FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

UNFPA Report Finds Incidences of Rape and Abduction Among Kosovo Refugees -- Women Want to Speak out

New York, 25 May 1999 -- A report prepared for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) by an expert in sexual violence found alarming accounts of rape and abduction among Kosovar women refugees. The report is the first attempt by a United Nations organization to verify the accounts and nature of sexual violence among the refugees.

The report was prepared by Ms. Dominique Serrano; a psychologist specialized in sexual violence and trauma counselling. It was based on her interviews with women refugees and health providers in camps around Tirana and Kukes in the first week of May 1999.

The women, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Serrano of rape, abductions, detentions and torture in a number of different sites.

"The villages of Gjakova, Pec and Drenitza were often indicated as places where kidnapping and collective rapes took place," Serrano said. "The women reported being individually raped by many men, during a few hours but sometimes even for days. Women who were released had lacerations on their chests, evidence of beating on their arms and legs, and they had been burned." 

"Some of the kidnapped women who were taken to unknown places have not yet reappeared, according to their families and neighbours," she said "It is primarily the young women who are rounded up in villages and small cities. The soldiers take groups of 5 to 30 women to unknown places in trucks or they are locked up in houses where the soldiers live. Any resistance is met with threats of being burned alive."

Serrano was also told that at control points soldiers would demand money, then jewelry, then tell the women to undress in order to verify that they were not hiding anything. When they had nothing left the soldiers would take their "payment" by raping the most attractive women. Often they were between the ages of 15 and 25. In general, one to five men committed the rapes and the women were immediately released after the violation. 

Serrano found that contrary to previous reports, many women did want to talk about what had happened to them but needed appropriate circumstances to do so. 

"I was surprised at their willingness to speak, as so many people had told me that they would be unwilling to talk about experiences which their communities regard as shameful. However I found the women did very much want to talk and had not been able to because there had been no one appropriate for them to talk to," she said.

She cited one example of a woman who had been abducted for three days and repeatedly raped. The woman had been in a Tirana refugee camp when a male humanitarian worker had used a loud speaker to invite women who had been raped to come forward and complete a questionnaire.

"How can you expect me to walk up to that man just like that. We have our pride," the woman told Serrano. "Speaking with you like this, the two of us, is not the same, it is between us."

The interviews were conducted anonymously and among women, using an Albanian woman interpreter. All the women approached by Serrano agreed to be interviewed as long as there no men and no journalists present. She spoke with around 35 women over a period of 10 days.

"It is of the utmost importance that the international community offer support to these women and their families after their horrific ordeals. We must help the victims regain their dignity as human beings, in spite of the violence they have been subjected to," said Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of UNFPA. 

The trauma of the rapes and abductions led some of the women to describe themselves as being forever "dead" to their families for suffered a violation, which carries tremendous stigma in their society. Many feel that risk being divorced or excluded from their community or family, or that a husband will try to take revenge according to the report.

Serrano noted that many of the women will never discuss what has happened to them in order to protect themselves and their families and that many of the cases of rape will only be revealed in a few months time when women begin giving birth.

Serrano even found reluctance among medical personnel to discuss incidences of rape among the Kosovar refugees. She described an incident she witnessed at a camp where a doctor said he had not heard any reports of rape from the refugees in his care. A female nurse at his side said that was not true, there were many cases. The doctor told the nurse to be quiet.

One of the recommendations of Serrano’s report was for consideration to be given to the reintegration of sexually violated women into the community, and to their physical and psychological needs. In particular the women would need support to reduce feelings of guilt and shame about what had happened to them. Equally the rest of the community, the women’s husbands and families, would need support in dealing with what had happened and how to deal with feelings of shame and revenge.

Dr. Sadik called for sensitivity and respect to be shown to the women: "We need to be sensitive and compassionate when listening to these women in order to understand what support they need. We must make available trained psychologists and personnel who can offer appropriate support."

In response to the report, UNFPA is providing training in counselling and psychological support to health professionals to enable them to offer help to victims of sexual violence. Additionally, local Albanian women’s groups will receive training in counseling. The training will be done in coordination with other UN agencies including UNHCR and UNICEF, as well as local and international non-governmental organizations.

UNFPA sent emergency reproductive health supplies to Kosovar refugees in Albania in April. UNFPA is working with the Albanian ministry of health, other UN agencies and non-governmental agencies to distribute reproductive health supplies to the refugees. The Fund estimates that approximately 70,000 Kosovar women are either pregnant or breast-feeding and in need of prenatal or post-natal care.

There are still no accurate estimates for the number of Kosovar women who have been raped. However, reports like this one indicate widespread sexual violence and raise the alarm that the women remaining in Kosovo are under great threat.

"The weight of evidence collected from interviews with the most recent refugees leaves room for the most sombre perspectives concerning the risks facing the Kosovar women still inside Kosovo," said Serrano.

UNFPA’s activities with Kosovar refugees has been assisted by recent funding from the Danish, Japanese and Luxembourg Governments and from the  Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Ted Turner’s UN Foundation. The Belgian Government and United Nations Foundation have also recently committed funding to providing reproductive health services for refugees in other countries.

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The United Nations Population Fund is the largest internationally funded source of population assistance to developing countries. It assists developing countries to improve reproductive health and family planning services on the basis of individual choice, and to formulate population policies in support of efforts towards sustainable development.

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