UN orders Bosnia to compensate wartime rape victim

Asks Bosnia to pay institute reparations to survivors of sexual violence during the 1990s conflict

SARAJEVO: The United Nations (UN) Committee Against Torture has made a "landmark" ruling calling on Bosnia to compensate a victim of wartime rape and provide free medical and psychological care, according to the NGO Trial International.

The legal organisation helped file a complaint to the UN Committee (CAT) after the victim won her case in a Bosnian court in 2015 but never received the 15,000-euro ($16,500) compensation because the rapist did not have the funds to pay.

A statute of limitations then prevented her from filing a civil case asking the state to foot the bill.

Rape as weapon of war: US threatens to veto UN resolution

In a preliminary decision posted on Trial's website, the UN committee said Bosnia had "failed to fulfil its obligations... by failing to provide the complainant with redress including fair and adequate compensation".

It said the government is now required to ensure "prompt, fair and adequate compensation" to the victim, as well as immediate and free "medical and psychological care".

Bosnia is also required to "offer public official apologies", the committee said.

Trial International hailed the decision as "hugely important."

"It is the first decision by the CAT relating to a victim of conflict-related sexual violence," the NGO's senior legal advisor in Sarajevo, Adrijana Hanusic Becirovic, was quoted as saying.

The decision also calls on Bosnia to establish a national reparation scheme for all victims of war crimes, including sexual violence.

Some 20,000 women are estimated to have been raped during Bosnia's 1992-1995 civil wars.

UN reports increase in sex abuse allegations by UN staff

Yet only 1,000 receive a small pension as civilian victims of the war.

"We are seeking new laws for the entire Bosnia but none of the political parties want to talk about the issue publicly," Jadranka Milicevic from local NGO the Cure said recently, adding victims of rape, and their children, still face discrimination in Bosnia.

Starting in 2015, former soldiers convicted of rape have also been required to compensate their victims, a procedure previously left up to civil courts.

There have been 15 verdicts since then, with perpetrators compensating victims between 10,000 to 15,000 euros each, according to Trial International.