Bosnia and Herzegovina

Background of the conflict and key challenges in relation to CRSV

Following the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1992, the Bosnian War broke out and lasted until 1995 with the signing of the Dayton Accords. The war resulted in the deaths of approximately 100,000 civilians and the forced displacement of over 2 million people, and was marked by horrific acts of sexual violence, ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Before the war, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia held a multi-ethnic population of Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats. After the secession of Slovenia and Croatia, and following the declaration of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s independence, Bosnian Serb forces countered, starting the ethnic cleansing campaigns. Bosnian Serb forces besieged Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 1992 to 1996. Citizens were attacked daily by shelling and snipers and 11,000 people were killed. In 1995, the Bosnian Serb Forces with their Colonel, General Ratko Mladić, attacked an enclave in Srebrenica. Over 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were executed from 13 to 19 July. The war ended in 1995, with the imposition of a final ceasefire after NATO’s intervention. The Dayton Accords, signed on December 14, 1995, ended the war and divided Bosnia and Herzegovina into two autonomous entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Croat-Bosniak) and the Republic of Srpska.

During the war, between 20,000 to 60,000 women were raped, mostly Muslim women by Bosnian Serb troops. Sexual violence was used as a planned and systematic strategy of ethnic cleansing, but also to spread fear, humiliation and shame. Women who became pregnant were forced to keep their children of Serb ethnicity. Rape camps were also established, where large-scale rape, torture and forced prostitution took place.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established by the United Nations to deal with the war crimes and mass atrocities committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia during the Balkan conflicts in the 1990s. The ICTY was the first court ever to convict people for rape and sexual enslavement as crimes against humanity. Still, many survivors have never met justice. They have inadequately been given access to reparations, and they are often not recognized as legitimate war victims. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women stated in 2017 “conflict-related sexual violence investigations in the country had been ineffective and too slow, and there was insufficient compensation and support for victims in Bosnian and Herzegovina.” Victims of war still suffer from the social, physical, and psychological effects of their trauma.