THE KNOWLEDGE HUB

Amnesty International Report: Old Crimes, Same Suffering – No Justice for Survivors of Wartime Rape in North-East Bosnia and Herzegovina

This report is based on interviews conducted in 2009 and again in 2011. It reveals that the series of commitments made by the government of BiH to ensure access to justice, truth and reparation for survivors of crimes of sexual violence, have been given little or no effect. Not one of the direct perpetrators of the crimes against the women Amnesty International interviewed had been brought to justice as of the date of this report.

Out of the tens of thousands of alleged crimes of sexual violence against women, fewer than 40 cases have been prosecuted by either the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague or by state and entity courts in BiH since 1995. Access to adequate healthcare and rehabilitation services as well as to much-needed financial support for women maintaining families rendered fatherless by the war and disappearances is likewise extremely minimal. Amnesty International finds itself once again having to call on the state and entity authorities in BiH to fulfill their International legal obligations to address the survivors’ suffering and guarantee them access to swift justice and full reparation.