President of the Republic of Kosovo, Mrs. Atifete Jahjaga, addressed the “Sexual Violence in Conflict and beyond” Forum, organised by the Foundation for the Wellbeing of the Society of the President of Malta, Ms. Marie Louise Coleiro Preca. This Forum was organised on the occasion of President Jahjaga’s state visit to the Republic of Malta.<\/p>\n
Below is President Jahjaga’s address in full: <\/p>\n
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
\nDear President,<\/p>\n
It is a unique pleasure for me to address you at this important forum which tackles one of the most silenced weapons of war, sexual violence, which is destroying the lives of innocent citizens around the world. <\/p>\n
As you all well know this issue is very close to my heart since it touched my society not long ago planting the seeds of suffer and pain deep in the lives of the victims and in the whole society.<\/p>\n
Sexual violence was used as a tool of war in Kosovo against thousands of women and men with the purpose to incite fear and oppression upon innocent citizens, ethnic cleansing, to emasculate the men, to strip the whole society from its human values.<\/p>\n
Nearly twenty thousand innocent citizens carry\u00a0 the scars\u00a0 of\u00a0 the heinous\u00a0 (HEJN\u00cbS)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 acts\u00a0 of\u00a0 sexual abuse\u00a0 committed\u00a0\u00a0 by\u00a0 the\u00a0 Serbian\u00a0 forces who turned their bodies into a battle field for political\u00a0 gains. <\/p>\n
While we moved on to rebuild our future upon the rubbles of destruction and immense human suffering, struggling with the many challenges of building a peaceful, stable and secure country, we left the victims of this horrendous crime to battle\u00a0 the\u00a0 shame,\u00a0 the isolation\u00a0 and the\u00a0 social\u00a0 exclusion without the proper institutional and social response.<\/p>\n
The unspeakable crime committed upon their bodies were speaking loudly of the unbearable crime yet we were hardly ready to listen as a society to this human suffering which was too difficult for us to face.<\/p>\n
In the first days of my mandate as the President of Kosovo, I went to meet a group of women, survivors of sexual violence during the war. I witnessed that the war for them still had not ended. Their memories of the crime were fresh and the horrors of the suffering were weighting heavily on their shoulders.<\/p>\n
I talked to the women activities who had always raised their voice for justice and recognition for the survivors, heartbroken of what I had witnessed, yet determined to bring change and work together to break this disturbing taboo which was keeping hostage the future of the survivors but also the future of our whole society. I decided to lead the social and institutional discourse towards offering to the survivors all their right, recognizing their sacrifice.<\/p>\n
On the 7th of March 2014 I established the National Council for the Survivors of Sexual Violence during the War to offer a\u00a0 concerted\u00a0 social\u00a0 and\u00a0 institutional\u00a0 response.<\/p>\n
I will proudly remember the first day of the National Council since it marked the first time that we as institutions and as a society expressed our staunch commitment to break the taboo, to fight the stigma still surrounding the survivors and to work tirelessly to treat them as we had done with all other categories of war, with respect and dignity honoring their sacrifice. <\/p>\n
Today the survivors have won their legal recognition, we have broken the taboo, they\u00a0 have\u00a0 even found\u00a0 the\u00a0 support\u00a0 of\u00a0 friends\u00a0 from\u00a0 around\u00a0 the\u00a0 world, people like you who are listening to their voices and supporting their plea for justice.<\/p>\n
On June 12th, last year, on Kosovo Liberation Day, Prishtina became the capital of the rights of survivors of sexual violence during the war, through the artistic installation “thinking of you”, of the artist Alketa Xhafa-Mripa and producer Anna Di Lellio, when the green field of the Prishtina Stadium was covered by five thousand skirts and dresses, which spoke loudly of the inhuman acts committed upon the women of our country, and called for recognition and punishment of this war crime.<\/p>\n
As I walked through the stadium, through the thousands of dresses I came across two skirt which carried two heartbreaking messages, in one of them it was written: “I have a bitter experience” while in the other it said: “this skirt has a closed history from the spring of 1998”.<\/p>\n
Today those skirts are hanged in the walls of the Office of the President of Kosovo to remind us of the sacrifice of thousands of women and men, and foremost remind us of our obligation to treat them with dignity. <\/p>\n
Dear ladies and gentlemen,<\/p>\n
In these years I have heard stories of women whose dreams of becoming mothers never came true when they lost their unborn child due to inhumane act of violence committed upon them. <\/p>\n
I heard stories of mothers who witnessed their daughters being gang raped beaten, tortured in front of them, stories of women sexually abused in unspeakable ways in front of their husbands, fathers, in front of the whole village. Stories of young children who have not survived the inhumane acts. Stories of women who lost their families to the shame of this crime, women and young girls left behind with the stain of shame engraved deep in their bodies.<\/p>\n
In all of these stories I also witnessed the courage of young girls and women who despite everything have found the strength to rebuild their lives, to take care of their children and families, who fight every day with the horrors they have lived and never give up. Women who encourage each other to survive and tell to each other that they are the heroines of our society.<\/p>\n
It\u00a0 is\u00a0 their\u00a0 strength\u00a0 and\u00a0 their\u00a0 courage which\u00a0 gives\u00a0 me\u00a0 hope\u00a0 that\u00a0 their\u00a0 pledge for\u00a0 national\u00a0 and\u00a0 international\u00a0 recognition\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 crime, their\u00a0 pledge\u00a0 for\u00a0 justice, and\u00a0 their\u00a0 pledge\u00a0 for\u00a0 a\u00a0 life\u00a0 in\u00a0 peace\u00a0 will\u00a0 be\u00a0 heard.<\/p>\n
We still have a long way to go to offer them the justice they deserve. Still 17 years after the war there is not a single person convicted for the horrible crime they have committed. Yet we are more than ever determined to uphold our institutional and social obligations and seek justice for all survivors.<\/p>\n
Dear ladies and gentlemen,<\/p>\n
We are still fighting the battles we have once won. We have abolished slavery, yet our girls today are enslaved.<\/p>\n
We\u00a0 have\u00a0 never\u00a0 thought\u00a0 that\u00a0 we\u00a0 would\u00a0 again\u00a0 witness\u00a0 such\u00a0 horrendous\u00a0 scenes\u00a0 of\u00a0 women, girls, children chained, sexually abused\u00a0 in\u00a0 the\u00a0 most\u00a0 heinous\u00a0 ways\u00a0 and\u00a0 sold\u00a0 as\u00a0 sex\u00a0 slaves. Yet it is happening everyday by ISIL militants.<\/p>\n
Witnessing\u00a0 unspeakable\u00a0 crimes which\u00a0 strip\u00a0 women, girls, children\u00a0 from\u00a0 their\u00a0 identity, we\u00a0 leave\u00a0 them\u00a0 in\u00a0 shame, while\u00a0 the\u00a0 perpetrators\u00a0 walk\u00a0 free\u00a0 in\u00a0 a\u00a0 culture\u00a0 of\u00a0 impunity\u00a0 for\u00a0 the\u00a0 crimes\u00a0 they\u00a0 commit.<\/p>\n
I\u00a0 can\u00a0 say\u00a0 loud\u00a0 and\u00a0 clear\u00a0 that\u00a0 it\u00a0 is\u00a0 not\u00a0 only\u00a0 the\u00a0 victims\u00a0 who\u00a0 pay\u00a0 the\u00a0 price\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 injustices\u00a0 inflicted\u00a0 upon\u00a0 them\u00a0 by\u00a0 this\u00a0 weapon\u00a0 of\u00a0 war\u00a0 but\u00a0 it\u00a0 is\u00a0 the\u00a0 whole\u00a0 society which\u00a0 suffers.<\/p>\n
We can put a stop to this tool of war which is everyday destroying lives in different corners of the world, destroying the fabrics of our humanity, but we need to act together and fight the culture of impunity. <\/p>\n
I would like to express my gratitude from my heart for the President for organizing this event, and all of you who have come to offer your support in this quest for peace and justice for the survivors of wartime sexual violence in Kosovo and worldwide.<\/p>\n
We cannot change the past of the survivors of sexual violence in conflict, but we can make sure to offer them justice. Foremost we can make sure to end sexual violence in conflict once and for all. Let us all join this cause and protect our humanity. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President of the Republic of Kosovo, Mrs. Atifete Jahjaga, addressed the “Sexual Violence in Conflict and beyond” Forum, organised by the Foundation for the Wellbeing of the Society of the President of Malta, Ms. Marie Louise Coleiro Preca. This Forum was organised on the occasion of President Jahjaga’s state visit to the Republic of Malta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-speeches"],"yoast_head":"\n