WHAT IS THE EXACT NUMBER OF THE KILLINGS AND RAPES IN KOSOVA?
In Kosovë, the number of raped women according to the statistics reaches various figures depending on the different organisations which have carried out investigations into this matter.
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These figures range from two thousand up to tens of thousand. During my work with the NGO “Jeta në Kastriot” (‘Life’ in Kastriot”), I can speak for around 2018 raped women for whom, in addition to oral evidence, video recordings, written evidence and photos I, also have medical reports from gynecologists, infectologist and neur-physiatrics. The age of these females starts from 14 to 44 years old.
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Apart from visiting them every month and checking their present state of health, we continuously make efforts so that 209 of them who are in the worst state of health are provided with necessary medicines. Also, as many times as the opportunity arises we exert our influence on the different organizations, whether they be foreign or local, governmental or non-governmental, in order to make understood the necessity of helping and treating this abandoned category of people. Out of 24.000 murdered people during the war in Kosovë 31.2 percent are females of all ages and according to older. For those who our data only 1.3 percent of the overall number wereexperienced all sorts of trauma, mental health problems are still manifesting
40 UNMIK, KPS and KFOR … 41 Translated by A. Morina 35
Kommentar: Not sure about this themselves. According to our investigation made after the war it transpires that 62 percent of those contacted were close to death; 49 percent were victims of torture and abuse; 32 percent were separated from their families; 26 percent have experienced the murder of one of their family member or relative; 10percent have been imprisoned and 4 percent sexually abused. Our NGO has helped as much as possible but we are also conscious that we couldn’t fulfill the minimum needs of raped females. Our projects that aim to do more in this area are often ignored therefore once more we are using this opportunity to call the organisations and individuals that can and have good will to give a helping hand to these females in order to restore the meaning of their life with all its beauty. I must mention that in addition to my work, assistance was accorded by fellow project leader Myrvete Morina as well as by our medical and professional staff. During my work in the area I have seen close up the different state of rape victims. They, often, hesitate to tell their story, the troubles and suffering are hidden inside their soul until the situation deteriorates so badly that even help and medical treatment is difficult. Therefore they should express their feelings because in this way they will cure themselves more quickly and even help others to help them. During my work with these females and during my work as a journalist I was able to conclude that in addition to raped females and those murdered there are a large number of them who are considered missing. Unfortunately the data shows that the majority of murdered females were first raped and then murdered. Therefore, when the international community judges the war crimes in Kosovë, it must take into account the death wounds of the majority of murdered females which also show evidence of rape. Therefore, the genocide and violence committed against the people of Kosovë has a much wider dimension than provided by our data and our investigation.
Luljeta SELIMI