Chapter

Staying the course : a call for sustained support of accountability for conflict-related sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Susana SáCouto and Chanté Lasco

Gender and war : international and transitional justice perspectives

Cambridge [etc.] : Intersentia, 2019*

p. 311-352

English

This chapter begins with a background section describing : the incidence of sexual violence committed during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia ; the prosecution of serious international crimes at the ICTY as well as in Bosnian courts ; the prosecution of sexual and gender-based violence (SGV) offences in particular at these tribunals. Next, the chapter explores the difficulties facing the War Crimes Section of the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (WCS-BiH) and the district and cantonal courts throughout Bosnia in the prosecution of these crimes, including issues concerning victims and witnesses, other legal challenges and political pressure on the courts. The authors then describe the limited ways in which the international community is currently supporting the continued prosecution of conflict-related SGV in Bosnia and Herzegovina, stressing the risk of backlash in the absence of such support and, thus, the critical need for continued international engagement to ensure effective access to justice for victims of these grave offences.

• Gender and war : international and transitional justice perspectives / ed. by Solange Mouthaan, Olga Jurasz