I have an exceptional honour to address you at this event which aims to establish a space for discussion, understanding and justice for a sensitive part of our post war society in Kosovo, our heroines.
Honourable Deputy Prime Minister Niko Peleshi, Minister Klosi,
Honourable Deputy Ministers,
Honourable Members of Parliament of the Republic of Albania,
Honourable Ambassadors,
Honourable representatives of the civil society,
Mrs. Kerni, Mrs. Fico,
Dear Anna,
Honourable participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen
I have an exceptional honour to address you at this event which aims to establish a space for discussion, understanding and justice for a sensitive part of our post war society in Kosovo, our heroines.
Today’s story is a difficult story of a grave injustice exercised upon the innocent population of Kosovo, of a misery of a war crime which aimed to infringe upon the dignities of thousands of women and girls, to nurture the feeling of fear, of oppression, to incite massive displacements, and above all, it aimed to strip a whole society of its values.
Inhuman acts which left behind everlasting pain of dreams cut in half, of a life never lived, of a preconception which weighed heavily upon the shoulders of those whose body turned into a battlefield.
But, today’s story is also a story of bravery and courage of thousands of women and girls of Kosovo, who, encircled by silence and blame, with open wounds of crime, found strength for survival, hope for a better tomorrow, by holding on forcefully to their right for a life in peace a for justice.
Memory of that day, June 12, Kosovo’s holiest day, our day of liberation, when the green field of the Prishtina stadium was covered by over 5000 dresses, will always remain fresh not only on my mind, but also on minds of many citizens of Kosovo.
That day conveyed a lot of pain upon me, but also lots of hope while I was bearing witness of a solidarity level never seen before, which engulfed whole of Kosovo, even surpassing its birders, in response to the call made by artist Alketa Xhafa Mripa to donate a dress in support of the survivors of the sexual violence during the war.
This call to break the silence, to fight stigmatization, echoed powerfully alongside determination for recognition of this crime and social and institutional promise to condemn it once and for all and to undertake everything possible to guarantee the survivors a future in peace and much deserved justice.
“I have a bitter experience”, “This skirt has a history locked since spring 1998”,
These are only two of the messages among thousands of dresses written by the very ones who were subjects of this macabre crime, which the artistic installation of Alketa Xhafa Mripa and Anna di Lellio unveil for us.
We cannot change their past, but together we can guarantee that their future is not determined by this bitter past, that the future of their families, of their children, is not determined by a crime unjustly committed upon them.
Honourable Participants,
Screening of this documentary in Tirana is part of demonstration of unreserved support of the citizens and institutions of Albania towards the citizens of Kosovo, starting from our hardest times, times when hope for a better future was very distant.
For many survivors, the first door upon which they knocked for help was one of many camps erected all over Albania, the open doors of citizens around the country, where they found protection, compassion and hope that they will not face the miseries of the war whih had marked their bodies, alone.
We will be eternally grateful for your presence by our side and that today, in peace, we continue to have your unsparing support for all processes which we as a society and a state are going through. I would like to express my gratitude to the Centre for Openness and Dialogue of the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth, and the Institute for Social Contract, which organized this event, and all those who showed solidarity with the survivors of the sexual violence during the war in Kosovo, by becoming part of the artwork, and all of you who today are expressing your determination to become the voice of the survivors to join our journey towards realization of full rights for survivors of sexual violence during the war.
Dear friends, dear heroines,
This today is another proof that in this battle, you are not alone, that your voice for justice is ever more powerful and that our determination to guarantee every right of yours is unshakable. Without your peace, we can also not find peace ourselves.
I thank you for the strength you found to become part of this artwork, for your dedication and determination, and the courage given to all of us.
I would like to thank all partners who supported the realization of this artwork and of these documentary, members of the National Council for Survivors of Sexual Violence during the War, by expressing my determination not to stop until the full realization of the rights of survivors of sexual violence during the war, because I have said it often, that the shame does not lie upon them it lies upon the perpetrators of these macabre and miserly crime upon their bodies.
Thank you.