In Kosovo, thousands of people were victims of sexual violence during the war: today the Pristina institutions recognize them as civilian victims of the conflict, but for many talking about the trauma they have suffered remains an insurmountable obstacle
“Unheard Voices” is a memoir that collects unpublished stories of men and boys raped during the war in Kosovo.
Without speaking publicly, at least ten men raped by Serbian forces during the war have told their tragic stories to civil society organizations that support victims of wartime sexual violence. This confirms that sexual violence as a weapon of war does not only affect women and girls.
“I have a shadow, an ice in my soul, it doesn’t go away, because what they did to me no longer hurts me, the pain is gone, but my soul is frozen”, writes one of the witnesses in the book, who all He was only 14 years old at the time.
The book was presented at Women Peace Security Forum organized by the President of Kosovo in Pristina on 15 and 16 April, as part of an awareness campaign dedicated to the victims of sexual violence during the war in Kosovo, which began on 14 April, as the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Sexual Violence during war.
The number of victims is estimated at up to 20 thousand women, girls, men and boys. However, few have spoken out publicly, largely due to the social norms and taboos that still dominate Kosovo society, especially when it comes to recognizing rape as a war crime instead of blaming the victims.
Likewise, very few victims had their status recognized by the Government Commission on the Recognition and Verification of the Status of Victims of Sexual Violence during the Kosovo Liberation War, created in 2017 .
Deadlines
Initially, the deadline for submitting applications was five years, the same duration as the Commission’s mandate. Last year this deadline expired, but the Government of Kosovo decided to extend it for another two years, i.e. until 15 May 2025, due to the limited number of applications.
At the Peace Forum, Justice Minister Albulena Haxhiu said that so far the Commission has recognized the status of 1,555 people, including 88 men.
“It is estimated that in Kosovo around 20 thousand people were raped during the war; together with the President and the Prime Minister we are working to encourage them to ask for recognition, because it is not their fault if they suffered sexual abuse”.
Civil society organizations believe the government should not set a deadline for applications.
“Taking into account the specific nature of sexual violence crimes, the peculiarities of the trauma, the difficulties of documentation, the stigma and exclusion that surround the victims both in the family and in the community in which they live, as well as other international practices, we support that applying should be a permanent right guaranteed by law,” Feride Rushiti, executive director of the Kosovo Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims, told OBCT.
According to sources interviewed by OBCT, policymakers hoped that a deadline would motivate victims to apply. Unfortunately, this was not the case: according to an electronic response from the Commission, since the start of the procedure on 02.05.2018, the Commission has received 2028 applications.
Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman was the first woman to speak publicly, first on public TV in 2018 and then on several other platforms. When she was only 16 years old, she was kidnapped by a Serbian police officer and raped by him and another civilian in a village near her home.
“I believe there is no need to set deadlines,” he told OBCT, adding that he is in constant contact with the victims, and some of them, now that their husbands are dead, are ready to apply.
Krasniqi Goodman also asked the Kosovo government to reconsider all requests that the Commission rejected as not finalized due to the difficulties victims have, 25 years after the crime, in testifying about what really happened.
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