Honourable participants,
Honourable Minister Haxhiu,
Honourable Ambassadors,
MP’s,
Representatives of various international organizations,
Civil society representatives,
Honourable media representatives,
Distinguished Ms. Vasfije, Ms. Shyhrete,
To all those ladies who are not physically with us today, but who are following us, I congratulate them for their courage and wish them that today this day is finally institutionalized.
Dear colleagues from the Presidency,
Allow me to initially convey the heartfelt congratulations of President Osmani, who unfortunately is not physically present today as she is on a visit to Calabria.
Honourable participants,
The rape of more than 20,000 people in Kosovo, the systematic rape of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the mass rapes that are happening today in Ukraine, prove that humanity continues to face sexual violence, one of the most inhumane crimes turned into a weapon of war against civilians, men and women, often even children.
These crimes, which continue to occur even in this century, make it necessary to first commit to recognizing the victims as such, to praise them for their courage and to support all of them for their strength, because recognition and justice are prerequisites for peace.
Violence survivors must be at the center of our society’s healing process.
By remembering the victims, recognizing and supporting survivors, and holding criminals accountable, we ensure that the past is not repeated and the future is safer for each one of us.
The approval of President Osmani’s proposal to declare April 14th as the Day of Survivors of Sexual Violence during the last war in Kosovo demonstrates her commitment and continued willingness to be close to the survivors so that their voices can be heard, their stories to be known and justice for them to be done.
Let this day be in the service of our collective memory, let us listen to their stories stripped of stigmatization because they proved that despite the inhuman efforts, no one managed to break them.
The survivors of violence are our collective memory, they are the evidence of time, they are our truth which we defend today and we will defend anytime anywhere!
Today Vasfije, Shyhrete, but also all those men and women, are our voice. As President Osmani said in her proposal for the setting of this date, marking April 14 will be a permanent seal of a painful and tragic chapter in our history, it will be the joining of our voices to condemn sexual violence as a weapon of war in Kosovo and everywhere around the world.
Thank you!
