The Right to “Genetic Truth” of Children Born of War. A Particular Focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Right to “Genetic Truth” of Children Born of War. A Particular Focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina

Summary/Abstract: During the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), hundreds of children were born as a consequence of war-related sexual violence perpetrated by the Serbian militias primarily against Bosnian Muslim women. Surprisingly, these children were never acknowledged as victims of human rights abuses in the legal debate concerning the atrocities committed against women and culture. The present paper attempts to fill the existing gap by considering the legal status of this specific category of children from a human rights perspective, with a particular emphasis on the impact of war and post-conflict environments on the right of the child to develop and preserve his or her own identity. In light of the intricate complexity characterising the situation of children born of war, categorical positions are not desirable. To the contrary, the acknowledgement of the competing rights at stake – the right to know one‘s origins, the best interests of the child and the mother‘s confidentiality rights – as equally fundamental makes it possible to achieve a fair equilibrium between the interests of all parties involved.

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