Elina Tompuri

Rape Warfare in the Bosnian War: the Bosnian Women During Serbian Occupation: a Case Study of Gendered Violence During Wartime Elina Tompuri

In Bosnia and Herzegovina thousands of women were subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence during the war from 1992 to 1995. Fifteen years after its end, those whose lives were wrecked by rape still await for their perpetrators to be convicted. Only a handful of the perpetrators have been brought to justice and the authorities have failed to ensure adequate reparations to the survivors of this violence. This book discloses that violence against women during the Bosnian conflict can not be perceived as collateral damage, but as part of a carefully outlined military strategy targeted to ethnically cleanse the area. Raping of women during the conflict was not only pervasive, but committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against the particular civilian population. The case study provides a compelling analysis of the horrifying phenomenon of wartime rapes as a carefully outlined military strategy aimed to ethnically cleanse an area. This book will be of interest to students, academics, and human rights practitioners.