The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

The success of these actions would be a sign that the time had come
to address the issue of the war, to reach unity over historical facts and to
present them in schoolbooks, to re-examine the relationship to the perpetrators
who are being celebrated as heroes, to condemn war crimes
and to provide reparation to the victims. Until this is dealt with, the door
will remain open for manipulation. That holds just as true for the war in
the 1990s as for earlier wars which have also not been addressed seri -
ously.
Steps in the Process of Peace and Reconciliation
Since the climate in the post-Yugoslav societies for dealing with one’s
own crimes of the past is not good, REKOM takes the facts established
by the International Court of Justice for the former Yugoslavia as the
basis for its own work. On the one hand certainly, under pressure from
the European Union, but on the other hand also due to the growing willingness
to change, the awareness of the citizens is growing. Increas -
ingly they are finding the words to condemn corruption, poor economic
conditions and policies, and to demand human rights – all signs of slow
change for the better.
The peace process requires time, money and energy. Under the leadership
of the Human Rights Tribunal in the Hague, the remains of tens of
thousands of those killed have been exhumed and identified, but only a
few of the guilty can be brought to trial and sentenced there. The military
intervention by NATO stopped the shooting in 1998; but some parts of
the former nation are controlled by NATO troops to this day, in order to
maintain peace.
Even to this day, the willingness to address the crimes, especially those
of one’s own nation, has not yet developed. Apparently, it will have to
be forced from the outside. Everyone expects from the Tribunal that it
restore justice in accordance with the interests of one’s own respective
nation and provide re-compensation for its own victims. As long as each
participant sees itself at the same time as both the victim and the victor,
only the pressure of the Hague Tribunal and the EU can bring about
change. The court in The Hague, through its sentences against the most
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