After recognition - what happens to survivors of wartime sexual violence thirty years after the wars?

More than three decades have passed since the wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo. During this period, important legal and political changes occurred. Survivors of conflict-related sexual violence who were largely ignored in the immediate post-war years gradually achieved legal recognition through sustained advocacy by survivor groups, women's organizations and human rights institutions.

Bosnia and Herzegovina became one of the first countries in the world to establish a separate legal category for survivors of wartime rape. In 2006, survivors gained recognition within the framework of civilian victims of war legislation. Subsequent legal reforms expanded protections, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted a new Law on the Protection of Civilian Victims of War, which entered into force in 2024. The law introduced additional rights, including priority access to medical care and rehabilitation services. Nevertheless, implementation challenges remain and access to rights continues to vary across administrative levels.

Kosovo followed a different path. In 2014, the Kosovo Assembly amended legislation to recognize survivors of wartime sexual violence as civilian victims of war. Recognition procedures were later operationalized through the Government Commission for Recognition and Verification of Survivors of Sexual Violence During the Kosovo War. Since 2018, survivors have been able to obtain official status and receive monthly financial compensation. The legal framework represented a major breakthrough after nearly two decades of silence. At the same time, stigma, disclosure concerns, and procedural barriers have continued to affect access to recognition.

Croatia adopted the Law on the Rights of Victims of Sexual Violence during the Homeland War in 2015. The legislation established access to compensation, psychosocial assistance and healthcare-related benefits for recognized survivors. Like Bosnia and Kosovo, Croatia acknowledged that wartime sexual violence required specific legal recognition beyond broader civilian war victim frameworks.

These developments represent significant achievements in transitional justice. Yet they also raise a question that receives far less attention.

What happens after recognition?

For more than twenty years, I have documented testimonies from survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and other post-conflict settings. My doctoral research examining long-term consequences of wartime rape repeatedly identified a gap between legal recognition and long-term support. Public discussions often focus on wartime violence, criminal accountability and compensation. Much less attention is devoted to how survivors live twenty, thirty or forty years after the violence occurred.

This gap became visible through three encounters that took place in Bosnia and Kosovo between 2021 and 2025.

In 2023, during a presentation of my book Rape: A History of Shame – Diary of the Survivors at Medica Zenica, I met a male survivor from Tuzla. Public discussion of wartime sexual violence rarely includes male survivors, and public disclosure remains uncommon. He explained that for many years he was unable to pursue recognition because of shame, fear of stigma and concerns regarding social exclusion.

Eventually, he applied for and obtained recognition as a civilian victim of war and began receiving compensation. However, his assessment of the post-war system was complex. While he acknowledged the importance of recognition, he also described a continuing sense of abandonment. More than thirty years after the war, he believed that psychological support remained insufficient and that broader social understanding of survivors was limited. His testimony highlighted a distinction frequently overlooked in public policy discussions. Recognition may acknowledge the violence. It does not necessarily address the long-term social consequences of living with that violence.

A different pattern emerged during a visit to Kosovo in 2021. Following a public event, a woman requested a private conversation. She described losing her fiancé during the war, being raped, becoming pregnant and later placing the child for international adoption. She subsequently left Kosovo and rebuilt her life abroad.

Unlike the survivor from Tuzla, she never entered any formal recognition process. She did not apply for legal status, compensation, or public acknowledgment. Her explanation was simple. The emotional cost of disclosure remained too high.