Bosnia's invisible children: Living in dignity | DW Documentary

the war in Bosnia ended almost 24 years ago but for some the conflict lives on is a bitter part of everyday life we're not children of love we're children of hate it took me a long time to accept that the war is the only reason I'm alive that these children born of wartime rape a taboo topic in Bosnia these children are now adults fighting against discrimination it's important to keep the pressure on those in power so they finally change the laws day meda says our Connie was fair [Music] bukka the similac ibanez good Dean I said what I was 15 and in high school when I found a box with all the notes from the psychologists and therapists my mother went to they documented every detail of the rape what happened her injuries and I was alone at home and read it all suddenly I didn't know who I was anymore my whole life just fell apart when we meet ina usage she's 25 in studying psychology in Sarajevo her mother never wanted her to know that she was conceived by rape ever since her discovery ina has felt like a living legacy of the war between 1992 and 1995 Sarajevo was ravaged by an ethnic conflict between bosnian muslims serbs and croats the war was characterized by ethnic cleansing mass murder and systematic militarized rape no one knows how many women were sexually assaulted estimates range between twenty and fifty thousand up to four thousand children were born to the victims in Bosnia they're called The Invisible Children for many the war is history but not for ina as a child of rape she's endured stigmatization and discrimination official Bosnian documents require a father's name in Ines files the field is empty [Music] it's all welcome even now after more than 20 years whenever I go to the authorities I still have to tell some guy behind the counter that my mother was raped I don't know who my biological father is can I still apply for student aid Oh God so doug liman most of that spend you inna has teamed up with others in the same situation their association forgotten children of war is fighting for an end to discrimination and for equal rights they also want the government to recognize Bosnia's Invisible Children as war victims a status that grants certain types of assistance the demand has drawn abusive comments on their Facebook page no school no shame I could be led trusts don't get talked about they one person wrote that our mothers were prostitutes it wasn't our fault but they'd sold their bodies for a little food comments like that shocked me really concerning shabby appearance of can't many invisible children have never overcome their feelings of shame feelings Ines mother knows well she lives 200 kilometers from Sarajevo I know I'm not throw Patti LuPone IANA went through so much with me we were all alone the hardest thing was when someone at work would ask me who I and his father was to dat we were like a leaf in the wind tossed every which way by the things happening around us my sister Donna until she was seven ina lived with her mother Sabina in a woman safehouse run by an aid organization Sabina had a waitressing job in a cafe that was where she met her husband mislead the Mason took her in ina in and they moved to his home village but after the war hatred and distrust ran deep in Bosnian society the dog Turkish could be long cell conduit just you know chill it really wasn't easy here in the village just unthinkable that a single man would marry a woman with a child cells king poor everyone why doesn't he find himself another woman one without a child no one apart from new threat knew the story of your birth daya be low I wanted to keep it a secret forever when it became known that Sabina had been raped by an enemy soldier and conceived ina the family faced open hostility my gonna be whatever will be arson tiny the hardest part was explaining to you what all those abusive terms meant you wanted to know the definition of bastard in all those words [Music] inés stepfather knew slit served as a soldier in the war he longed for a happy family life but the usages were ostracized in the village and ina faced repeated verbal harassment I had so many problems with the people here they didn't know what to make of our situation it took a long time and there was such an unending amount of arguments before they finally accepted our family and I know I finally had someone I could take care of so she gave my life meaning I brought her up sent her to school school away today inés mother had already endured a horrific ordeal after being raped by a croatian soldier she went into denial by the time she realized she was pregnant it was too late for an abortion money sent a promise today's energy says someone we address check god I didn't want to keep her I didn't even see her as a human being some decid I am told natured I just waited to get the birth over with to be finally rid of this thing inside me after she was born I didn't pick her up for three months didn't change a single diaper I just watch Rani losing mom sometimes I still wonder if it wouldn't have been better to give her up for adoption then she wouldn't have to deal with all of this today maybe she'd just be working somewhere as a hairdresser and her life would be simpler no it's not true as far as I'm concerned life without ina would be meaningless she would know a fee to it was new slit who created a happy home for the victims of rape it can be challenging to lead a normal family life [Music] the small town of Gorazde is located 200 kilometres from new heights village [Music] it's home to hospital nurse Alan mu hitch and his adoptive father mu hurt him in the war Alan's mother was raped by numerous Serbian soldiers when she came to this hospital to give birth it was under siege mu harem was the custodian here [Music] he spent a night here in Cape Earth to him the next day she just disappeared she left him here the hospital was full of war casualties at the time and it was chaos there were hardly any normal patients muharram and other hospital employees cared for the infant - - its Elizabeth Nicholasville manganese leaving the incision desk avoiding Tamia he would a woman philosophers yeah by Detroit deserves a vetted manifold Yes Man Agnes Kim Coppola movie theater my Liebman does Canton how is good and Susan Allen takes us home to his apartment but he doesn't want us to meet his wife and child my birthday that was your birthday was a five no fool such happy celebrations were only possible because Muharram often took the orphaned island home with him one day I came home and had to tell my family that we would soon have to say goodbye to Ireland because the hospital that put him up for adoption there was a huge brawl that kid started crying and that's how it happened we couldn't part with him so we adopted him ourselves Alan's adoptive family brought him up like their own son but that didn't protect him from being singled out for verbal abuse for many he remained the son of an enemy Bhavana deicide Mechanical College under the suspended tennis it's very upsetting to be called Serb bastard we're told you were found in a garbage bin being excluded like that was really awful for me people condemned the victims not the perpetrators and they still do to this day trauma exclusion stigma discrimination this is what the war bequeathed to the Invisible Children Allen and ina met in 2017 through a study on post-war trauma together they set up their organization forgotten children of war they've already managed to Kindle unprecedented public debate in Bosnia about the subject of wartime rape our first big step is getting an appraisal of the legal situations a lawyer where so it's not a Bobby and the leaves on convince your class the teacher she's examining Bosnian laws and international conventions the children's rights convinced or the human rights convention yeah I don't know just you problemo quiz my one lasting problem with children of the war face is that we've lost a fundamental human right the right to respect for private and family life as they pushed for legislative reform they hope to raise awareness of their situation while going public and talking openly about this after all the years we suffered and endured humiliation what we know where we come from in Bosnia Herzegovina today people like Alan and ina are not considered war victims ina is working to change that with the help of lawyer filled an ejectment it's a formality with wide reaching consequences the children of veterans and war invalids are entitled to housing benefits and educational grants the children of rape victims get no such support [Music] surely Timothy Nicholas Nina but when the children of rape victims by or inherit property for example they have to pay the full tax rate war victims on the other hand get a 50% tax rebate tako creature Basha preach Villa Donna is trying to clarify whether Bosnian laws and breach of international conventions and human rights she's optimistic and explains why I've gone through the international conventions to see if Bosnian law is in violation and I came across this section that states there is an ombudsman for cases like ours so I looked it up in the ministry but it turns out they don't have an ombudsman they just never installed the positions about don't even assume on their [ __ ] do you know the UN could address that yes that would be good because of our own legal assessment otherwise they won't find out about it international conventions carry weight in Bosnia a country that depends on financial aid lawyers use them as a basis to press for reforms plan annalisa quater abandon arseny our legal assessment is probably the first ever on wartime rape no it's definitely the first ever the laws simply have to be altered to reflect what happened and to comply with international norms not only document opt to convince your problem and yet see [Music] bosnia's laws were largely adopted from the federation of yugoslavia to which it belonged Bosnia Herzegovina was established by the 1995 Dayton Accords which ended the war and set up a power-sharing government designed to represent the country's three major ethnic groups it was considered a temporary solution but to this day the presidency rotates between a Serb a Muslim and the cravat and it's frozen ethnic divisions in place [Music] I know wants to do her part to overcome these divisions she's enrolled at a youth academy financed by the German government it's open to Bosnia Muslim Serb and Croat students during the 12-month course the young people learn about political processes civic engagement and human rights they graduate with a diploma that makes them eligible to apply for jobs with the government or human rights groups initially ina didn't share her personal history with her fellow students but then mamita of ditch read her story in a media report now she too is engaged with the invisible children's fight for equality rape victims get a small benefit in the Croat and Muslim regions of Bosnia it's about 300 euros but in the Serb part it's much less that's absurd the crime is the same no matter where it happened you can't differentiate between Banja Luka and Sarajevo is very reserved she would never open up and tell you all about herself some people think she's aloof even a little arrogant but what's impressed me about her particularly after I heard her personal story is that she never makes distinctions as for her all victims are equal they're all equally traumatized that officials will question you enforce you to tell them the whole story yeah so that's normal it's normal for you and you're used to it but it's dreadful why do you have to divulge the details of your mother's ordeal to a total stranger every single time why just here at the academy ina isn't just learning how to fight discrimination and human rights violations the course has also helped her overcome anxieties over meeting new people and opening up to them I'm also bidness yeah when she started attending the program there was really a pleasure to see how much she is ready to work on herself and she made great progress especially on a personal development in terms of relation to the group now ina fine she can speak openly about parts of her past but there are other parts she still guards a secret America I know the name of the guy who raped my mother I've done research he has another daughter and a son ty Trebek said nobody my boy as soon as an only child ina always longed for siblings though somehow YouTube ruslan did I just pass my brother or my sister did I look at them I'm 25 now and I ask myself if I've ever unknowingly crossed paths with my siblings and over the years my desire to meet them has grown I soon realized that's not possible I simply can't do that to my mother it would be devastating for her maybe sneak another laugh sorry my hold up when they're Buddhists watch it [Music] ina has decided not to look for her siblings who lives somewhere in Sarajevo she has to find other ways to put the past behind her so bottle isn't some accessible munis I tell myself there's nothing shameful about it Society has taught me that I have to feel shame but I know I have nothing to be ashamed of that's why I've turned my life around and focused on my past it's given my life real meaning ina meets up with lawyer Phil's Donna Jackman in downtown Sarajevo they're joined by Alan we set up the association with Ina it has 13 members but most have stayed away because they don't want to be filmed by our cameras the group is fighting for the same status as children of war veterans and invalids and for the right to withhold the name of their biological father on official paperwork no questions asked the lawyer that's good news I've looked at the laws in all parts of the country and everywhere public offices only require you to name one parent it doesn't matter if it's the father or mother matriarchal civil servants always ask for the father's name but there's no legal basis for that request we need to make this public as soon as possible because then you can decide which name you provide you can take care of all your paperwork without mentioning your personal story in my case I can provide the name of my adoptive father but also both of my mother's my parents did this i have the same inheritant rights as my sister's that's great if we can choose which parent to name we're adults we can decide for ourselves which name to provide the authorities with the group agrees to hold a news conference to publicize the mistake authorities are making it's already discovered that together they can make a difference [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] it's graduation day for ina and her fellow course members her mother Zebina and stepfather Nusrat have come for the occasion ina studied here at the academy for a year and by the end of it was able to speak openly with her classmates about her past [Music] this is my mother [Music] sometimes I'm will clean lady Leslie Mike I look at my mother and just see how strong she is I'm proud that she's my mother it doesn't matter to me that I was born from hatred she loves me and wants me to be happy ginamarie I'll semi-autonomy primatte rmmod jana Shelly [Music] ina has also completed her psychology degree she's now attending the first International Congress of Child and Adolescent psychotherapy in Bosnia it was organized by her friend and mentor the trauma specialist emitted a leech she conducted the first scientific studies on post-war trauma in Bosnia and introduced ina Talan Amador warns that the taboo against speaking about sexual wartime violence serves to pass the trauma like poison from one generation to the next the only remedy she says is open discussion children born of war have very painful unpleasant experiences as they grow up these often lead to trauma related disease and psychiatric disorders for example post-traumatic stress disorders depression or somatoform disorders in addition there are complex long-term consequences such as a lack of family support which can have a social and economic impact Cal vulnerability Gopinath as a researcher amra wants to put a human face on her findings she's hoping for Ines help but it's a challenge a big problem here is also this societal blame and a culture of rape that is still present in tradition-bound Bosnian culture where society often think of the issue of rape as a matter of horner and but not as a matter of the severe violation of Human Rights amra has been mentoring ina over the past two years her support astern for me now is the most important because she she knows everything and and I don't know what to do I just call em her and she she she she helps me every time and it's it did the most beautiful you know moment in our relationship so my other mother during the conference ina suddenly makes a decision she feels ready to face the audience and speak for the first time in public about her past I'd like to introduce Ayane usage she has a bachelor's in psychology and just graduated top of her class from the Academy run by the German youth organization Schuler helfen Laban and I hope she'll soon to her master's in psychology Yaakov Agata a voodoo Chi master student Ptah so that we can ask ourselves whether it was just us or whether there were others like us whether there were people who could sincerely say I understand you what you went through wasn't easy I stand before you as the living proof that the damage is inflicted by war cannot be assigned to a nationality or ethnic group a theme or the solution my rape has nothing to do whatsoever with nationality is a traumatic experience and that's how we should treat it thank you I know we'll fight on not just for herself but for all those who have suffered like her so that bosnia's Invisible Children can step out of the shadows and live a life without discrimination in dignity you [Music]

Channel: DW Documentary

Views: 714,940

Keywords: Documentary, Documentaries, documentaries, DW documentary, DW documentary 2019, full documentary, documentary 2019, DW, Bosnian war, Yugoslavia war, war rape, discrimination, victims of war, UN, war children, children of war

Id: xIBf48PP9hI

Length: 25min 56sec (1556 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 26 2019