Rushiti says victims of sexual violence have lost confidence in institutions

Kosovo institutions are working slowly to verify them, and much less to punish the perpetrators of the work, even though there is evidence of who they were. Organizations dealing with these cases are working to keep the victims from stigmatizing, while recently, although there were several actions in their support, several others that are damaging the whole process took place.

The director of the Kosovar Centre for the rehabilitation of Torture Survivors, Feride Rushiti, has spoken of pictures published by MP Flora Borvina and how it affected survivors.

Rushiti says that in Kosovo, for many reasons, many of the victims refuse to speak to anywhere and for no reason, while explaining that there are children of rape in Kosovo.

It is persistent that they identify and have health treatments and all the types they need, while ensuring that the process will be confidential, no one will be able to identify with names.

Rushiti says that any publication of any photographs or even military uniforms turns the victims back to the period when crime occurred and retraumatizes. Speaking of the photo published by Brovina, he says that many times it has published photos that are not needed but that are not able to stop it.

Some women there have started crying, and they have said “we don't believe, should we stay in the organization, how should we venture? Even for us as an organization it's been an act we haven't had days to act... Flora Brovina in the Government or even abroad at various meetings has taken many photos, not only this but many more, we have sometimes warned, even saying that he has them on the phone. She always claimed to have about a thousand cases working on them, with necessary documentation to be used for access to justice or even verification of sexual violence survivors. Like any organization its right has been to keep them, but not in drawers, they should be deposited for verification or for judicial reasons”, she says.

Rushiti says that after the photo was published, a survivor has asked them to clean up completely from the records, so he doesn't want to store commission information, in one of the organizations has completely withdrawn the file because he has lost confidence in institutions. While another case where she has gone through rehabilitation and is in the phase of economic recovery, and as she nears the opening of the business, her husband has declared that she has closed and is refusing everything.

It shows that survivors no longer want their families traumad again.

There has been silence, there has been shock, there has been denial, there has been denial at certain times, yet with the public presentation of Vasfije Krasniqi Godman, as society has had a kind of solidarity. There was a new social moment, because that woman's got so much support, they called the hero, you gave support to many of them who said they'd want to be in her chair, but she took the liberty of breaking the ice. And right at the peak of this development, this kind of release occurred in the Kosovo Parliament, but we as organisations, but Kosovo institutions should not allow such a concession to undermine 20 years of work. We're trying to ensure the victim that she felt strong again, with faith in institutions, organizations and continuing our journey away, whether for rights in the sense of extenuation or access to justice”, Rushiti says.

In four organisations working with survivors of sexual violence in Kosovo, there are totally estimated to be about two thousand cases stating what happened to them. At times, they have disappeared, killed, or even killed themselves. There are psychiatric disorders, there are those that have recovered, and they no longer open this subject.

It explains how it came to an estimated 20,000, believed to be sexually violated in Kosovo.

War horrors are dominated by masculity, and they undoubtedly question these figures many times. This number, 20,000, does not come from nongovernmental women's organisations, does not come from Kosovo institutions, but comes from a study done by CDC, Center for Diseas Control, is the epidemolology institute based in Atlanta, America, and studies worldwide. They have not aimed at measuring only the incident of sexual violence in the war, but it has been aimed at measuring trauma and trauma impacts on trauma victims during the war. In that study, there are concidus that 4.4 %s of residents have claimed to have experienced sexual violence during the war. The sample showdown when it is multiplied with the number of Kosovo's total residents has turned out to be 20 thousand, the figure that is then used by all serious institutions around the world”, Rushiti says.

Indicating that about a thousand and 300 people have applied for status verification, where 400 of them have already begun to enjoy insurance.

Why is this small number of those who have applied relate to the process of examining the matter. Let's not forget that 20 years have passed and it's not easy for victims or for the commission to consider. However, the period of one year is of concern to us because many who have mustered up courage to fail, to store photos, testimony, or whatever else to get this status have had dilemmas in the family and it hasn't been easy, and this prolonged and unfathomated delay is causing more headaches and dilemmas in forgiveness, but we work to see that this long period of evaluation of” says Rushiti.

While over 200 cases have been denied status requirements. He says it comes mainly from other sources as the case and not through organisations. So lack of sufficient evidence. In the event of rejection and then the process through the courts is undermining the victims even more. The process is being worked out as soon as possible.

Rushiti says that survivors should receive free health services because they have enormous problems, and organisations can help with certain things, but not with interference. For that, he says he's working with the Ministry of Health.

Sexual violence is believed to have taken place throughout Kosovo, mainly in the KLA operational zones, because the violation has been used as a means of revenge. While, it says that there are even children of rape in Kosovo.

“Fat in disaster that most of the pregnant women have gone out, whether in Kukes or Macedonia, have tried in rough forms to abort. There are some of the international articles that have been born, and they have lost their heads, but there are those that still hold children and have kept them. To speak exactly, it takes through DNA to determine the parenting that has not yet reached us. The number is not at least large for our organization, but there may be more in other countries. The bad news is that neither in the law does any benefit these children, although they are children of violence they should enjoy any benefits”, she says.

The Kosovar Centre for the rehabilitation of Torture Survivors also deals with the detained or prisoners, Rushiti says there is no classic torture where they are beaten, maintained and isolated. She says more needs to be done in the categorying of prisoners, their schooling, or even their activities.

Rushiti says the media should have profiled journalists within the media who will deal with surviving victims of any form.