How narratives and rhetoric impacts the individual reconciliation process of victim/survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina
How narratives and rhetoric impacts the individual reconciliation process of victim/survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Summary/Abstract: Reconciliation is a process on many levels and for the process to succeed on a broader political level, it is crucial to not overlook or ignore the individual element of reconciliation. The thesis of this article is about the heavy focus on the suffered trauma of victim/survivors in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), disempowering rhetoric and the practised narrative about female victim/survivors by e.g. the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). All of which has contributed to refrain these individuals from reconciling with the past and effectively created an obstacle for the reconciliation process in BiH. This article seeks to illustrate this issue by presenting a theory about the effect of focusing on the trauma-narrative on victim/survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. This is also in conjunction with the rhetoric used about women in general, specifically in the resolutions from the United Nations Security Council as well as the narratives of victim/survivors of conflict-related sexual violence presented by for example the ICTY. Drawing on a new approach to victim/survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in BiH, this article underlines the importance of a change in the narrative and rhetoric, to make progress in the reconciliation process possible.

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