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Securing justice for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence: The stigma belongs with the perpetrator
- Source: Freedom from Fear, Volume 2016, Issue 10, Apr 2016, p. 93 - 98
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- 29 Apr 2016
Abstract
Imagine that you live in a country that had experienced a brutal and devastating war, and during that war you, or someone you loved, were the victims of sexual violence in conflict. Imagine the pain and betrayal you would feel knowing that those who orchestrated wide scale and systematic rapes, sexual slavery, forced marriages and other forms of sexual violence were allowed to walk free as if nothing had happened and remain a part of the community where you live, and each day you were forced to face them in public. This is the reality for most victims of sexual violence in conflict. Years after the guns have fallen silent they still struggle to rebuild their lives whilst their tormentors enjoy impunity. In Bosnia, only a handful of perpetrators have been prosecuted 20 years after the war, despite the fact that an estimated 50,000 women, and an unknown number of men, were raped during the conflict there.