Atifete Jahjaga was head of state of the Republic of Kosovo from 2011 to 2016 and the nation’s initial women president. After taking a legislation level at the University of Pristina, she focused on criminal regulation. After completion of the Kosovo War in 1999, she held numerous placements in the recently developed Kosovar Police and was assigned the pressure’s replacement supervisor in 2009. During her time as head of state, the politically independent Jahjaga defended higher civil liberties and equal rights for ladies and ladies inKosovo Through the Jahjaga Foundation, which was established in 2018, she functions, to name a few points, for the survivors of sex-related physical violence throughout the Kosovo War and for interethnic discussion in the Western Balkan area.
DW: President Jahjaga, there are price quotes that around 20,000 ladies were raped throughout theKosovo War You were straight associated with elevating understanding of this concern throughout your presidency. How was this proof collected and exactly how precise are these numbers?
Atifete Jahjaga: When we discuss sex-related physical violence throughout the battle in Kosovo, it has actually been and remains to be an open injury and a forbidden topic for our state and residents.
In the 25 years given that the battle finished, I have actually functioned proactively on this topic, specifically throughout my term as head of state of Kosovo and later on as previous head of state, and currently with the Jahjaga Foundation.
The data we describe are based upon a technique made use of not just in Kosovo yet additionally in Bosnia, Rwanda andMyanmar It is a certain formula for approximating numbers. We have situations that were reported by worldwide companies at the time these acts were devoted.
The percent is extremely high, with the number being around 20,000 ladies. But it had not been simply ladies; around 1,000 guys were additionally raped.
There are situations where the sufferers themselves reported the rape to the companies that got evacuees when they mosted likely to evacuee camps in bordering nations.
We have data from the International Red Cross and several various other companies. Then there is the variety of abortions that happened in evacuee camps, in addition to records after the freedom of Kosovo.
There are numerous techniques of getting to the approximate variety of 20,000. To day we have actually not had a total record from any kind of company on the specific number.
During my participation in this concern alone, I have actually met over 8,000 ladies and guys that were raped throughout the battle. The most significant issue is that a a great deal of ladies and guys have actually still not taken the action of chatting honestly with their family members or any person else.
DW: As you state, not nearly enough focus has actually been paid to the concern of war time sex-related physical violence in Kosovar culture. It still appears to be a forbidden subject within Kosovar family members. Why is that?
Yahyaga: It’s a mix of several elements.
Firstly, it has a little bit to do with the patriarchal way of thinking of our culture. In 2011, when I started to talk openly concerning this subject– supporting for institutional participation and resolving this concern, which was not a constitutional duty of the head of state yet an ethical responsibility– I got numerous responses, from one extreme to the various other.
Some claimed Kosovo and its individuals were not all set to discuss this topic. They recognized that it had actually taken place yet firmly insisted that this phase was shut. My action at the time was, “How can you close a chapter that has never been opened?”
A fantastic oppression was done quickly after the battle when we handled all those institutional and social responsibilities in the direction of every war-related group, yet marginalized the survivors of sex-related physical violence, implicating them, never ever understanding that their bodies had actually been become battlefields. While we were opening up tombs for the missing out on and setting up monoliths for plenty of saints, we never ever recognized the discomfort and the effects encountered by survivors of sex-related physical violence.
At the moment, there was an effort to prevent us, declaring that Kosovar culture was not all set to review this concern. However, after the advocacy of my workplace and group, in addition to the substantial initiatives of civil culture, I was urged to react to the political elites of the moment, specifying that individuals had actually constantly prepared to challenge this subject– it was simply that correct management had actually been doing not have to honestly deal with the unhealed injuries of our culture.
The extremes were extremely actual. On the one hand, some relative directly brought survivors to companies, stating, “You need to help our family members.” On the various other, there was the uncomfortable extreme where ladies and ladies were required to maintain their trick to themselves and within their family members for safeguarding “morality.”
But the embarassment was never ever theirs. It was the embarassment of those that devoted these wrongs. The blame ought to not be routed at the survivors, yet at the wrongdoers, that made use of rape as a tool of battle versus the residents of Kosovo.
DW: What have justice establishments done to bring fees versus the wrongdoers? Many non-governmental companies have actually continually increased their voices, specifying that the nation has actually not done anything hereof. You function as head of state for one term. How legitimate are these problems?
Yahyaga: So much, if I am not incorrect, we have actually had just 9 or 10 situations, charges prepared by the prosecution and police establishments, while there is just one situation where a decision has actually been made, and the sentencing increases several concerns.
It hurts that hundreds of situations were developed by UNMIK and EULEX, and these situations were moved to the hands of neighborhood establishments yet were never ever dealt with as different situations, just as component of the basic situations connected to battle criminal activities. Thus, immunity has actually triggered the survivors of sex-related physical violence to shed count on the establishments of justice.
Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan
