prijava
SARAJEVO, June 3 (FENA) - More than twenty intellectuals and civil society representatives from BiH and the world sent an open letter to High Representative to BiH Valentin Inzko asking him to get more actively involved in solving the issue of rights to reparation of war-related sexual violence survivors.
By: Hana Imamović
They stated in a letter delivered to FENA that reparations can have different forms, including compensation, rehabilitation, payment and guarantee of it not happening again and that the aim should also be empowerment and changing the life of women and men who survived multiple forms of sexual violence.
They noted that BiH has the obligation according to the international and domestic law to secure right to legal assistance and compensation to survivors and that right has not been exercised and they are dealing with physical and psychological problems, poverty, neglect and stigmatization.
They believe that the Office of High Representative (OHR) can serve as a strategic advocate of comprehensive, gender-sensitive reparation for sexual violence victims, adding they are convinced it has the responsibility and power to help the cooperation among BiH authorities. They also called the OHR to call BiH authorities to adopt a draft program for victims of war rape, sexual abuse and torture and their families, as well as a draft strategy of transition justice.
Independent researcher Katarina Lucas told FENA that those who survived sexual violence have no access to compensation and the existing mechanisms on entity level are not harmonized and are discriminating.
Speaking about motivation to write and invite others to sign this letter, she said that she has followed efforts of survivors since 2012, and even though there has been international development of norms in terms of sexual violence, not much has changed in BiH.
“Co-signatories of the letter believe that OHR has the responsibility to get involved in solving this issue because it is not crucial only for survivors, but also for transitional justice and encouraging inclusive and sustainable peace in BiH,” she explained.
One of the signatories of the letter is member of the International team of experts for genocide research in Canada Sanja Seferović Drnovšek, who is also a member of Board of Bosnian-North American Women's Association and member of Commission for Genocide and Holocaust Research in Illinois.
She told FENA the letter is an appeal for ongoing cooperation with specific solutions on how to improve current difficult position of women victims of war rape, sexual violence and torture after more than 28 years of aggression against BiH and genocide against Bosniaks.
She believes that OHR should form a special coordination body that would deal with these very complex issues and which would coordinate activities with international and BiH government and non-governmental institutions and women survivors of war sexual violence.
Philosophy professor at the Connecticut State University David Pettigrew also signed this letter and told FENA that the law that treats rights of torture victims in Republika Srpska is discriminating, considering it states that victim must live in this entity for at least three years in order to file a request for compensation.
“Compensation should be available to all victims no matter where they live in BiH or anywhere else in the world. Furthermore, request for residence is unfairly ironic because RS denies genocide and celebrates convinced war criminals to discourage return in that entity,” he said.
Therefore professor Pettigrew, who is also member of the Steering Board of Program Study on Genocide at Yale University and Institute for Genocide Research and Center for Post-Conflict Research, believes that High Representative must face discriminatory provisions of this law.
Signatories of the letter hope to organize a meeting with High Representative to BiH Valentin Inzko when they come to Sarajevo in July this year to continue fighting for rights of torture victims. .
Apart from Lucas, Seferović-Drnovšek and Pettigrew, the letter was signed, among others, by president of the Steering Board of Bosnian-American Institute for Genocide and Center for Education Ida Sefer and president of Association "Women- Victims of War" Bakira Hasečić president of Bosnian-North American Women's Association Siba Kikanović, president of Association “Movement of Mothers of Srebrenica and Žepa Enclaves” Munira Subašić.
(FENA) A. B.
