Approximately 25,000 (some estimates put the number at 35,000) women suffered rape and sexual violence during the Bosnian War of the 1990s, an overwhelming majority of them Bosnian Muslim. Fewer than 40 cases have undergone legal enquiry in the past 17 years- an embarrassing lapse as far as the rule of law and human rights on behalf of the European and international communities.

Enisa: recalling the horrors of wartime rape
Photo: Armin Smailovic

“I am a Bosnian Muslim woman who has survived sexual violence during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but I now speak in the name of all women who have survived sexual torture and violence in conflict, regardless of ethnic affiliation, the color of their skin, faith, age or nationality… I wish to convey to the women of the world who have survived similar horrors to speak up and let the truth be known, because they have nothing to be ashamed of.