Borovac and Anelay on the Status of Victims of Sexual Violence: No Law at the State Level

Minister for Human Rights and Refugees Semiha Borovac spoke today with the UK Prime Minister's Special Representative for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, Baroness Joyce Anelay, about the status and rights of victims of sexual violence during the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, reports the Patria news agency.

On that occasion, Minister Borovac informed Baroness Anelay that the entities have laws on the protection of civilian war victims, which also include the category of victims of sexual violence. However, the Minister pointed out that there is no such law at the state level, and that the Work Program of the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees, as well as the Work Program of the Council of Ministers of BiH for the next year, envisages the drafting of a new text of the law on the rights of victims of torture.
 
- Another problem is that the evidence required for recognition of the status of a civilian war victim differs between entities, and thus victims of sexual violence are in an unequal position and face problems in proving their status.

"Medica" Zenica has received consent from the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Policy to issue certificates to persons who have survived sexual abuse and rape, which is necessary in the process of obtaining the status of a civilian war victim. In the Republika Srpska, this procedure requires an assessment of body damage of at least 60 percent, which makes it difficult to recognize the status of a civilian war victim - said Minister Borovac, among other things.
 
At the request of Baroness Anelay, the Minister explained that in 2012, a program for victims of war rape, sexual abuse and torture in Bosnia and Herzegovina was developed for the period 2013-2016.
 
- Unfortunately, that program never saw the light of day because the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees of BiH never received a positive opinion on that program from the Government of the RS - said Borovac.
 
Baroness Anelay welcomed every positive effort to regulate the rights of victims of sexual violence, and stated that the UK Government is certainly willing to help Bosnia and Herzegovina in this regard.