The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

“The feminist movement arose as early as the 1970s and ‘80s as a common
movement in Zagreb, Ljubljana, Belgrade and Sarajevo. Ties and
friendships created at that time have lasted to this day. Women have
been the first to use their old networks for communication with other
women from other nationalities and countries. That helped to keep them
from adopting the prejudices and nationalist stereotypes subconsciously
themselves, and enabled them to ward off the propaganda. Such
women as Biljana Kaši , Nadežda a inovi , Rada Ivekovi , Vesna Pusi ,
Jelena Zuppe, Vesna Kesi , Lydia Sklevicky, Maja Miles, Slavenka Drakuli
and Djurdja Kneževi built up the first feminist work in Yugoslavia and
organized the first women’s groups, ecological associations and hotlines
for woman victims of violence. The war did not end their cooperation
with their connections. Rather, they were the first to organize support
for the victims of war and to speak out against prejudice, nationalism
and war. They were attacked, threatened and labelled as ‘witches’”. (Report,
p. 117)
The Court of Human Rights in The Hague is the primary framework with -
in which the aftermath of the war in Yugoslavia is being dealt with, but
this is also being done in the context of such civil society organizations
as the regional network RECOM, founded in 2006, in which NGOs and
associations of war victims from all regions work together. The major
goal of RECOM is to set up an independent commission to investigate
and solve the crimes carried out during the war.
Currently, the pressure which the European Union is putting on Croatia
and Serbia in the context of negotiations for accession is important. The
economic situation of people is much worse than it was before the war,
and this process of rapprochement shows how important it is that economic
and structural support from the outside also be used to deal with
the war crimes.
The Southeast European Cultural Centre, founded in Berlin in 1991 by
Bosiljka Schedlich, was a contact point for refugees from all over Yugoslavia,
of whom 45,000 live in Berlin alone. It has established its own network
for counselling, self-help and therapeutic trauma work. In the
foundation ÜBERBRÜCKEN (bridging), the experiences of the Centre
are incorporated into international work for overcoming the effects of
24