BiH: Compensation for wartime rape victims takes the stage for the very first time

Sarajevo, 2 December 2015 – More than 20 experts from the judiciary, international community and civil society organizations met today in Sarajevo to discuss, for the very first time, the burning question of compensation for wartime victims. How should compensation claims be dealt with in criminal proceedings? How could the existing practice be improved? Those were some of the questions addressed during this high-level meeting organized by TRIAL.

The experts’ round table came as a result of two historical decisions related to wartime rape rendered by the Court of BiH. In June 2015, two rape survivors received compensation from perpetrators for the hardships they went through – a first in the history of BiH. The next step? Ensure that judicial practice continues developing in this positive direction and that thousands of victims obtain the justice they are still waiting for.  In practice, this will enable them to access their right to compensation as part of criminal proceedings before courts at all levels throughout BiH.

“The Court of BiH rendered two revolutionary judicial decisions this year. Additional efforts now need to be invested in order to create systematic preconditions for reparation in criminal proceedings, thus creating a precedent for other wartime victims”, said Adrijana Hanušić, Legal Advisor at TRIAL. “Today’s round table gathered leading experts and representatives of judiciary institutions. Let’s hope the thoughts shared will help improve the situation of survivors”, she added.

Twenty years after the end of the conflict in BiH, many victims of war crimes are still waiting for justice to be served. A transparent and efficient system of compensation would allow these women and men to receive at least some sort of recognition for the pain they went through and are still bearing the brunt of. TRIAL will continue to exert pressure on domestic institutions and advocate for establishing a fund from which payments to victims would be made. Reimbursement from the perpetrators would follow, lifting from victims the burden of going into lengthy enforcement procedures.

The roundtable was organized as part of a project supported by the FCO. Its aim is to create the prerequisites for compensation claims to be decided upon in criminal proceedings for victims of wartime sexual violence in BiH and to ensure the smooth enforcement of judgments which award compensation as part of those proceedings.

Conclusions from the round table discussion will be available on www.trial.ba later this week.