Haxhiu: Over 60 cases of sexual assault in the process of investigation

The record of crimes of sexual violence is difficult because of the retraumatizing of survivors of this crime and the long time it has passed.

So said the international conference “Documentation of sexual violence in conflict: standards and practices” organised by the Kosovar Centre for the rehabilitation of Torture Survivors (QKRMT).

Justice Minister Albulen Haxhiu said the people of Ukraine have witnessed what needs to be done for the country.

According to her, there have been war crimes and genocide in Kosovo, but Serbia has used the weapon of sexual rape to destroy social dignity.

Too late after more than 10 years of ending the war have begun to treat it seriously. First by knowing status. The Assembly has long recognized the status of the victims, and there have even been discussions that were unacceptable that day. The record of sexual crimes is not easy because we have the possibility of retraumatizing because it is not easy as a survivor talks about the trauma he has experienced. For all of us who are involved in this process, the primary goal is to create a space where survivors feel safe to talk about their experiences. There are only 62 cases in the process of sexual rape and only a war crimes sentence”, Haxhiu said, writes the KP.

She said there are currently over 60 cases of sexual rape in the process of investigation.

According to her, Ukraine should not follow Kosovo's example of documentation, since because of the delay many of the survivors have died.

QKMTS Director Feride Rushiti has talked about the importance of documenting crimes of sexual violence.

She said that so far they have managed to document 900 cases of this crime from the recent war in Kosovo.

We have managed to make this silent category equal to other categories coming out of war. Kosovo now through administrative reparation is good practice and is being divided into other countries as well. We are just to prove that sexual violence crimes should be documented because women and men need justice. These are crimes that often remain unrecorded. Mostly as an organization for legal changes, we had to be called into international sources”.

She added that this crime is still silent and covered in shame.

And Switzerland's ambassador to Kosovo, Thomas Cally, said survivors should be offered justice.

All survivors are entitled to justice and this is not guaranteed, but it is an important element to prevent such events in the future. The document offers victims a voice, protection of victims, anonymity and psychological support. Fight the different stigmatizations. I also think about what we have in all the patriarchal societies of values. It's a global phenomenon that falls into the patriarchal system of values. Violence is a crime. The victim is a victim and must have support and justice from institutions and the family itself”.