Women and Children of Rape in Bosnia - Essay Example

of the of the of the Women and Children of Rape in Bosnia Sexual violence has become a part of the international criminal justice system. Most societies want to prevent such crimes, and if that is not possible, they want to deter the occurrence of such crimes. If these steps fail to control sexual offenses then they wish to employ stringent punishment against the perpetrators. Rape has become a part of war crimes, and it was used as a weapon of war in Bosnia (Bosnia Rapes Continue to Go Unpunished). According to the supporters of human rights, rape must be given higher priority, in comparison to all other crimes. If rape was not made a top priority crime, then the prosecutors would end up without any witnesses. After a protracted period of time, the victims of rape now want to lead their lives without any interference, and are not interested in the proceedings of the tribunal. They are no longer willing to testify and are of the opinion that it is highly unlikely for them to obtain justice (Bosnia Rapes Continue to Go Unpunished). A European Community’s agency stated that more than twenty thousand Bosnian Muslim women were raped or sexually assaulted by the military forces of Serbia. In this regard, a UN Commission of Experts had observed that the Bosnian Serbs had implemented a policy of systematic rape against the Bosnian Muslim women. They also committed rapes in the detention camps (Bosnia Rapes Continue to Go Unpunished). A number of people have claimed that the rapes carried out by Bosnian Serbs were part of their ethnic cleansing policy. Under this policy Muslims were to be killed and thrown out of their homes and ultimately from the nation. However, the tribunal decided not to prosecute rape as acts of genocide, and most human rights advocates disagreed with this decision of the tribunal. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda had also concluded on these lines. The tribunal must provide counseling, legal advice and relocation arrangements, such as new identities for witnesses of rape crime before, during and after the trial (Bosnia Rapes Continue to Go Unpunished). A European Community mission estimated that nearly twenty thousand Bosnian Muslim women had been raped by the troops during the war. The Health Ministry of Croatia concluded that nearly fifty percent of women, who had been accommodated in the base camps in Bosnia, had been subjected to rape. These military forces even raped children aged six years and women aged eighty years. Hundreds of women and children were assumed to have been killed after being subjected to gang rapes. There had been a systematic sexual degradation of women in Bosnia – Herzegovina (McKinsey). Amnesty International condemned the rapes and sexual assaults on women in Bosnia. It was observed that Muslim women had been specifically targeted and made the victims of such heinous acts. The main perpetrators of the crime were the Serbian troops. However, Croatian and other Muslim forces had also searched and sexually assaulted women during that time. The basic objective behind these crimes had been the sexual abuse of Bosnian Muslim women (McKinsey). The intention of the Serbian troops and military officials had been to carry out a well planned degradation of the Muslim women, so as to humiliate the entire nation. In one particular incident, Amela, a pseudonym for the victim, was captured by several men. All the residents of the small Muslim village, where she resided, were transported to a factory in Kotor Varos. Subsequently, the men started to repeatedly rape them (McKinsey). The United Nations had established the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, or the ICTY in 1993, to deal with war crimes in Bosnia. The media coverage of traumatic narrations regarding the rape of women had created international concern. In fact, accounts of rape of women in Bosnia, during the war, had resulted in the ICTY. The Hague based Tribunal declared rape to be a war crime. This had been a historic development; and this tribunal had also declared violence against women during wartime to be one of the most grievous offenses of war. The victims were not redressed even after the passage of five years after the end of the war. There were no trials and the perpetrators of rape were not apprehended. The commanders, who had ordered these heinous crimes to be carried out, had received a number of awards (Bosnia Rapes Continue to Go Unpunished). There were several reasons for the slowing down of the tribunal in its prosecution. The fundamental reasons were a lack of political commitment, shortage of funds and resources, and the controls imposed by the UN on the ICTY. There was limited progress in the activities of the tribunal in The Hague. The primary objective of the tribunal was to prosecute rapists, but this aim was not realized. Lawyers and prosecutors were still continuing these trials involving charges of rape (Bosnia Rapes Continue to Go Unpunished). Judges were still referring to the case law, while dealing with this wartime rape. Everyone had been entertaining hopes that the tribunal would punish the rapists appropriately, but the reality was otherwise and this objective was not achieved. To date, no rapist has been punished. Nineteen cases were brought before the tribunal with war crimes charges, however, only three defendants were charged with rape. Out of these nineteen cases, involving war crimes, only one case related to rape, which was not considered to be an act of genocide (Bosnia Rapes Continue to Go Unpunished). The tribunal had not provided any assistance or protection to those who were witnesses of rape. The prosecution had alienated most of the rape victims and the prosecutors failed to gain the confidence of the victims. The tribunal failed to provide adequate protection to the witnesses; and instead of providing them with new identities, the prosecutors offered only witness – stand anonymity for these witnesses. In addition, they were provided with access to a round the clock hot line facility. This made them more vulnerable and exposed to threats and violations. Even, experts on human rights had expressed their discontent with the proceeding of the tribunal (Bosnia Rapes Continue to Go Unpunished). The tribunal had not been committed to the task of dealing with the great magnitude of crime that had been perpetrated. Aloofness and apathy were identified with the tribunal in its dealing with the subject of rape. Moreover, even after several years of its establishment, the rape criminals and alleged rapists continued to remain at large. It was opined by many that the Balkan countries should surrender the rapists, and that if they failed to do so, then the NATO forces, which were stationed in Bosnia to maintain peace, should initiate action for their arrest (Bosnia Rapes Continue to Go Unpunished). In Bosnia, rape was used as a weapon of war and in one particular incident the victim was merely seventeen years of age. She was half Croat and half Bosnian. Her father had been murdered by the troops and she was imprisoned with her mother and other women in the basement of a municipal hall. The Bosnian Serbs sexually assaulted her and other women and raped them. They also compelled them to indulge in sexual intercourse with the troops at the gun point. In that manner, they were repeatedly subjected to rape for four months in that basement. The victim became pregnant and the troops freed her and ordered her to bear a Serbian child. She gave birth to a child and abandoned her child, by leaving that place. She remained untraced and her name was not available on the witnesses list maintained by the ICTY at The Hague. This was one of the most horrible incidents that occurred in Bosnia during the war (BOSNIA 1995). According to Dr. Jarmila Skrinjaric, a psychiatrist who counseled and treated victims of rape in Bosnia; rape can be treated as a serious mental trauma for its victims. There will be both psychological and physiological suffering to the victims who become pregnant, due to rape. Hospitals in Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia have been busy in dealing with rape pregnancy cases. Almost every day on an average one pregnant Bosnian woman attended these hospitals for an abortion, in order to get rid of an unwanted Serbian child. These cases are the reported ones. There could be many more that have not been reported. As such, thousands of women were raped; and some of the women escaped pregnancy, and mingled with the refugee population, without reporting the heinous crimes committed against them. They desperately wanted to keep this issue secret, without intimating even with their fellow women (McKinsey). The Serbian military personnel used to enter Muslim villages near Sarajevo and search for women. In this manner, they would select ten or more Muslim women every night. Afterwards, they would forcibly take them to a nearby convenient place and rape them. The victims experienced brutal gang rapes by the military men for no fault on their part. A twenty – seven year old woman had narrated her experience to the media that she had been raped six times in one night. Another woman was raped publicly in front of her relatives and neighbors. Most of the crimes occurred in the Partizan sports hall in Foca a Muslim town in eastern Bosnia. In the year 1992, from the month of June to August, this hall was used as a rape camp. The troops held seventy – four people as refugees in this hall. Of these fifty were women. Ironically, the Partizan was situated next to the police station. The police claimed that they had no power or instructions to prevent the crime taking place in the camp (Gutman). This form of genocidal rape was done in three stages. First, Chetniks and other Serbian forces penetrated into the villages of Bosnia – Herzegovina or Croatia. Afterwards, they abducted several women at gunpoint from their homes. Subsequently, these troops raped them in public, before the other members of the village. After having completed their task, they departed from that village. The news of this heinous incident would rapidly spread through the entire village. Later on, the official Bosnian or Serbian soldiers of the Yugoslav Army would come into the village and offer the victims and residents of the village a choice of safe passage from the village. They would also insist that they should never return to that village. Most of the villagers would accept this proposal and leave the village, thereby abandoning it to the Serbs. In this manner the first stage of ethnic cleansing was complete (Bradford). Second, Bosnian – Herzegovinian women would be held as hostages and placed in military camps; where they would be chosen randomly for being raped. Third, Serbian, Bosnian Serbs and Croatian Serb soldiers, Bosnian Serb militias and Chetniks would take Bosnian and Herzegovinian women into their control and imprison them in rape camps. Then these women would be raped for a protracted period of time in a systematic manner. The purpose of these rapes was to inflict torture before death. Sometimes, the purpose would be to cause pregnancy after rape. Pregnant women would be retained under their control and raped constantly. When their pregnancy progressed and when there was no possibility for an abortion, the women would be released. Death of these rape victims promoted genocidal purposes. In case of pregnancy, the aim was to produce a child that was a Serb, and all efforts were made to destroy the identity of its mother (Bradford). The victims of rape have been socially excluded and abandoned by the state. Most of the victims suffered from severe psychological trauma. They were impoverished, expelled by their societies and abandoned by their husbands. A few of them obtained compensation from the government for the suffering they had undergone. Several of these victims developed post – rape syndromes such as physical pains and mental depression (Holt). In an interview, Mirella, a thirty – three year old woman, had stated that she had been raped for over a year by the Serbian troops. She added that, the soldiers held her in her house as a prisoner and raped her day and night, in the presence of her children. Consequently, she became pregnant and had to undergo an abortion. Mirella and her family members left for Sarajevo, from their home town of Brcko. She developed gynecological problems and mental depression, due to the brutal rape that she had undergone; in addition, she attempted suicide thrice. The government had sanctioned an amount of 36km to be paid to her every month and 26 km per month to each of her children. Her husband had served in a war camp; therefore, he gets 56km. She further added that she spends the money for purchasing medicines for her depression and pain (Holt). The International War Crimes Tribunal severely condemned rape, in the year 1998. The tribunal claims that rape is a crime against humanity. In spite of this, there is no initiative at either the national or international level to protect women from sexual assaults, violence and rape. The problems of children born of rape are not addressed by any state body or international organization. A little concern was shown by the UNICEF, when it commissioned a study on children born due to wartime rape. However, the study’s report was never published (Holt). Marijana Senjak, psychologist with the NGO Medica in Zenica, claims that politicians are exploiting the plight of rape victims, to further their own interests. The state ignores rape victims and is not providing any assistance to them. There is a lack of concerted effort to fulfill the needs of rape victims. State government uses rape during war as a political tool to obtain international funding. In one instance, Amma, a sixteen years old girl was raped by soldiers during the war. As a result she became pregnant; and not surprisingly, she was unable to get any assistance, which forced her to leave her child in a facility. Presently, she is twenty – nine years old and she is suffering from depression and physical problems (Holt). The Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces published a report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict. According to that report, nearly fifty thousand women were sexually assaulted and subjected to sexual violence in Bosnia. It also claims that nearly forty percent of Liberia’s population had been subjected to such abuse. Specifically, half of them had been raped and a quarter of them had been gang raped. This report suggests that sexual violence gives rise to dangerous psychological problems and physical suffering. In Burundi, Chad, Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia and other countries, there have been several cases of fistula reported after rape or sexual assaults; and nearly seventy percent of the Rwandan rape victims had contracted HIV or AIDS. Children born as a result of rape were branded as children of hate and abandoned by their mothers. From this, it is clear that conflicts and wars would bring about dangerous economic and social consequences (Wars other victims; Sexual violence and conflict). Children who had been born of rape and who were living with their families were liable to be excluded if their antecedents came to light. Several of these children were subjected to severe trauma, due to the intense dislike that their mother bore towards the father. In one instance, a hapless child of rape was compelled to inform guests that he was the result of his mother’s denigration. Nevertheless, in many instances, parents of such children made up stories to hide the background of these children (Jahn). With their coming of age, these erstwhile children of rape, are causing discomfiture to all concerned; due to their penchant for being independent and establishing themselves in society. A sine – qua – non of Bosnian society is rigid ethnic identity, which proves to be a major hurdle for these youth (Saunders). Rape warfare can be defined as an act of military policy that results in genocide. It was utilized in Bosnia – Herzegovina and Croatia. The perpetrators of this crime included the Yugoslavian army, the Bosnian Serb troops, Serbian militiamen in Croatia and Bosnia – Herzegovina, Chetniks and Serbian civilians. These criminals in uniform planned and indulged in rape warfare, in order to demean the nation. Works Cited BOSNIA 1995. 07 May 2008 . "Bosnia Rapes Continue to Go Unpunished." Womens International Network News (Winter98): Vol. 24 Issue 1, p48, 4/5p; (AN 215095) . Bradford, D. G. Rape Warfare: The Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia . 07 May 2008 . Gutman, Roy. Rape Camps evidence Serb leaders in Bosnia OKd attacks. 19 April 1993. 07 May 2008 . Holt, Kate. Bosnias rape babies: abandoned by their families, forgotten by the state . 13 December 2005. 07 May 2008 . Jahn, George. Bosnian children born of war rape asking questions. 31 May 2005. 7 May 2008 . McKinsey, Kitty. MASS RAPE IN BOSNIA: 20,000 WOMEN, MOSTLY MUSLIMS, HAVE BEEN ABUSED BY SERB SOLDIERS. 07 May 2008 . Saunders, Doug. Children born of rape come of age in Bosnia. 3 March 2006. 7 May 2008 . "Wars other victims; Sexual violence and conflict." The Economist, US Edition (December 8, 2007). Read More