WOMEN’S COURT - FEMINIST APROACH TO JUSTICE

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About the Women’s Court

What is the Women’s Court?

·  A space for the women’s voices and for their testimonies of the injustices they have experienced during the war and the peace time;

·  A space for the women’s testimonies of violence, in both private and public sphere;

·  A space for the testimonies of the organized women’s resistance.

 

When did the process of organizing Women’s Court – Feminist Approach to Justice start?

At the end of 2010, 7 members of the Initiative Board (IB), from almost all countries of the former Yugoslavia, started the initiative for the organizing of the Women’s Court. IB now includes members from 10 organizations, from all former Yugoslavia countries.

In the last two years, Women in Black was the organization that led the implementation of program activities. 

 

What did we do so far?

In last two years of field work, we organized/produced:

·  11 regional seminars,

·  10 trainings for the public presentations,

·  102 public presentations, in 83 towns in the region,

·  25 documentaries about this topic,

·  15 meetings (working consultative meetings of IB members, the meeting of the members of The International Consultative Board)

·  5 regional feminist discussion circles, to deepen our knowledge about the topic,

·  10 publications (brochures, readers, peace agendas), and numerous leaflets in all the languages of the region (Albanian, BCMS, Macedonian, and Slovenian)

 

What is the time scope the Court deals with?

·  The Women’s Court will deal with the violence committed during the 1990ies,

·  The Women’s Court will deal with the violence committed after the wars in the 1990ies,

The conclusion is that there is a continuity of the injustice and the violence, which connects the war and the post war period.

 

What sorts of violence the Court deals with?

I - Ethnically based violence:

§  Institutional violence - harassment by the border police, on the basis of ethnicity; expulsion from work because of minority ethnic background; forced identity changes based on ethnically motivated hate; expulsion from houses, etc.

§  Repression of the society - the rejection and the harassment off ethnically mixed families/marriages/communities, etc.

§  The harassment by the border police on the basis of ethnicity; expulsion from work for belonging to the minority ethnic group; forced identity changing because of the ethnicity; expulsion from their homes, etc.

II - Militaristic violence:

-  The war against civilians - warfare, constant Physical threat, siege, hunger exhaustion for trying, bombing, militaristic terror at the border, etc. • The war against civilians - military operations, constant physical threat, siege, hunger extortion, bombings, militaristic terror at the border ...

-  Repression because of the resistance to the forced mobilization - against women who supported deserters - male relatives, as well as against anti-war activists, who supported deserters and conscientious objectors ...

III – The continuity of gender-based violence:

·  War crimes of rape - concealing war crimes of rape, abuse of rape for nationalistic purposes, stigmatization of women who testify about it, etc.

·  Male violence against women - physical, psychological and sexual violence in marriage and intimate relationships, committed by men who returned from the battlefield, but also the normalization of male violence against women in the public sphere (in the media, school textbooks) as a socially acceptable form of behavior…

·  Political repression of Women Human rights Defenders.

IV Economic Violence against Women:

·  Privatization as crime against women – – deprivation of labor and socio-economic rights;

·  Living in a constant economic crisis – deprivation, living in constant fear of poverty, unemployment, dismissal from work without pay, etc.

 

The dilemmas and the challenges that have emerged during the process:

a.     The issue of responsibility - experience in the field has shown that the question of responsibility (moral, political...) is not present at the general public, due to:    

§  Nationalism,

§  Transferring responsibility to the "other" (primarily the another nation),

§  The denial and minimization of war crimes committed "in our name "etc.

Women feel that it is an obstacle to a just peace and that it is important to continue to address the issue of responsibility/accountability from the feminist perspective.

b.     Women’s Tribunal or Women’s Court? Related to this dilemma, women have concluded that:

§  The Women’s Tribunal is more associated with the institutional legal system (“proper court”),

Women’s Court Regional
Organisational Board

Bosnia & Herzegovina:
Mothers of the Enclaves of Srebrenica and Zepa
Foundation CURE (www.fondacijacure.org)
Croatia:
Centre for Women’s Studies (www.zenstud.hr)
Centre for Women War Victims - ROSA (www.czzzr.hr)
Kosovo:
Kosovo Women’s Network (www.womensnetwork.org)
Macedonia:
National Council for Gender Equality (www.sozm.org.mk)
Montenegro:
Anima (www.animakotor.org)
Slovenia:
Women’s Lobby Slovenia (www.zls.si)
Serbia:
Women’s Studies (www.zenskestudie.edu.rs)
Women in Black (www.zeneucrnom.org)
THROUGH WOMEN’S COURT, WOMEN BECOME THE PROPONENTS OF JUSTICE, THEY INITIATE THE INTRODUCTION OF DIFFERENT JUDICIAL PRACTICES AND EXERT AN INFLUENCE ON THE INSTITUTIONAL LEGA SYSTEM
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