[?PODCAST] Fighting wartime sexual violence: lessons from Bosnia and DRC
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and during so many other conflicts, sexual violence has been used as a terrible weapon of war. Is justice for victims of such crimes even possible?
Recent developments tend to show that even if justice processes are long, complicated and fraught with risks, courageous survivors and pioneering civil society organizations can work together to make the question for justice possible.
Drawing on the results achieved in Bosnia and in the DRC, two of TRIAL International’s legal advisors present some very concrete examples of the work that can be done to support victims and survivors in achieving justice: bringing perpetrators to account, obtaining reparations and making sure victims and survivors do not suffer from stigma and rejection, by the authorities or their own communities.
This podcast is a conference recorded on October 14th at the FLUX Laboratory, on the occasion of TRIAL International 20th anniversary
With
- Chiara Gabriele – Democratic Republic of the Congo Program
- Adrijana Hanušić Bećirović – Bosnia and Herzegovina Program
Moderator
- Thomas Hunger, Independent expert on transitional justice
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?️ Chiara Gabriele is Senior Legal Adviser for the Great Lakes program at TRIAL International. She frequently travels to the Democratic Republic of the Congo where she works with local lawyers to bring mass crimes cases to trial. A recent success was the Kokodikoko judgement, in which over 300 victims of crimes against humanity, including rape and sexual slavery, obtained justice. Chiara has a specific expertise on audiovisual evidence in criminal trials: she is the Editor of TRIAL International’s Manual on audiovisual evidence in international criminal proceedings. Chiara is also currently serving as an Advisory Council Member at the Panzi Foundation, supporting survivors of conflict-related sexual violence receiving holistic care for the violations they suffered.
?️ Adrijana Hanušić Bećirović is a Senior Legal Adviser for the Bosnia and Herzegovina program at TRIAL International, where she supports the fight against impunity for international crimes and represents victims of war crimes in their quest for justice and reparation. A major success achieved in B&H and the Western Balkans was triggering a breakthrough in the judicial practice through ensuring for victims of conflict-related sexual violence access to compensation in criminal proceedings. From 2019 to 2021, Adrijana was serving at the UN Secretary-General’s Civil Society Advisory Board on prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. She is also occasionally serving as a human rights consultant to international organizations like the EU, UNDP and OSCE, as well as to various NGOs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad.
