Support to Victims of Sexual Violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The round table was organized in Sarajevo by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, Track Impunity Always, TRIAL from Switzerland and the Medica NGO on Wednesday, April 4. The round table participants discussed the situation of women, who suffered rape and sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lejla Mamut, TRIAL Coordinator for Human Rights, said that authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina should ensure access to justice for each war victim, and particularly for victims of sexual crimes.“Victims need to have the right to free legal aid and support. Also, they must be able to get information from judicial authorities, so that they know what is going on with their cases. Bosnia and Herzegovina has made progress over the past period of time, but there is still a lot to be done,” Mamut said.The participants had a chance to watch a documentary called “Sexual abuse – fight against impunity” produced by ICTY. The documentary depicts the pioneer work done by The Hague Tribunal in processing sexual violence cases.“The goal of the film is to present the facts that have been determined beyond any reasonable doubt, particularly now, when court facts are being denied in public,” said Nerma Jelacic, ICTY Spokesperson.Other round table participants included Bozidarka Dodik and Ibro Bulic, State Prosecutors, Alma Taso Deljkovic, Manager of the Witness Support Section with the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Sabiha Husic of Medica, who spoke about their work with women, victims of sexual violence, who appear at trials as protected witnesses.“We shall soon have trials for war crimes of sexual nature at all levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore, we would like the efforts related to the enhancing of co-operation and providing safer and more peaceful conditions for victims’ testimonies to be improved,” Husic said.Representatives of the State Prosecution and Court said that they lacked financial resources for more qualitative work with witnesses.During April and May, the showing of the ICTY’s documentary and round tables on this subject will be organized in Tuzla, Mostar and Prijedor, and then also in Serbia.D.Dz.