United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Executive Board

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1 ex United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Executive Board Item 7.7 of the provisional agenda Hundred and fiftieth Session 150 EX/39 PARIS, 11 October 1996 Original: English REHABILITATION OF WOMEN IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA SUMMARY This item was placed on the provisional agenda of the 150th session in accordance with a proposal made by Egypt. The explanatory note is reproduced below.

2 150 EX/39 Explanatory note 1. On 24 June 1996 the following Ambassadors/Permanent Delegates addresed a joint communication to the Director-General of UNESCO: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) H.E. Anton Prohaska Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Austria to UNESCO H.E. Mohsen Tawfik Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Egypt to UNESCO H.E. Khwaja Shahid Hosain Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Pakistan to UNESCO H.E. Omer Lutem Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Turkey to UNESCO 2. Reference was made to the series of decisions taken by the General Conference and the Executive Board, in particular the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth sessions of the General Conference, and the 144th, 145th and 146th sessions of the Executive Board, the relevant references being as follows: (a) Twenty-seventh session of the General Conference - resolution 11.1, paragraph 6(a), under Transverse themes, programmes and activities. (b) Twenty-eighth session of the General Conference - Records of the twenty-eighth session of the General Conference, Volume 1, page 82, section (c) 144th session of the Executive Board EX/Decision 7.3, paragraph 7 (144 EX/34). (d) 145th session of the Executive Board EX/Decision 8.2, paragraph 4(b). (e) 146th session of the Executive Board EX/Decision 9.3, paragraph In this context a request was made to the Director-General that, following the study carried out on the systematic use of rape as a tool of war, plans and programmes for the rehabilitation of Bosnian women who fell victim to this inhuman practice: (a) (b) be included in the regular working programme of the Organization; be taken account of for benefit of any other funds available to the Organization. The inclusion of the issue of the rehabilitation of Bosnian women in the regular work plan of the Organization should be used as a basis for fund-raising efforts that will extend beyond the regular funding sources of the Organization. 4. The Director-General, responding on 5 July 1996 through the Assistant Director- General for the Directorate, suggested a meeting to discuss this proposal in greater detail. 5. The meeting was accordingly held on Monday, 7 October 1996 and a draft action plan, prepared by the Co-ordination Unit Activities relating to Women, was circulated.

3 150 EX/39 - page 2 6. While it was agreed that, with certain modifications proposed by the Ambassadors present, this action plan would be distributed to the Members of the Executive Board during the 150th session of the Executive Board, it was also felt that in order to ensure effective follow-up, the Bureau of the Executive Board should be requested to inscribe this as a separate agenda item at the 150th session. This was necessary, given the importance of the subject and of ensuring that implementation of the action plan started during the current biennium.

4 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Executive Board ex Item 7.7 of the agenda Hundred and fiftieth Session 150 EX/39 Add. PARIS, 29 October 1996 Original: French REHABILITATION OF WOMEN IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA ADDENDUM SUMMARY This addendum comprises the Rehabilitation Plan for women who have been victims of systematic rape and for their children, as referred to in document 150 EX/39 and the related draft decision.

5 150 EX/39 Add, Rehabilitation Plan for women and children who have been victims of rape as a tool of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (implementation of 27 C/Resolution adopted by the General Conference at its twenty-seventh session) The proposed actions were identified during a mission organized in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 9 to 18 April Under the proposed plan three main programmes will be developed over two years. 1. Strengthening of reception capacity and care of women and children war victims During the three years of war, reception centres were established, notably in the towns of Tuzla, Zenica and Sarajevo, mainly for displaced women from occupied regions who had been lodged in collective centres, but also for women in distress from these towns. The centres in Tuzla and Zenica may be cited as examples and may serve as training centres. The people working in and responsible for these centres are very efficient professional Bosnian women who have acquired know-how and whose practical experience may be used in the implementation of the programme. The programme is aimed primarily at the women of Gorazde, a town that suffered severely from the blockade to which it was subjected. The training should be accompanied by support for the installation of a reception centre in this town with small-scale production equipment for consumer goods and a basic medical-psychological unit focusing on problems related to the sexual health of these women. 1.1 Training of personnel in charge of associations with a view to running psychosocial programmes for the rehabilitation of women and children who have been victims of violence, especially sexual violence. The initial action for Gorazde will be to send ten people to Tuzla and Zenica for ten days training. The trainees work will then be monitored at briefing sessions at the new reception centres. 1.2 Installation in the town of Gorazde of a reception centre for displaced women or war victims, running various activities and using manual work as therapy by supplying raw materials and processing equipment, together with a psycho-medical unit. 1.3 In co-operation with the MEDICA centre in Zenica, publication of a manual to be used by people working in the reception centres and therapists. 1.4 Dissemination of the UNESCO report on the use of rape as a tool of war (translation and reproduction, 500 copies). 1.5 Organization of meetings of persons responsible for the various reception centres to exchange information and evaluate working methods. These regular meetings held in turn at each of the centres will also help to break the solitude these persons face and to strengthen their self-confidence.

6 150 EX/39 Add. - page 2 2. Creation of a centre for initiatives to combat post-war marginalization and exclusion Social upheavals, the displacement of persons, the methods of war, the use of violence, notably sexual violence, the risk of impoverishment and marginalization of whole sections of the population and their far-reaching consequences are among the many sources of grave concern to Bosnians, especially the representatives of civil society. Some of these consequences and post-war trauma are already discernible in the high rate of family violence and desertion, prostitution, etc., and have confirmed the need to create an observation mechanism capable of sounding the alarm and explaining the situation to the public authorities and of raising awareness among the various socioprofessional circles concerned (doctors, educators, judges, etc.). 2.1 Establishment of a network of specialists, hospital centres, NGOs, educators, journalists, etc. to perform a monitoring and advocacy role in regard to situations of marginalization and exclusion resulting from violence, especially sexual violence. 2.2 Identification of a network leader responsible for producing a liaison bulletin, providing a co-ordination secretariat and publishing an annual report of activities together with surveys on specific themes. 2.3 Organization of an annual national conference of members of the centre for initiatives to present to the public the annual report and an action plan to combat and prevent exclusion and marginalization. 3. Strengthening of the role of women in the process of peace and democracy and of their participation in the economic and social life of Bosnia and Herzegovina This programme is proposed on the basis of a broader understanding of the mandate entrusted to the Secretariat by the General Conference and the Executive Board, but also in response to the reality on the ground. Bosnian women s mobilization against the effects of the systematic use of violence against women, and their front-line position, have made them aware of the need to strengthen women s participation in current decision-making for the restoration of socio-political and cultural links in the region. Having lived virtually simultaneously through two major events, the end of the oneparty regime and the war, women are faced with two difficulties: to preserve their gains and secure a place for themselves in the new democratic institutions (political, economic, media and international), and to combat the sequels of the war (poverty, marginalization and exclusion). With regard to the re-establishment of neighborly links and relations between communities, they also wish to uphold and impose their views, which are rooted in the conviction that they belong to a single community and are not diverse components of an intercultural community, as has been over-hastily claimed. The women who are responsible for the reception centres consider themselves Bosnian first. In fact, many were the women s movements and individual women that maintained contacts during the war. Mention may be made of the Women in Black and the Anti-War Centre in Belgrade, but also the many women who, because of their family or social situation,

7 150 EX139 Add. - page 3 refused to accept cleansing and will therefore take a very active part in efforts to revive the dialogue among communities. 3.1 Organization of liaison groups composed of women from Bosnia and Herzegovina with a view to holding town-to-town meetings of women from different communities on the effects of the application of the Dayton Agreement on women s lives. 3.2 Organization of training seminars on the different types of electoral procedure and the production of information and awareness material on the rights of women in the democratic process. 3.3 A European-Balkan conference on the role of women during the war and their proposals for peace-building with due respect for the rights of women and for their place in economic and political life. The participants will be women representatives of the countries of the former Yugoslavia and observers from interested countries. Participants from the Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian parts of the country would preferably be chosen from among the groups which kept in contact during the war. 3.4 Support for the establishment of a small clothes manufacturing enterprise to benefit women from the town of Tuzla who are unemployed as a result of the economic restructuring due in part to the demarcation of ethnic community zones. 4. Related activities These activities, which are intended to make the effects of the war better known, have been selected because they respond to the populations very strong desire to collect evidence. 4.1 Support for the completion of a manuscript with drawings and accounts by children who have lived in the camps (Tuzla). 4.2 Support for the translation of a novel retracing the experience of a woman painter in one of the brothel camps, its publication in the Bosnian language having been supported by UNESCO. This is Nermina Kurspahic s book: Death of the blue horse (Slovo Editions, 1995).