THE WOMEN OF KOSOVO   by Lesley Abdela Published in Executive Woman Magazine  Aug/Sept issue 1999

I have a secret barometer for assessing attitudes to women. I can walk into an organisation and tell from the number of loos - where they are situated, what condition they are in. Until very recently, in the House of Commons, women MPs had to have someone stand guard outside the men's toilet because of the scarcity of women's loos.

Such small but practical details can be accurate and significant indicators of how high women rank on the agenda. In Kosovo, UNICEF's Mary Staunton reported that aid parcels did not include nappies for babies, sanitary protection for women or baby food. Contraception is another missing element.  Marie Stopes International have applied for funds from the Department for International Development to help them deliver reproductive health services.

Lack of money and little access to contraception catapult women refugees into pregnancy at a time in their lives when they are physically and mentally weakened. Fransesca Tranza, spokeswoman for Marie Stopes International, says, "Levels of sexuality among refugees are usually high. People don't like to think refugees are having sex. But refugees have a great deal of time, they are bored and when you have lost control of your life, people turn to each other for comfort, yet there are often no means for controlling fertility."

In the aftermath of the Balkan wars, international leaders are ready to pump billions of dollars into lucrative contracts for rebuilding roads and bridges. Yet, by contrast, a few valiant female campaigners have to go round with a begging bucket to gather sufficient funds to meet the needs of war-blasted women in deep despair.

Even assistance for women who have been raped is a low priority on the international shopping list. There is evidence that, in the war in Bosnia, between 1992 and 1995 Serb militia and paramilitaries raped over 40,000 women.

As recently as 18 months ago, thousands of women ostracised by family and their community because they had been raped, were still waiting for modest resources to give them a chance to retrain in skills that would allow them to earn an income and regain dignity.

German Doctor Monica Hauser helped set up Medica Zenica, named after a town in central Bosnia, assisting raped and traumatised women in Bosnia.

The staff of Bosnian women doctors, gynaecological specialists, psychotherapists and nurses learned, first hand, the most effective responses to rape and other forms of war trauma. Some were refugees themselves.

Front-line experience helped the Bosnia Medica team to develop key principles. They learned that women who have been sexually abused need care from other women. They must be respected, their stories believed. Medical treatment should always be accompanied by social care. Self-healing is possible with the help of appropriate therapy.

We shall probably never know how many women were raped in Kosovo by Serb militia and Serbian para-militaries. It is not easy to find which women need help. Shame and the fear of being ostracised by family and community means many women do not admit they have been raped.

Instead of working directly with the traumatised Kosovan women, the Bosnians are passing on their skills and experience by training Albanian and Kosovan women. Medica Zenica have linked up with three Albanian women's organisations with experience of running shelters and counselling projects for women suffering from domestic violence and rape. The new group is called Medica Kosovo - Grate per Grate, Albanian for 'Women for Women'.

Dr Monica Hauser says, "Albanian and Kosovan women know the language and the culture. They know best about the living conditions of the women. It will need a lot of patience to build up relationships of trust which make support of the traumatised women possible," adding, "In Albania, we saw gravely traumatised Kosovan women struggling to hold their lives, and their children's lives, together."

The Kosovan Medica team has been trained to set up and work in six tent clinics, in one of the largest refugee camps near Tirana, capital of Albania. A Mercedes Sprinter vehicle equipped as a mobile clinic is being shipped from Germany. It will be called 'Marta 2'. Its predecessor 'Marta 1' still operates successfully in central Bosnia.

Marta 2 will carry medical equipment for reproductive health treatment and a consulting room for therapy work. The mobile clinic will be staffed by medical and psychotherapy professionals.

To avoid the difficulties and delays experienced in Bosnia gathering evidence for the war tribunal, Medica Kosovo are employing two part-time lawyers. They collect and document evidence that can be used to bring prosecutions. The lawyers attended a special Council of Europe course on how to document war crimes. They have designed a special questionnaire to help draw up a map of first hand reports of incidents of violations of human rights. The lawyers will work closely with the psychotherapists to ensure sensitivity to women's feelings and their fears for their future safety.

A young woman from Dures, a mother of seven children, told Dr Hauser her story.

“Her village was under shellfire for 5 hours.  All the men were killed by Serb soldiers.  The remaining village inhabitants were taken to a warehouse that had been transformed into a prison, and held there for several days.  Twenty young girls from the group were taken out by Serb soldiers.  Two days and nights later they came back ‘half dead’.”

As with all things to do with 'women', funds are desperately short. Readers could be of real help financially.

 

Action you can take:

Cheques can be made out to: 'Medica' and sent to Medica, PO Box 9560, London NW5 2AH (Contact: Claudia Cockburn Tel/fax 0207 482 5670).

If organisations you know can only donate to a registered charity send cheques: c/o WOMANKIND Worldwide, 3 Albion Place, Galena Road, London W6 OLT. Tel. 0208 563 8607.

©Lesley Abdela 1999