Thirty Years On: Gender Implications of a Potential Renewed Conflict in Bosnia
When the war broke out in Yugoslavia 30 years ago, gender-based sexual violence was used on such a scale that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia recognized rape as a crime against humanity and paved the way for rape to be considered a form of genocide. The current conflict in Ukraine threatens to destabilize Bosnia, an already-fragile political entity. Knowing this, the United States – broker of the peace accords that ended the war in the 1990s – should be proactive in preventing conflict and watching for signs of gender-based sexual violence.
