The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
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war in Bosnia-Herzegovina <strong>and</strong> <strong>to</strong> bring the Bosnian Serbs <strong>to</strong> the negotiating<br />
table. Since they themselves did not want <strong>to</strong> intervene militarily<br />
any more than their Na<strong>to</strong> allies did, somebody else had <strong>to</strong> do it. That<br />
some body was Croatia, which received strategic assistance from the USA<br />
for that purpose. <strong>The</strong> Croatian armed forces exp<strong>and</strong>ed their operations<br />
in Bosnia-Herzegovina so far that the USA had <strong>to</strong> forbid them from taking<br />
the city <strong>of</strong> Banja Luka, which had already been deserted by its residents,<br />
<strong>to</strong> prevent a possible humanitarian catastrophe. Thus was the Serbian<br />
Republic within Bosnia-Herzegovina maintained, so as <strong>to</strong> establish a bal -<br />
ance <strong>of</strong> forces.<br />
New Legends<br />
In socialist Yugoslavia, the truth about the Second World War was cov -<br />
ered over by ideological interpretations. His<strong>to</strong>ry served the purposes <strong>of</strong><br />
political propag<strong>and</strong>a, in which there were always very many heroes <strong>and</strong><br />
very few war criminals. After the war <strong>of</strong> the 1990s, this tradition was<br />
con tinued. All sides equated their own actions with the war <strong>of</strong> liberation<br />
during the Second World War, <strong>and</strong> gave their fighters flats <strong>and</strong> war pensions;<br />
all have felt themselves the victim, <strong>and</strong> have denied or down -<br />
played their own crimes. Under the pressure <strong>to</strong> change – so as <strong>to</strong> attain<br />
admission <strong>to</strong> the EU, but particularly as a result <strong>of</strong> the trials before the<br />
International Court <strong>of</strong> Justice in <strong>The</strong> Hague – the truth about the war<br />
crimes has been disclosed. It isn’t easy <strong>to</strong> speak about guilt <strong>and</strong> responsibility,<br />
particularly one’s own. Many people were involved directly or indirectly,<br />
as criminals or as passive specta<strong>to</strong>rs; frequently they were<br />
neighbours, friends, employees, fellow citizens. It would be much sim -<br />
pler if only lunatics or monsters – abnormal cases – were responsible<br />
for the war <strong>and</strong> its crimes. Now, the victims are talking constantly about<br />
the violations <strong>of</strong> the Geneva Convention on Refugees, about the <strong>to</strong>rture<br />
<strong>and</strong> murder camps, about the sieges <strong>of</strong> the cities, about the targeted<br />
shooting <strong>of</strong> innocent people, about the mass murders, rapes <strong>and</strong> expulsions<br />
– as long as the perpetra<strong>to</strong>rs do not.<br />
Abroad <strong>to</strong>o, new legends have emerged about this war, such as the<br />
claim that Germany supposedly triggered it by recognizing the independence<br />
<strong>of</strong> Slovenia <strong>and</strong> Croatia. That recognition was carried out on De-<br />
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