No Justice, No Peace: Accountability for Rape and Gender-Based Violence in the Former Yugoslavia

The Women in the Law Project of the International Human Rights Law Group (Law Group) sponsored a delegation to the former Yugoslavia from February 14 to 22, 1993. The delegation, which was also endorsed by the Bar Association of San Francisco, had two principal objectives. First, the delegation provided training in human rights fact-finding methodology to local organizations documenting rape and other violations of international law committed in the context of the armed conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Bosnia) and in Croatia. This part of the delegation\u27s activities, undertaken in consultation with the United Nations Commission of Experts,\u27 sought to enhance the thoroughness of local documentation efforts undertaken with the ultimate aims of securing redress for survivors of rape and other war crimes, and bringing the responsible parties to justice. Second, the delegation assessed how the international community can more effectively respond to the legal and humanitarian needs of the survivors of these violations, including refugees, and support the efforts of local organizations and individuals seeking to address those needs. The delegation was led by Diane F. Orentlicher, Associate Professor of Law at the American University in Washington, D.C. and a member of the Advisory Councils of the Law Group and of its Women in the Law Project. The delegation included Professor Karen Musalo, Director of the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic at the University of San Francisco; Kathleen Pratt, an attorney with the San Francisco law firm of Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe and member of the Executive Committee of the Bar Associa- tion of San Francisco International Human Rights Section; and Laurel Fletcher, also with the firm of Heller, Ehrman and former executive editor of the Harvard Human Rights Journal. Professor Anica Mander, a Professor of Gender and Women\u27s Studies at New College in San Francisco and a native of the former Yugoslavia, served as a logistical consultant for the team in Croatia