SARAJEVO, SEPTEMBER 29 (ONASA) – Association “Woman Victim of War” Sarajevo and Association “Forgotten Children of War” are this year’s winners of the Peace in Progress award, which, since 2011, the International Catalan Institute for Peace has been awarding to individuals, organizations or institutions for promotion of peace in a unique way.
The prize was awarded for the interdisciplinary project “There is still someone in the woods”, which was implemented by the productions Culture and Conflict in cooperation with the winners of the prize. Through this trilogy, which includes a documentary, a play and a film, our dear friends and partners Cultura and Conflicte presented the life stories of surviving women and children born as a result of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and we would like to thank them for the nomination!
“It is our honor to share this award with the late General Jovan Divjak, who received the award in 2013 for his strong and courageous work in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our fight for the empowerment of women who survived wartime sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the children born as a result of the war deserves something like this recognition, and we are particularly proud of that, the Association states.
After the reception of the delegation in the presidential offices, the event, which is held every year on the occasion of the International Day of Peace, was opened by the president of the Catalan Parliament, Anna Erra. Meliha Merdžić and Amela Međuseljac (Woman Victim of War) and Ajna Jusić and Alen Muhić (Forgotten Children of War) received the award on behalf of their organizations.
Medjuseljac expressed the enormous satisfaction that the organization in which she works for not only “supports the surviving victims”, but also “confirms the truth and establishes justice”. She reminded that “thanks to the testimonies of surviving victims, which in most cases are very painful, many criminals have been convicted so far.”
She also reminded that there are still “many raped women who remain silent because they are ashamed”, due to “stigma and discrimination in the environment where they live and work”.
Ajna Jusić, president of the association Forgotten Children of War, pointed out that children born because of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina “with their bodies and personal testimonies decisively changed the course of national and international law with the aim of creating a more equal society with a fairer legal order and laws”. She also pointed out “that the obligation of non-discrimination requires every state to actively identify individual children and groups of children whose recognition and realization of their rights may require “special measures” after the war.” The obligation to adopt “special measures” is reinforced by states’ obligation under international human rights law not to act as stigmatizers and to protect individuals from stigmatizing acts or omissions by third parties. BiH, like other conflict and post-conflict countries, did not fulfill its obligations, and even today, children born because of war are often viewed through the prism of “military rape strategy”.
The president of the International Catalan Institute for Peace, Xavier Masllorens, reminded that “the consequences of wars and all kinds of violence never end, neither with the signing of a peace agreement nor with the cessation of direct violence.” The ICIP Peacebuilding Award was established in 2011 and aims to recognize persons, organizations or institutions that make an important contribution to the promotion and building of peace.
The event began with the performance of an excerpt from the play “As if someone is still in the forest”, a Catalan artistic triptych (documentary film, performance and exhibition) that talks about the experiences of women raped during the war in the 1990s.
The piece is the work of the Catalan art organization Cultura i conflicte, which nominated BiH associations for the ICIP award.
The representation of the Government of Catalonia in Bosnia and Herzegovina, headed by Eric Hauck, who also attended the ceremony in Barcelona, provided great support to the Culture and Conflict project and the maintenance of strong cooperation between BiH and Catalonia. In November 2022, the Representative Office organized a regional tour of the Culture and Conflicts project, which included a symbolically important guest appearance at the National Theater in Sarajevo.
During their stay in Barcelona, the Bosnian delegation had the opportunity to hold a meeting with Meritxell Serret, the Catalan Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The winners of this year’s ICIP awards used this visit to point out that there are still existing obstacles faced by survivors and children born as a result of war rape, and they pointed out that this kind of recognition represents additional motivation to continue working on this issue both in BiH and in the world.