad reality of wars. Maybe we can get a write up about the rapes happening across Europe, that are liked to migrants?
@Ladude: linked
Are these the very illegal migrants that O Gorman is so concerned about ?
@Mike Cantwell:
If you mean the victims of such atrocities, yes they would have been exactly the kind of people to whom we have a legal obligation to offer protection at the time of this conflict and when they, on the basis of their religion (mostly Muslim) and ethnicity were being subjected to grave human rights violations and war crimes.
As always, we continue to campaign for justice and reparations for victims of such atrocities and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
And when anyone even mentions that migrants are causing a string of sexual assaults in Europe, we are called racist, bigots and what ever else. And women should not be oppressed, but mention anything about Islam oppressing their women and we are called bigots, trump lovers, racists… It’s mind boggling
Good man Colm you have a lot of work ahead of you as the mostly Muslim illegal immigrants cause havoc throughout Europe , in a generation our little Island will have the same problems we see throughout Britain and Europe as the number of Muslims continue to grow here so when we have ” calls ” for Sharia , forced marriages , segregated classes for boys and girls etc etc we can thank people like yourself , everyone in Ireland who is concerned about what’s coming down the tracks needs to read Infidel by Aayn Hirsi Ali otherwise we will end up with our own Dewsbury , Molenbeek or Malmö
@Mike Cantwell: my other comment was deleted for what ever reason. These sjw are actually happy to see the west fall into chaos.
Telling the truth can get you into bother Lad , the looney left have no arguments / facts to justify their idiocy but rely on ” feelings ” , so as Islam gets a foothold in Ireland we will instances of FGM , forced marriages , demands for segregated swimming lessons etc etc , the left will ignore all this and talk about ” understanding ” , diversity and the usual excuses meanwhile Ireland will be divided into ” communities ” that have ruined Britain with every community fighting their corner , Ireland as we know it with its faults will change for the worse and all because those in power did not take sensible decisions re immigration
@Mike Cantwell: we both know the right is without its faults, but the left kept pushing and Proding the right. The right started questioning their logic and pushing and Prodding them self’s, and finding many holes and contradiction in their arguments. Actually many people who were not political at all have become political because of the left dogged determination to show why they should not be in charge of a country.
Yeah the majority of the rapists left and probably came to the UK and Ireland and got away with it.
I hope they’re reading this.
LIved next door to a survivor of the Bosnian war in Western Australia. He used to tell me about his and his wife’s experiences a lot. He ended up being rescued from a camp where the Bosnian Muslims were being held. To his credit, he told me they managed to be at peace and not hold on to any anger but he said he’ll never erase the cruelty he witnessed. All for what?
Colm O’Gorman – the very definition of irrelevance.
have your say