Premiere of the film "The Silent Scream": Between 20,000 and 50,000 people were raped in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH) will premiere on Wednesday the documentary film „The Silent Scream“ which deals with victims of sexual abuse that occurred during the bloody conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995.

The number of people in Bosnia and Herzegovina who were sexually abused during this period has not yet been determined. According to estimates by non-governmental organizations that dealt with this issue, the number ranges from 20,000 to as many as 50,000 raped individuals.
A shocking fact is that among the raped individuals there is also a large number of men, as well as underage girls. Many of the people who were abused in this way were often killed afterwards.

Mirna Buljugić from BIRN BiH explains to the Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP) that the number of raped individuals in Bosnia and Herzegovina could be even higher, but that a large number of them do not want to talk about it, or hide the abuse because they fear condemnation from their surroundings.

- A large number of people who were abused in this way, after sharing their fate with their family, claim that they live the rest of their lives more easily because they receive support from their surroundings, which they desperately need and appreciate – says Buljugić.

- Unfortunately, there are also many cases where victims of sexual abuse have said that only after acknowledging what happened to them in the past, their life turned into hell, because they were rejected not only by their surroundings, but also by their family. One victim admitted that the torture she suffered from her husband after he found out she was sexually abused was worse than the rape itself in the camp.

With the documentary film „The Silent Scream“, BIRN BiH will attempt to show the suffering that victims of sexual abuse went through, and how important it is for the wider community, and especially the victim's immediate family, to now get involved in their recovery.

The film will be premiered in the cinema hall of the business center „Unitic" in Sarajevo on Wednesday starting at 7:00 PM. For more information, click HERE.