engleski

Victims of sexual violence in war and restorative justice: the experience of Croatia

Croatia is a post-conflict, transitional society which is still dealing with the 1991-1995 war legacy. Since the end of the war and peaceful reintegration, Croatia and its institutions have addressed many of post-transitional narratives, including rights of war veterans as well as the rights of civil war victims with disabilities, etc. However, most of victims of wartime sexual violence have not yet received any form of assistance, support or reparation and a great majority has not even been officially recorded as victims of war crime sexual violence. This is contrary to internationally recognized right to reparations, principle of non-discrimination and the right to equal access to justice. Recently, the Croatian government has recognized that resolving this serious problem, stemming from the worst crimes known to humanity, is necessary in order to achieve the goals of transitional justice in a post-conflict society. Accordingly, in the last year, the discussion was open between scholars, experts and non-governmental sector in order to draft legislation that will address victims of wartime sexual violence. The lapse of time, non- existence of criminal reports, lack of evidence and insufficient funds are only some of the obstacles that had to be tackled when drafting Law provisions. Based on the proposal of experts, Croatian Ministry of War veterans has drafted the law proposal that is currently open for public debate. This presentation will focus on analyzing proposed Draft Law in order to compare the Proposal of Experts and official Draft Law proposal of ministry of War veterans. All in order to determine the most appropriate mechanisms of recognition of victim status and for securing adequate and efficient reparation regime for victims of sexual violence in war. Presentation will be based not just on analysis of comparative models and international standards, but also on an empirical research which aimed to identify actual victims and their needs in Croatian society. Moreover, most important proposed articles from Draft Law will be analyzed in depth in order to see if they fulfill requests and needs of victims and if they follow restorative justice discourse.

Nacrt zakona o reparacijama za žrtve seksulanog nasilja u Domovinskom ratu; komentari i prijedlozi

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