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Women's Court: About the Process

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Women's Court: About the Process Women’s Court: About the Process 1ZS engleski.indd 1 4/30/15 12:57 AM Women’s Court: About the Process Published by: Women in Black Jug Bogdanova 18/V [email protected] www.zeneucrnom.org and Centar for Women’s Studies Jove Ilića 165 [email protected] www.zenskestudie.edu.rs Belgrade, May 2015. Edited by Staša Zajović Proof reading/Consultants Goran Fejić, Nenad Knežević i Miloš Urošević Translation Tamara Belenzada Lay out Škart Print run 300 Print Art print, Novi Sad This publication has been made possible owing to the solidarity and support of: National Endowment for Democracy and Balkan Women’s Fund, founded in honor of Jill Benderly 1ZS engleski.indd 2 4/30/15 12:57 AM 3 Content Introduction 4 Staša Zajović, The Women’s Court – a Feminist Approach to Justice: Review of the Process of Organizing of the Women’s Court 6 Daša Duhaček, Women’s Court: A Feminist Approach to In/Justice 68 Rada Iveković, Violence and Healing: The War and the Post-War Period from the First Generation and Beyond 100 1ZS engleski.indd 3 4/30/15 12:57 AM 4 INTRODUCTION The texts in this publication have undertaken the difficult task of presenting the complex process of establishing, bringing together and finally organizing Women’s Court for the successor countries of SFR Yugoslavia. Following the premise that Women’s Court is a space for wom- en’s testimonies, a space for hearing women’s voices as well as the space for acknowledging their resistance, in 2010 an initiative to go ahead with this process was revived during the course of which, the preparing and organizing the Women’s Court gathered activists from all successor countries of SFR Yugoslavia. The authors of the texts in this publication have taken an active part in this process, albeit not nearly in the same proportion, Rada Iveković and Daša Duhaček as much as their other activi- ties allowed and Staša Zajović being devoted to it tirelessly and completely throughout the process. The approach of the authors is in each case different and hence sheds a different light on Wom- en’s Court. This makes their contributions complementary, and, importantly, opens up the space for continuous discussions con- cerning the many issues addressed here. However, besides having shared in this highly charged political activity of a somewhat long duration, what was also especially challenging was to write about a process which is still an ongoing one. The text of Staša Zajović - being the contribution not only of the spritus movens, but also of the major activist of the whole process - offers comprehensive and thorough insights of all the stages that Women’s Court went through, gives an account of weeks, months and years of hard work, carefully documented and analyzed with profound political insights. The process of long and persistent feminist activism proved to be necessary in order to maintain the course and the sustainability of the events which were the building 1ZS engleski.indd 4 4/30/15 12:57 AM 5 blocks of the Women’s Court. In that way the text of Staša Zajović has become a part of feminist history. The text of Rada Iveković offers a thought provoking political and social assessment of Women’s Court, presenting compelling arguments for its significance. In her text, she underscores the key dimensions of this political process, its uncompromising verdict about the events of the last decades in the Balkans, stemming from deeply personal stories of women who have suffered from the grav- est injustices. Their testimonies point toward what Rada Ivekovic ć rightly names as “structural”, state committed violence. Further- more she highlights the outstanding fact that the systematic crimes committed have still to date successfully escaped punitive judicial system, local as well as international. The third text (D. Duhaček) is an attempt to situate Women’s Court within different theoretical concepts of justice, mainstream, transitional and feminist and concludes that the concept of Wom- en’s Court presents challenge to them. These texts are a call for continuing to address injustices, acknowl- edge victims and their resistance and look to the new paradigms which the Women’s Court brings. Daša Duhaček 1ZS engleski.indd 5 4/30/15 12:57 AM 6 Staša Zajović The Women’s Court – a Feminist Approach to Justice Review of the Process of Organizing the Women’s Courtt 1ZS engleski.indd 6 4/30/15 12:57 AM 7 Introduction Most often, the institutional legal system does not serve justice, either at the international level or, even less so, at the national lev- el. This is especially the case in the states of the former Yugoslavia, where political elites invest vast efforts to bypass justice or sacrifice it for the purpose of their political interests and in order to remain in power. Also, the institutional legal system is usually not on the victims’ side, and even fair trials do not imply justice for victims. More of- ten than not, the institutional legal system does not acknowledge or sanction violence against women and all those who have little clout, primarily in terms of economic and political power. The most important attempt to overcome the limitations of institutional legal system is represented by transitional justice1. The concept of transitional justice has been developed over the past decades, both with regard to the need to provide response to complex questions of negative heritage from the past, and to the constant challenges of structural injustice. The content and models pertaining to this concept continue to be enriched. Namely, the civil society assumes responsibility for justice through the creation of different concepts of justice and its alternative mechanisms, with the people’s tribunals and women’s courts and tribunals as best known examples. 1 “Transitional justice” represents a group of responses, institutions, strategies and ways in which an authoritarian society moves towards democracy, that is, a group of institu- tions and of moral, legal, political and social processes, measures and decisions that are made and implemented within the process of democratic transition, i.e. the transition from criminal/dictatorship regimes towards the democracy (Nenad Dimitrijević, legal the- orist and philosopher). Cited in: Staša Zajović, Tranziciona pravda - feministički pristup, Žene u crnom, Beograd 2007. 1ZS engleski.indd 7 4/30/15 12:57 AM 8 The first Women’s Court was organized in 1992 in Lahore, Paki- stan. Since then, about 40 women’s courts have been organized worldwide, most of them in Asia and Africa. Since the time of the first women’s tribunal (Brussels, 1976), about ten other women’s tribunals were held in Europe, Asia, the USA. The most well- known among them was the one held in Tokyo (2000). The Women’s Court – a Feminist Approach to Justice, organized for the region of the former Yugoslavia, is the first such court on the European continent. A brief history of the initiative to organize the Women’s Court in the region of former Yugoslavia The initiative for the Women’s Court has existed for more than ten years. Žarana Papić, philosopher and activist of autonomous women’s groups from Belgrade (Center for Women’s Studies and Women in Black), as well as of women’s peace movement in the former Yugoslavia, launched the initiative in Sarajevo (BiH) in 2000 together with Corinne Kumar, the coordinator of global movement of women’s tribunals. The international conference on new paradigms of justice and creation of alternative space for women’s testimonies was held at that time. The initiative attracted great interest and led to participation of women witnesses and activists from BiH at the Women’s Court in Cape Town in 2001. Unfortunately, Žarana Papić died in 2002, but the activists who now represent the foundations and continuity of the Initiative Board have continued to take part in numerous international initiatives for justice such as women’s courts and the Permanent People’s Tribunal, in addition to organizing many conferences for peace and justice in their countries. After the death of Slobodan Milošević and the fact that he was not punished in the Hague Tribunal, Women in Black Belgrade re-launched the initiative (in 1ZS engleski.indd 8 4/30/15 12:57 AM 9 March 2006) for the Peoples’ Women’s Tribunal for Crimes against Peace, though its character was informal. As is well-known, the Coalition for Establishment of a Regional Commission Tasked with Establishing the Facts about War Crimes in Former Yugoslavia/REKOM was launched in 2007. Almost all members of the Initiative Board for Women’s Court have actively participated in it (and some of them are still very active in the Co- alition). REKOM is an exceptionally important regional initiative, but due to its quite broad scope of activities it did not meet the expectation of fulfilling the women’s/feminist perspective. There- fore, we continued to develop the idea about WC.2 Between 2008 and 2010, the activists who have been part of the initiative from the very beginning (Staša Zajović, Nuna Zvizdić and Biljana Kašić) organized informal working meetings and decided to re-start the initiative and to include activists from other countries. From October 14 to 16, 2010, the international preparatory work- shop “Court of Women for the Balkans: Justice and Healing” was held in Sarajevo involving discussions on the importance of WC and its experiences in creating new concepts of justice. The workshop was organized by Women to Women from Saraje- vo, with the participation of members of the Initiative Board of the WC and WC organizers from several other countries: Tunisia, India, Mexico, South Africa, Iraq and Cambodia.
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