الإغتصاب الجماعي للنساء كوسيلة للتطهير العرقي في حرب البوسنة و الهرسك 1992-1995

الملخص EN

The present research investigates the issue of mass rape against Muslim women in the1992–1995 war of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The decision of Bosnia and Herzegovina to become independent from Yugoslavia marked a devastating war that lasted from 1992 to 1995, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed, millions of people were displaced, gross and unspeakable violations of human rights and international humanitarian occurred for the policy of ethnic cleansing that was openly practiced in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Yet, the worst of what occurred in that war was the use of systematic and mass rape as a means of ethnic cleansing, in which more than 50,000 Muslim women from Bosnia have been repeatedly raped, forced to become pregnant to have Serb children.

Moreover, these mass rapes were carried out openly in the presence of families and other detainees in the rape camps, and also these rapes were accompanied by torture and killings of women.

The crimes of rape did not distinguish between young girls, young women or older women, affecting most women in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Rape was used in that war as a method for ethnic cleansing and was aimed to terrorize the Muslim population, make them flee their lands and homes and not return to them again by spreading terror in them and fear of their inability to protect their women.

Evidence and international reports have proven that the rapes in that war were not a byproduct of the war, but rather a systematic and planned military strategy.

Those reports of rape in Bosnia and Herzegovina had a wide echo and international condemnation, and had an influential role in making the decision to establish the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to punish war criminals in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The court issued historic rulings; it was the first time historically a person was convicted of using rape as a weapon during war by an international court.