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Persons, who survived sexual abuse during the war, are being politically manipulated. Much will have to be done over a long period of time in order to raise their, and the general public’s awareness with the aim of changing the public’s attitude towards them, participants at a roundtable held in Banja Luka say.
The roundtable on “Stigma: Lack of social recognition and institutional support to wartime sexual violence and rape survivors” was organized by TRIAL (Track Impunity Always) NGO. Participants from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH, participated in it.
“Many of these women have not achieved any sorts of benefits. They live on the margins of life, both in an economic and social sense,” said Selma Korjenic of the TRIAL NGO from Sarajevo.
She pointed out that NGOs supported victims of sexual abuse in various ways to a large extent, but it was necessary for the governmental sector to become involved as well.
“The State is responsible for providing victims of sexual abuse with the rights to which they are entitled,” Korjenic said.
Participants in the roundtable from all parts of BiH presented several problems facing this group of war victims. Most women, as well as men, who are victims of sexual violence, are still facing its consequences even though years have passed since the end of the war.
“The broader social community should listen, hear, recognize, acknowledge and ask those persons what they need today,” said Duska Andric of the Center for Legal Aid to Women.
The stigmatization problem was particularly stressed.
“Women are ashamed to speak about that, because people in their surroundings look at them in a different way. Many of them say that their family members have not supported them and that they cannot expect society to do it either,” said Gordana Vidovic, representative of the “Nada” NGO from Modrica, which is involved in offering legal aid to women, victims of rape and sexual violence.
Seida Karabasic of the “Izvor” Association from Prijedor says that “the stigmatization is even more pronounced in Republika Srpska” and that “the voices of women are not heard or acknowledged”.
Tijana Zivanovic of the Gender Centre of Republika Srpska said that work on solving those problems had begun over the past year, although there was a lack of political interest in the issue.
“Serb women have not fulfilled their rights. They still live with their pain. They are being stigmatized day after day. The Gender Centre in collaboration with the Centre for Investigation of War Crimes of Republika Srpska will begin offering psycho-social support to 60 women and strengthening them mentally,” said Zivanovic.
BIRN’s documentary titled “Soundless Scream”, which was expected to be finished in August, was announced at the roundtable.
“The aim of the documentary will be to point to problems facing victims of sexual violence, present court processes through which individuals go from giving their statements to appearing in courts as witnesses and encourage all those persons, who have still not done that, to start talking about their experiences,” said Mirna Buljugic, BIRN journalist from Sarajevo.
