TRIAL meets with the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague in Sarajevo

On 24 October 2012, within the framework of the recently launched British initiative to prevent sexual violence in armed conflict, TRIAL and other representatives of victims associations in Bosnia and Herzegovina held a meeting with the British Foreign Secretary William Hague. The main violations suffered during the armed conflict and the lack of truth, justice and reparation measures that victims of rape and sexual violence are still facing today in BiH were discussed.

In May 2012 William Hague announced that, during his country’s presidency of the G8 summit in 2013, the United Kingdom will embark on an initiative on preventing sexual violence in armed conflict by setting up a large team of experts (police officers, lawyers, psychologists and forensic experts) that would travel to war zones to gather evidence about mass sexual violence to ensure that those crimes are recorded and prosecuted in the future.

In such a framework, the British Foreign Secretary met with representatives of civil society and survivors of war-time sexual violence coming from the three ethnic groups present in BiH in order to better understand the violations suffered by men and women during the armed conflict and to identify the ongoing human rights concerns still afflicting this category of victims in BiH.

In this respect TRIAL gave an overview of the main human rights issues victims of war-time sexual violence are currently confronted with in BiH, namely the lingering impunity of the perpetrators, the lack of recognition as a category of victims of war and the ensuing lack of social and economic support, including compensation for the harm suffered and measures of rehabilitation such as adequate housing, preferential treatment in employment and education, and free medical treatment and psycho-social support.

The British Foreign Secretary announced to victims of sexual violence that in 2013 he would try to propose a new international agreement to stop rape as a weapon of war and that the United Kingdom would also allocate additional funds to the United Nations to support the work of the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

“The time has come for a major international effort to challenge the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war, and to shatter the idea that rape can be committed in war on a massive scale and with nothing being done about it afterwards,” concluded Hague.

TRIAL has been working in BiH since 2008 assisting more than 200 direct and indirect victims of the conflict to obtain justice and redress in front of international human rights bodies. In the last years TRIAL has focused its attention on the plight of victims of sexual violence and has defended their rights before UN human rights bodies. TRIAL warmly welcomes the initiative launched by the British government and reiterates its commitment to fight against the impunity of the perpetrators of rape and sexual violence and to make the voices of the victims heard and their rights effective.

As a follow-up to the meeting in Sarajevo, on 12, 13 and 14 November 2012 TRIAL will attend the High-level Wilton Park conference on “Preventing sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict situations”, organized under the initiative of the Foreign Secretary, which will aim at shaping and developing the British initiative on sexual violence and its international implementation.

For more information

• Read here the British Foreign Secretary statement at the end of the meeting in Sarajevo
• Read here (Bosnian) and here the news of the meeting as it was taken up by local and international media
• Read here the legal guide for victims of sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina published by TRIAL in April 2012
• Read here the May 2011 general allegation sent by TRIAL to the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women on women victims of war-time sexual violence