Citaku: Women's body used as battlefield by Serbian paramilitary forces

Kosovo's ambassador to the US, Vlora Citaku, has attended a United Nations meeting, where she has given a speech to Kosovo's courageous women.

Citaku said he felt strong and powerful that he had next to himself Vasfije Krasniqi-Godman.

Citaku has said the body of women has been used as a battlefield by Serbian military and paramilitary forces in Kosovo.

After the end of the war, pain comes in different forms. There is pain associated with pride over the fallen, which makes the last sacrifice for our freedom. There is pain associated with pride, the disappearances. There are pain associated with honor for generations of people who fought so that they could see the light of day. And then, it's the worst form of pain. What is associated with stigmatism, shame, exclusion. Without any fault of their own, survivors of sexual violence still live with such feelings”, Citaku said.

The body of women has been used as battlegrounds by Serbian military forces and paramilitary forces in Kosovo.20 thousand women were raped during the war. For them, the war never ended. Their stories are shaking. I heard the story of a young girl from a small village in Kosovo where gangs raped her for six months. I heard another from a young, pregnant bride who had been raped and lost her child and the possibility of being reborn again. These are stories of a truth that has attempted to hide and bury”, Citaku related.

However, because of powerful women and activists like Feride Rushiti, Igo Rugova and Kadire Tahiraj, stories of the survivors of sexual violence in Kosovo were not buried. And because of bold women like Vasfije Krasniqi, survivors of sexual violence in Kosovo have a voice and have a face. Vasfia was only 16 when she was taken from her mother's arms”

“She was raped. They didn't kill her because, as they told her, “you'd suffer more if they left me”. Few knew that Vasfije would survive, grow, and become an incredible woman. Few knew she would become a mother of two wonderful girls, and the voice and hope of all the women who were raped in Kosovo during the war. The authors of this terrible crime of war must be brought to justice. We cannot build peace and reconciliation if we deny their justice”, Citaku said further.