Pioneering Kosovo Rape Victim Relives Battle for Justice
A Kosovo Albanian woman has for the first time spoken out on TV about her experience as a rape victim during the war – and about her unsuccessful struggle for justice in court.
Breaking the silence about rape in Kosovo, Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman, a survivor of wartime sexual violence, has become the first woman to speak out about her experience during the Kosovo war between 1998 and 1999 in an interview.
Krasniqi Goodman sought justice before the courts in Kosovo, but in 2014 the Supreme Court acquitted two Serb policemen, initially indicted for her rape, on all charges.
Although she broke a taboo by speaking out on her ordeal and inspired many by her public testimony, human rights organizations are warning that justice appears to remain beyond reach for Krasniqi Goodman, and for many other survivors of wartime rape.
On October 16, 2018, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) filed a criminal complaint with the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP) of the Republic of Serbia against several unknown persons, for killing three members of the Matijević family in April 1992 in Kukujevci (Municipality of Šid, Serbia).
From September 25 to October 6, 2018, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) and the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina presented in Belgrade a part of the museum’s permanent exhibition, entitled “Besieged Sarajevo”. With photographs, documents, and hand-made items made by citizens of Sarajevo, the exhibition depicts life in the city that the Republika Srpska Army (RSA) kept under siege for 44 months. Visitors could see what life in a city without water, electricity and heating looked like, how schools operated, how children played, and how food was procured, along with other daily activities in the city that, despite everyday sniper attacks from the surrounding hills, sought to preserve the illusion of a normal life. 
On October 5th, on the occasion of the presentation of her new research published in the book “Some Kind of Justice – The ICTY’s Impact in Bosnia and Serbia”, the Humanitarian Law Center will host professor Diane Orentlicher.
