The ICTY: Giving Women a Voice

Muradis Kulenovic, Bosnian psychiatrist and survivor of the war,  understands the depth of the trauma the women of Bosnia experienced.  She realizes that they did not go through your "everyday rape," which is terrifying, life-altering, and heartbreaking enough in itself.  She gets the interlinked trauma, knowing that, "the victim, prior to rape, had experienced the massacre of children and parents, then had to watch the murder of her husband, who had been forced to watch the rape of his wife.  Finally...terrified and naked, she had to flee under a rain of bullets from her burning village, stumbling on the mangled and charred bodies of her relatives, families, and friends" (Boose 72).  She understands that being raped 10-12 times a day for a month straight is incomparable.

"This tribunal has...responsibilities: not only must it punish, but it also must demonstrate, beyond doubt, what the victims have suffered, and expose and condemn the twisted ideas and visions that caused madness to break out in the former Yugoslavia.  Rape is just one of the many atrocities suffered by civilians during this war, but it is the peculiar and odious way in which women suffer in all wars" (Niarchos 653).

The third goal of the ICTY is to bring justice to the victims and give them a voice.  The website states:  

To date, over 3500 witnesses have taken the opportunity to tell their stories while testifying in court.  Through this, they have contributed to the creation of elements of a historical record.  The prosecution has also interviewed 1400 other potential witnesses.   This has given victims and witnesses a real sense that they and their communities are involved in the work of the tribunal (ICTY: At a Glance).

To aid in this process, the organ of the Prosecutor has an entire office devoted to helping those willing to testify--The Victims and Witnesses Unit of the tribunal.  In this office, in exchange for testifying and sharing their stories, survivors of the atrocities are offered various forms of assistance, including all travel expenses, therapy, witness identity protection, and even witness relocation and financial assistance if deemed necessary.  The ability to testify completely anonymously has convinced many witnesses to make their voices heard who otherwise might have shied away from doing so for fear of threats from their enemies at home.  Furthermore, the Victims and Witnesses unit have various field teams in the former Yugoslavia to provide help and assistance to those who still need it.  These painstaking steps taken by the ICTY show a clear effort to aid in making the voices of Bosnian survivors heard--indeed, the ICTY made specific effort to help 40 Bosnian women publish their testimonies in a shocking book entitled I Begged Them to Kill Me (Boose 73).  Despite the imperfections, to be discussed soon, it is clear that the intention of the tribunal is noble and good.