Rushiti: Kosovo Peace laureate Denis Mukwege, historic moment

Gynecologist Denis Mukwege expanded activity in support of survivors, to medical aid, contributing to victims' rights and awareness initiatives at a global level.

And for this very year, together with activist Jezide, Nadia Murad, they received the “Nobel for Peace” award for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a means of war in armed conflicts.

For the first time, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Denis Mukwege came to Kosovo yesterday, along with two survivors of sexual violence -- one from Sudan, and the other from Iraq -- to participate in the 20th anniversary footnote of the Kosovo Centre for the rehabilitation of Torture Survivors.

The arrival of the Peace laureate, Denis Mukwege, for the director of this center, Feride Rushiti, means completing two decades of work on rehabilitation of sexually violent survivors.

Rushiti: His arrival in Kosovo represents the closure of activists during these two months (Video) “This conference and the arrival of Mukwees in Kosovo present completion of activities during October and November. And its arrival is not random for the fact that the CRCT is a member of Sema Network, which is made up of 20 states, which have experienced sexual violence during conflicts or wars, or are still experiencing. We have been trying since 2017 to share the practices, challenges, challenges and achievements or progress that Kosovo has had in this area”, Rushiti says.

During its stay in Kosovo, Mukwege will soon be introduced to the practice of rapping and will co-operate with survivors of the sex violence of the recent war in Kosovo.

Along with them, he has visited today the monument “Herina” in Pristina, and then will visit the Government Commission for Recognition and Verification of the Status of Victims of Sex Violence.

And his coming to Kosovo for Feride Rushiti represents the historic moment for Kosovo.

Rushiti: With the price received by Mukwege, the agenda of victims of worldwide sexual violence has received another dimension (Video) “His arrival presents a historic moment for Kosovo for the fact that a Nobel character laureate and such is a person who enjoys an extraordinary reputation. This is one of those nobelists who everywhere people go humble themselves, the list to meet them is very long, and the experience that they carry, worked in Congo with a six-month-old baby reformed them, the moment they were violently violated by different groups in Congo, says that this is a great humanist, a great professional, a person who has done a lot to survive sex violence all over the world. With Nobel Peace Prize received, the agenda for victims of worldwide sexual violence has taken another dimension, has begun to be treated by the highest international institutions, until last year it has been very difficult to speak internationally”, Rush adds.

Since 1998, Mukwege and his staff had performed surgery on more than 20,000 women and children.

He will be the main speaker at the conference, which will be organised tomorrow on the 20th anniversary of the KRC's founding. Rushiti says they have been aiming to massiveise his arrival to Kosovo as much, but that is not supported by representatives of institutions.

“We have contacted President Jahjaga, current president, prime minister's office and three leaders of the largest parties in Kosovo to enable them to meet and negotiate, and the idea has been that through the message the Nobelist will deliver, of course the agenda of the survivors of sexual violence will still be part of the institutions as well as the actual but new ones to be created. However, from all institutions we've received only from Albin Kurti, and tomorrow afternoon there will be a brief meeting with LVV leader to address the issues he takes in advance Mukwege at the meeting with the victims, but to see how Kosovo will deal with this disaster of war”, she relates.

Until two decades of recent war in Kosovo, Rushiti points out that victims of sexual violence are still facing injustice.

There are many stigmas, many social prejudices, and many women and girls unfortunately, even men who have experienced this crime do not have the courage to take advantage of institutions that have already shared a personal pension. That's why we have to keep addressing the stigma. Beyond that, we think that response as the tool or institutional support offered to you is insufficient to get enough to enjoy this support, really people who have experienced sexual violence have to be rehabilitated by psychological, health, and social rehabilitation. In order to enjoy the opportunity that the State is offering you. But the main concern and future mission remains the approach to justice, in the fact that 20 years after the war, we can say that justice has been delayed”, says KRCR Director.

Until no one has yet been convicted of crimes committed against the 20,000 victims of sexual violence, many of them testify to the horrors they have experienced.

In October last year, Vasfije Krasniqi-Goodman has broken a taboo in Kosovo society after becoming the first woman, the victim of sexual violence during the Kosovo war, to have publicly confessed the horror experienced by Serbian police forces in 1999.

While, last month, another survivor, Shyhrete Tahiri Sylejmani, has delivered criminal charges to the Special War Crimes Prosecutor.