BiH: TRIAL publishes legal guide for victims of sexual violence

Geneva / Sarajevo, 5 April 2012

Under the title BETWEEN STIGMA AND OBLIVION, A Guide on Defending the Rights of Women Victims of Rape or other Forms of Sexual Violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina, TRIAL has just published, in cooperation with UN Women a legal Guide for victims of sexual violence committed during the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Using true examples and refering to best practices, the Guide aims to offer victims of sexual violence and the organisations that support and defend them a new tool for action, rooted in international law.

According to Gabriella Citroni, TRIAL senior legal advisor, “In order to claim for a victim’s rights, it is necessary to know what these rights are. The aim of this Guide is to familiarize victims of rape with their rights and existing international mechanisms to which they could resort. Ideally, this should represent a tool to empower women victims of sexual violence to leave the limbo where they have been kept over the past years, between stigma and oblivion”.

The Guide was  launched during a public event held in Sarajevo on 4 April 2012, organized by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), TRIAL and Medica Zenica with the support of UN Women and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina

“BETWEEN STIGMA AND OBLIVION – A Guide on Defending the Rights of Women Victims of Rape or other Forms of Sexual Violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina” (preface by Madeleine Rees)

is available here in electronic format

• in English
• in Bosnian