On the occasion of International Human Rights Day, the Council of Europe in Bosnia and Herzegovina organized two days ago a panel discussion on “Civilian victims of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Will trauma be the legacy for the younger generation?”
The joint position on the issue of civilian war victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina at a press conference was presented by the Head of the Office of the Council of Europe in BiH Mary Ann Hennessey, British Ambassador to BiH Edward Ferguson, Charge d’Affaires of the EU Delegation to BiH Renzo Davidddi, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH Nina Suomalainen, and Principal Deputy High Representative in BiH David Robinson.
Hennessey reminded that 20 years after the war many of the visible scars healed, some have been cleaned or renewed, but little was done in conjunction with invisible scars, trauma in many forms, which unlike the purely physical injuries, are accompanied by the risk of being inherited by younger generations.
“Now is the time to recognize a common status of civilian war victims, regardless of their place of residence or ethnicity,” said Hennessey.
She added that the time has come to build a broader coalition that could be a stronger advocate of adequate and effective reparation to address real social, medical, psychological, economic or financial needs of individuals and families.
Ambassador Ferguson thinks that BiH in order to move towards the future, must solve the problem of the past, including social justice for all civilian victims of war, because those who were sexually abused feel isolated, they have no support, medical or legal assistance.
Suomalainen expressed concern about inequality and inadequacy of access to social rights and services in both entities and the allocation of resources based on status rather than need when it comes to the needs of civilian victims of war.
“The OSCE Mission to BiH supports and promotes a comprehensive approach to the pursuit of justice for those who have survived sexual violence during the war,” said Suomalainen.
The panel discussion was attended by Ambassador Ferguson, Saliha Đuderija, Assistant Minister of the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees, Bakira Hasečić from the Association of Women Victims of War, Dušan Babić from the Association of Civilian Victims of War of RS, and Jasmin Mešković from the Association of Concentration Camp Survivors in BiH.
A special focus was put on the activities on the adoption of the law on the rights of victims of torture in BiH.
The conference sent out a clear message that the new government in Bosnia and Herzegovina must take more responsibility for the civilian victims of war, and that it must make reparation against the victims, and one of the means towards the solution is increased pressure from international organizations.
This was also an opportunity for the Council of Europe to remind of the values on which a pan-European space has been built, and these are: human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
(Source: Fena / photo: en.vikipedia.org)
