Sept 22, 2023. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
Lessons from Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Policy Options for Ukraine, the United States, and the International
Community
by Emily
Prey Tanya Domi Dr. Kinsey Spears
Since the start of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2014, there have been countless reports of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) committed by the Russian forces against Ukrainian civilians of all ages and genders.
Women in
particular have faced extensive sexual violence during this conflict; they have
reported being gang raped, having their families be forced to watch Russians
raping them, being branded by soldiers after their rapes, being held as sexual
slaves, and being raped until they are pregnant – all of which act as a
deliberate method to subjugate the survivors and further break down societal
norms and bonds. The international community must react swiftly, and the
response must be survivor-oriented toward justice.
Similar to Ukraine, in Bosnia-Herzegovina people of all ages, genders, and sexual orientations were subjected to extensive CRSV, and many of the survivors still have not received justice.
The international community must learn from Bosnia to better prepare its response to Ukraine and to aid trauma-informed social reconstruction postwar so that it does not take 30-plus years for survivors to come forward and for communities to heal.
This report provides a roadmap for
the international community, Ukraine, and the United States to ensure that
Ukrainian CRSV survivors are met with survivor-centered reparative justice in a
timely manner.
Recommendations
For the
International Community
1.
Universal jurisdiction provides recourse for victims and survivors that extends
far beyond the reach of national courts, which are often backlogged and
politicized. States should use the principle of universal jurisdiction and
their own national laws and court systems to bring perpetrators of CRSV to
justice on behalf of Ukraine.
2. The
international community needs to band together under the legal umbrella of the
1948 Genocide Convention to prevent more genocidal acts from occurring, such as
the forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.
3. A
thorough inclusion of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda and conceptions of
feminist peace must be present during all considerations of peace between
Russia and Ukraine in the future. During any future peace talks, women and
survivors of CRSV must be meaningfully included.
4. There
are numerous resources for survivor-centered CRSV responses, notably the
Guidebook on State Obligations for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, which the
international community should be using to mitigate and respond to sexual
violence in this conflict.
5. The
international Register of Damages must work to incorporate victims’ and
survivors’ inputs and ideas when creating a compensation plan.
6. As with
all responses to the conflict, a survivor-centered approach is necessary for
holistic, restorative, and positive peace.
For
Ukraine
1. The
creation of a domestic registry of losses and damages can ease restrictions to
access for survivors and complement the international Register of
Damages.
2.
Victim-oriented reparations need to be part of the ongoing discussion of
state-centered reparations. The reparations also must go beyond strictly
financial considerations and should include assistance like legal counseling,
psychosocial support, and health care.
3.
Survivors must be provided with free legal aid so they are not further bearing
the cost of seeking justice.
4. The
Ukrainian Parliament should pass the proposed bill by the Committee on Law
Enforcement Activities that addresses the limitation for the pretrial
investigation, regarding the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine on Improving
the Procedure for Conducting Pretrial Investigations and Trials in Criminal
Proceedings Regarding Crimes Related to Sexual Violence Committed in Conditions
of Armed Conflict.
5. National
investigations and documentation of CRSV crimes should align with the standards
laid out in the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation
of Sexual Violence in Conflict.
6. If
Russia succeeds in its illegal occupation and annexation of parts of Ukraine,
the rights of Ukrainian victims in these areas could be jeopardized. The
Ukrainian government should look at the barriers placed on accountability and
justice in Bosnia and begin to prepare how to move toward justice with this in
mind.
7.
Ukraine should move to put legal protections in place for children born of
wartime rape. Bosnia’s legislation, which recognizes children born of wartime
rape, is groundbreaking; Ukraine should not wait 30 years to enact such
important legal measures.
8. Ukraine
must not shy away from investigating and prosecuting Ukrainians who committed
war crimes against their own people or against those aligned with Russia during
the conflict.
9.
Psychosocial support must be made available holistically and sustainably to
survivors of CRSV, and it is critical to ensure that all victims of CRSV,
including men, those with diverse SOGIESC (sexual orientations, gender
identities and expressions, and sex characteristics), and other groups are
supported.
10. The use
of technology should be considered to help CRSV survivors in court proceedings
through mechanisms such as face filtering or voice alterations during
testimony.
For the
United States
1. The U.S.
government should use its immense intelligence resources to ensure the
Presidential Memorandum on Accountability for CRSV is being used to the fullest
extent in order to designate sanctions for perpetrators of CRSV in
Ukraine.
2. Congress
should work to strengthen U.S. laws on atrocity crimes by enacting legislation
to prevent and punish crimes against humanity (CAHs) to fill the loopholes that
allow for the U.S. to be a “safe haven” for perpetrators of CAHs.
Newlines
Institute for Strategy and Policy