The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, and the Special Envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie, arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina yesterday evening for a two day visit. The visit is focused on the legacy of sexual violence from the war ahead of June’s Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London which William Hague and Angelina Jolie will co-chair.
Tens of thousands of women and men were subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina between1992-1995. According to the latest OSCE findings, only 33 perpetrators of these crimes have been convicted at the State level whilst there have been only 30 convictions at the international level in The Hague. A serious backlog of sexual violence cases across the country makes survivors endlessly wait for justice.
Stigmatization and ostracism from society are problems for many survivors and many are reluctant to come forward to seek justice. Many still suffer untreated trauma and need medical as well as psychosocial support which is not always available. Access to health services is limited, especially for women living in remote areas of the country. Many survivors are unemployed, often for reasons related to the physical and psychological injuries they have suffered. They often live in poverty and cannot afford medicine.
Progress will depend on leadership by all sides to acknowledge the suffering of victims from other communities. It will also require concerted political will to uphold international standards of justice, free from political interference.
UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague said:
“Tens of thousands of women, girls and men were raped during the war in Bosnia. We are visiting to draw the world’s attention to their search for justice, and to call for global action to end the use of rape as a weapon of war once and for all. In London in ten weeks’ time we will be asking nations around the world to make that decisive commitment, so that from Bosnia to the DRC survivors get the justice they need, and future mass rape can be prevented. We can and must change the entire global attitude to these crimes, and shatter the culture of impunity.”
Special Envoy for the High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie said:
“We are here to meet victims of the war in Bosnia, female and male survivors of rape who carry a terrible burden. The use of rape as a weapon of war is one of the great injustices of our time. For too long the world has tolerated these crimes, and left survivors to struggle in the shadows. Our goal is to bring forward the voices of the survivors of these crimes and to ask the world to stand with them and against impunity.”
William Hague and Angelina Jolie attended this morning a Regional Military Conference in Sarajevo which brought together Ministers and senior military officers from the region to discuss the role of the military in tackling sexual violence. In his speech at the conference William Hague announced that the UK will support Sarajevo’s Peace Support Operations Training Centre in developing new modules on preventing sexual violence that can then be integrated into their training courses for military and police peace-keepers.
On a visit to Srebrenica William Hague and Angelina Jolie met survivors of sexual violence who highlighted the crimes that took place alongside the genocide. They also met Mothers of Srebrenica and Srebrenica Mayor Ćamil Duraković. William Hague announced £800,000 of support to the ‘Remembering Srebrenica’ initiative, aimed at ensuring the terrible events of 1995 are not forgotten.
The visit continued with a visit to NGO Medica in Zenica which helps women across Bosnia to rebuild their lives after sexual violence. Medica provides a range of support to women across the country, including livelihood support through their hairdressing salon and sewing workshop, as well as providing a safe house for women and their children.
William Hague and Angelina Jolie met judges and prosecutors at the State level with whom they spoke about challenges that the judicial system faces in dealing with the backlog of war crimes and the risk of justice not being done or seen to be done.
